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Tom Fontana

Tom Fontana (born September 12, 1951) is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer. Fontana worked on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street and created HBO's Oz.

Early life and education
Fontana was born on the west side of Buffalo, New York, and is the fourth of five children in an Italian-American family; he is a cousin of actress Patti LuPone. He attended Cathedral School, Canisius High School, and Buffalo State College. He worked at the Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo in various capacities before moving to New York City in 1973.

Television
Having started out as a playwright, Fontana was hired by Bruce Paltrow as a writer for St. Elsewhere. Fontana has been the creator/showrunner for OZ, Copper, The Jury, The Beat, The Bedford Diaries, The Philanthropist and he was also the showrunner on Homicide: Life on the Street.

Fontana wrote the HBO film Strip Search, directed by Sidney Lumet, and contributed two pieces to the September 11 special, America: A Tribute to Heroes. He was the executive producer of American Tragedy for CBS, Shot in the Heart for HBO Films, the independent film Jean, and the documentary The Press Secretary for PBS. Fontana also created the historical drama TV series Borgia for the French premium-pay channel Canal+, produced by Atlantique Productions and EOS Entertainment. The series recounts the Borgia family's rise to power and subsequent domination of the Vatican during the Renaissance. Fontana also co-created Copper, an 1860s police procedural set in the turbulent Five Points neighborhood of New York.

Fontana has received three Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, three Writers' Guild Awards, four Television Critics Association Awards, the Cable Ace Award, the Humanitas Prize, an Edgar Award, and the first prize at the Cinéma Tout Ecran Festival in Switzerland. In 2003, Fontana was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Outstanding Television Writer Award.

Articles
Fontana has written articles for such periodicals as The New York Times, TV Guide, and Esquire, and has taught at Columbia, Syracuse, Rutgers, and the State University College at Buffalo, his alma mater, from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary Doctorate of Letters.

Plays
Fontana has had numerous plays produced in New York City, where he lives, and at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Buffalo Studio Arena Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and McCarter Theatre Company.

Personal life
Fontana's sister is a nun. He lives in New York City's West Village in a building that was formerly a branch of the New York Public Library. The book-lined, two-story main reading room is now a living room where he often hosts fund raisers for arts and civil-rights organizations.

Fontana was married to actress Sagan Lewis for 12 years until their divorce in 1993. Sagan and Fontana remarried on July 10, 2015, and remained together until her death on August 7, 2016.

Fontana has a tattoo of the Oz logo on his upper right arm, which he is shown receiving in the opening credits of the series.

Fontana does not own or use a computer, and writes all of his scripts longhand on a yellow legal pad.

Tom Fontana was the graduation speaker at Buffalo State college in 1983.

Membership
He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Producers Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America, East, from which he received the Evelyn F. Burkey Award for lifetime achievement. Fontana served as vice president of the Writers Guild of America, East from 2005 to 2007. He is president emeritus of the WGAE Foundation, commonly known as the Writers Guild Initiative, and serves on the boards of the Acting Company, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, DEAL, the New York City Police Museum, and Stockings With Care, among others.

Detective Joe Fontana, Dennis Farina's character on Law & Order, was named for Tom Fontana, who became close friends with Law & Order creator Dick Wolf while working as writers in the same building, at the same time, on the series St. Elsewhere (Fontana) and Hill Street Blues (Wolf).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Tom Fontana


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Caconda

Caconda is a town and a municipality in the province of Huíla, Angola. The municipality had a population of 167,820 in 2014.

The Concelho (municipality) was officially founded on 1857. It has a population of 167,820 (2014 census). In the 19th century, Caconda was the most advanced point in the colonial territory of Portugal in Africa.

There is also another populated place in Angola called Caconda, in the province of Huambo, and a river, in the province of Uige.

Caconda has a place in the history of zoology, because it was in this region that the great Portuguese naturalist and explorer José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta (1833–1897) carried out the greater part of his work. He died in 1897 in Caconda, while returning from an expedition.

The Caconda region was severely affected by the Angolan Civil War. It is an extremely poor area, with a more than 20% malnutrition rate and many families living on subsistence farming. Many people were displaced during the civil war. The United Nations relief program and the World Food Program have been essential in addressing the humanitarian catastrophe.

Geography
It is located the Plano Alto region, approximately 280 km North of Lubango, the provincial capital city, and approximately 700 km South from Luanda, the country's capital city.

Climate
Caconda has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwb).

title: Caconda


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Fabian Cortez

Fabian Cortez is a mutant supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is commonly depicted as an enemy of the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and writer/illustrator Jim Lee, he first appeared in X-Men #1 (October 1991).

Acolytes
Thought to be royalty from Spain, Fabian Cortez organizes the original Acolytes, who pledge themselves to Magneto and his cause. Cortez then goads and manipulates Magneto into combat with humanity and the X-Men at every turn, leading to the destruction of Magneto's space-station, Asteroid M, and the deaths of the other Acolytes, including Cortez's own sister Anne Marie.

Cortez recruits a group of Acolytes who, believing Magneto to be dead and martyred for his cause, now worship him as their god, to follow Cortez in Magneto's name. They launch several strikes on humanity, ranging from attacks on a military base where new Sentinels are being built, to slaughtering helpless humans in a hospital. Magneto eventually resurfaces, sending his chosen heir Exodus to inform the Acolytes of Cortez's betrayal. The Acolytes welcome Exodus as their new leader, and Cortez is left behind.

Bloodties
Fearing Magneto's wrath, Cortez flees to Genosha. Still claiming to speak in Magneto's name, he incites the nation's mutant population into starting a civil war against the humans, the world's first instance of the long-threatened genetic war between man and mutant. With the aid of the mutates, Cortez kidnaps Magneto's granddaughter Luna, intending to use her as a shield to protect himself from Magneto, the X-Men, and the Avengers. Cortez is unaware that Magneto had recently been mindwiped by Charles Xavier; and Exodus comes to Genosha in his place, seemingly killing Cortez.

Back with the Acolytes
Cortez reappears months later, claiming to have been badly injured, yet not actually killed, despite all appearances. He manipulates Joseph into posing as Magneto, pitting him against Exodus in an attempt to regain control of the Acolytes. Despite his scheme's failure, he is allowed to return to the team. Months later, after Exodus was briefly imprisoned, the Acolytes split into two groups, each searching for Magneto. Cortez leads one group, but they abandon him during a battle with the X-Men, upon realising how he has been using them for his own purposes.

Dark Seduction
Alone again, Cortez is surprised to be recruited by Magneto himself, to whom the United Nations has given control of Genosha. Seeing as how Cortez had betrayed him earlier, Magneto only lets Fabian Cortez serve him on Genosha because his own powers have been reduced and Cortez's mutant power is needed to heighten the abilities of the other mutants. After a further betrayal by Cortez, discovered by Magneto's UN advisor Alda Huxley to be the leader of the Genoshen cabinet assisting a rebellion in Carrion Cove, Magneto is restored to full power by one of the Genengineer's machines and, as he no longer needs Cortez, moves him from a prison in Hammer Bay, to over fifty miles away to Carrion Cove in less than 20 seconds. The impact kills Cortez instantly, as he is splattered on the ground at Magneto's feet. Just before his death, a connection between Cortez and the geneticist Mister Sinister was implied, which would explain how Cortez returned alive and well when everyone believed him dead at the hands of Exodus.

Necrosha
After the X-Men form Utopia, Magneto joins them, saying he supports their efforts. Selene especially wants Magneto captured for his collaboration with Emma Frost to overthrow her from her position as Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. She has three of her recently resurrected mind-controlled soldiers—Acolytes Cortez, Delgado, and Mellencamp—hunt down Magneto. They try to torture Loa to get the information out of her, but when she tries to hide in her room she finds Deadpool inside it. Deadpool battles the trio, but the techno-organic virus that is inside the Acolytes (which caused their resurrection) prevent him from killing them. At one point in the battle, Cortez grabs Loa by the throat and demands to know Magneto's location, saying that even though Selene wants Magneto alive he will fight the mind-control and kill him anyway. Loa begs Cortez not to make her hurt him, something Cortez does not believe possible. Deadpool knocks Loa out of Cortez's hands, but then is overpowered by the Acolytes. Loa uses her matter disruption powers to slide through Mellencamp, mutilating him. Deadpool, seeing that Loa's powers were able to slay Selene's minions, forces her to kill Cortez and Delgado by throwing her into them (to survive, she has to slide through them, which causes them to crumble). Deadpool then tells Cyclops that he should not be in trouble because Loa had done all the killing.

The techno-organic virus however appears to reform Cortez, as he resurfaced later along with fellow Upstarts members Shinobi Shaw, Siena Blaze, and Trevor Fitzroy, and started the game that they created long ago. They kill members of the Nasty Boys to lure out Cyclops and his ragtag team of X-Men to Washington Heights. After a brief exchange of words, the two groups engage each other in battle. The X-Men gain the upper hand as the Upstarts retreat; but Shinobi is left behind, only to kill himself as he does not want to be captured or controlled by the Hellfire Club.

Krakoa
Cortez later appeared as a member of The Six, a mutant sub-team under the command of S.W.O.R.D. and its commander Abigail Brand. He was the "head" of the mutant power amplification and unification, under the guise of The Power. During the attack of Knull on Krakoa, he joins his S.W.O.R.D teammates to defend Krakoa as he gained access to the island by possessing Kid Cable. As he saw a critically injured Sunfire, he healed him and greatly enhanced his powers, only for Knull to kill them both for their transgressions against him.

He was later revived with the help of Jean Grey, nude and confused as he remembered he requested a meeting with Magneto and the Quiet Council (with Brand and Peepers sitting in). After he discussed his views on the law against murdering Flatscans being a waste of not showing mutant superiority, he soon came to realize through their comments and questions that they were just humouring him and didn't take him seriously. Lashing out, he mentioned how vital he was to S.W.O.R.D and how he should be treated better, only for Amelia Voght and Khora of the Burning Heart to teleport in and announce Khora as his replacement.

After this humiliation he fell into depression and began drinking at The Green Lagoon and frequenting Stacy X's brothel, but everywhere he went just furthered his humiliation. Doctor Nemesis used this depression as an opportunity to test pharmaceuticals on him. At one point after being thrown out of Stacy X's brothel, he got in a fight with Lost who heard him announce he was the leader of The Acolytes, as witnessed by Nightcrawler.

Still hoping to find a way to kill humans without getting into trouble, he took Gorgon who'd been brain-damaged after coming back from dying in Otherworld, to Central Park and amplified his telepathy so he could hear every negative and hateful thing the people around him were thinking. He almost succeeded in getting Gorgon to kill everybody there but when Nightcrawler teleported into an ice-cream stand trying to stop them, everyone started laughing calming the confused Gorgon down. He started serving the humans ice-cream much to Fabian's dismay. Fabian begged Nightcrawler not to report this to The Quiet Council but instead Kurt dragged him to Planet Arakko and forced him to confront one of his former victims, Lost, whose parents were killed in one of the Acolytes attacks.

Instead of talking it out as Kurt had hoped, the two continually tried to kill each other. Realizing he wasn't getting through to them, he teleported them both into the sky and let them fall to their potential deaths. He told Fabian if he made an attempt to apologize to Lost she could use her gravity manipulation to ensure they all land safely, but if not he'll block her powers so all three will die. Fabian tried to sincerely apologize to her and admitted there was something wrong with him but he was abruptly possessed by Onslaught and made to overload her with his power, burning her out. When he came too he was horrified by what had happened and told Kurt it wasn't his fault. He realized they were still falling and now as a result of Lost's power overload, the moon Phobos had fallen out of orbit and was about to crush the planet. When Kurt stopped their descent, Fabian begged him to teleport them to safety but he refused to leave without protecting the people still on the planet. He told Fabian to overload him with power as he did to Lost, so he could put Phobos back into orbit with his last dying breath. Fabian broke down and in a shocking moment of humility, confessed that he believed he'd fail and that all he really wanted was for people to like and respect him, Kurt asked him how he expected people to like him when he clearly despised himself. Overcoming his cowardice and selfishness, he helped Nightcrawler save the planet. Kurt then gave him the task of helping him restore his memories after his resurrection so he could remember how to stop Onslaught. Unfortunately at that moment Onslaught, possessing Xavier, appeared behind him and but him into a coma. Xavier showed the revived Kurt his comatose body and told him he was denying him death and resurrection, so he could never restore Kurt's memories or earn redemption.

Fortunately Kurt figured out something was going on and had Legion bring Fabian's mind to the Astral Plane. After Nightcrawler and his team discussed Onslaughts plan and realized he had spread to everyone on the Island, after Orchis had somehow planted a fragment him deep inside Lost's mind using her hatred of Fabian as a hiding place. He was now going to make every mutant kill themselves while Xavier deleted all their backups so they couldn't be resurrected. After Fabian explained to them why he became a terrorist and confessed his deep-seated self loathing Lost was able to remove Onslaught from her mind by letting go of her hatred for him. Onslaught now no longer in control of the mutants of Krakoa, took over Magneto and Xavier to create a physical form, but Onslaught was defeated by Dust who attacked him with the consciousness of every mutant in Legion's House of L infused into the individual grains of an Arakki sandstorm. Two months later Fabian and Lost were seen teaching Krakoan children Nightcrawler's philosophy of "The Spark" and later joined his team "The Legionarries" to protect Krakoa's laws and The Spark.

Powers and abilities
Fabian Cortez possesses a unique mutation that grants him the ability to enhance or diminish energy levels. In the case of mutants, he can enhance their abilities occasionally to very dangerous levels and limits that may exceed the normal limits of the targets' control; temporarily empowering them at the expense of their health. Thus, burning out the targeted subjects physical bodies, sometimes at the molecular level.

In X-Men #1 (1991), while on board Asteroid M, Magneto returns from a fight with the X-Men, having suffered deep lacerations to his lower abdomen from Wolverine's claws. Cortez seemingly "heals" Magneto, as he says he had also done with his sister after an earlier battle. These actions temporarily restore Magneto back to full health and vitality. However, these actions turn out to be false, as the effects on Magneto were frequently needed to sustain the "healing" effects by Cortez. Whether this was an offshoot of Cortez's main powers, a display of "controlled power boosting", or demonstrations of an ability to "trigger" a mutant's own natural healing abilities is not known. This ability was not used much or at all in his later history. Additionally, it has not been determined if his power affects human bio-energy or other naturally occurring energy in the same manner.

Cortez could also use his powers to sense and interpret the genetic code of living beings and the unique bio-energy signatures and energy fields in other mutants. Likewise, he may also have some control over his own energy field along with possibly being able to constrict it around various targets and foes.

Cortez is also a skilled martial artist and often carries a firearm. It has not been yet determined if his skill sets are rooted in a previous military background, resulting in advanced tactical expertise. Still, it is noteworthy to mention that he is highly intelligent and a formidable military tactician and strategist.

Development
Cortez was created toward the very end of Claremont's tenure writing the X-Men and was the last major character he introduced. There is a "widespread but unconfirmed rumor that Fabian Cortez was named as a slight to writer Fabian Nicieza" in the Marvel fandom, as Claremont was known to have tensions with Nicieza at the time.

Marvel Zombies
In the Marvel Zombies reality, Magneto heads to earth to rescue anyone he can from the zombie plague. Cortez is entrusted with overseeing Asteroid M and preparing it to be the last outpost of humanoid life. Cortez does this well; his group soon joins up with other survivors, including Forge and the Black Panther. Magneto perishes in battle against the zombies. Decades later, in Marvel Zombies 2, Cortez's child regains control of the colony during a battle with cosmically powered zombies.

X-Men Forever
In this reality, which takes place shortly after the X-Men escape the destruction of Asteroid M, Nick Fury enlists the X-Men in helping him find and capture Cortez. The X-Men successfully capture Cortez, although he nearly defeats them single-handedly. Cortez is eventually turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D., but corrupt agents within then give him over the anti-mutant Consortium. Eager to exploit the "burnout" (that reality's phenomenon where mutant powers cause people to physically give out and die prematurely), the Consortium thought Cortez's powers were rife with the potential to weaponize the concept. Weeks later, Cortez is rescued by Nick Fury and the X-Men, but is on the verge of death due to the experimentation he was forced to endure. Cortez dies in the custody of the X-Men shortly thereafter.

X-Men '92
Cortez appears in X-Men '92, when he overcharges Lila Cheney's teleporting powers; and she takes the X-Men to a distant planet inhabited by the mutant Brood.

What If
Cortez appears in a number of What If...? issues. In the reality seen where Tony Stark chooses not to begin a super-hero career as Iron Man after returning from captivity. Cortez and the Acolytes assemble under Magneto and battle both the X-Men and the StarkTech Sentinels that threaten mutant lives after Tony Stark's innovations to America's Sentinel program pushes the mutant race to the brink of extinction.

In the reality where the space station Avalon was officially recognized as a mutant colony under the rule of Magneto, divisions between his Acolytes erupt, with Exodus leading the isolationists, who want to take Avalon to the stars and away from the taint of humanity on Earth, while Cortez's annihilationists wish to return to Earth, eliminate the humans, and reclaim their homeland. These concerns become secondary after the birth of Acolytes Skids and Rusty's first child, who registers as Homo Ultima, the next stage of humanity, beyond even that of mutant. Cortez and Exodus unite their factions for fear of being usurped, leading to the death of the child. In the aftermath, it is revealed that Magneto engineered fake genetic scan results for Homo Ultima, sacrificing the child to bring unity to his Acolytes.

Television
Fabian Cortez appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by Jeffrey Max Nicholls. He initially appears as the leader of Magneto's Acolytes before his misanthropy leads to him breaking off in an attempt at killing Magneto and taking over the world, only to be foiled by the X-Men and Amelia Voght and trapped on Asteroid M by a vengeful Magneto. Cortez is later rescued by Apocalypse and Deathbird, with the former granting him the ability to alter other mutants' mutations, and loyally serves him as a worshiper and unofficial fifth Horseman of Apocalypse. Following the destruction of Apocalypse's body, Cortez assembles cultists loyal to the former and the Hounds to find a new body, only to be betrayed and defeated by Caliban. In retaliation for his failure, Apocalypse possesses Cortez.

Video games

 * Fabian Cortez appears as a boss in X-Men: Gamesmaster's Legacy.
 * Fabian Cortez appears as a boss in X-Men 2: Clone Wars.

title: Fabian Cortez


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USS Ray

Two submarines of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Ray, named in honor of the ray, a fish characterized by a flat body, large pectoral fins, and a whiplike tail.

 * USS Ray (SS-271) was a Gato-class submarine commissioned in 1943 and struck in 1960.
 * USS Ray (SSN-653) was a Sturgeon-class submarine commissioned in 1967 and struck in 1993.

title: USS Ray


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Concorde Agreement

The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Formula One teams and the Formula One Group which dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races, and how the television revenues and prize money is shared. There have been eight versions of the Concorde Agreement, all of which terms were kept strictly secret: the first one was signed in 1981, with newer agreements being signed in 1987, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2013; the current agreement was signed in 2021. The secrecy was broken by racing journalist Forrest Bond, when the 120-page 1997 Concorde Agreement was published at the end of 2005 by RaceFax.

The intent of the agreements is to encourage professionalism and to increase the commercial success of Formula One. Conditions of the agreement generally include the obligation of the teams to participate in every race, hence making the sport more reliable for broadcasters, who were expected to invest heavily to acquire television broadcast rights, and a percentage of the sport's commercial revenue in return for the teams.

First Concorde Agreement (1981)
In 1979, the Commission Sportive Internationale, a subordinate organization of the FIA, which was at that time the rule-making body for Formula One, was dissolved. It was replaced by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), which would serve the same function. FISA clashed repeatedly with the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), which represented the teams' interests. FOCA's chief executive at the time was Bernie Ecclestone and his legal advisor was Max Mosley, while the president of FISA was Jean Marie Balestre.

The two organizations' disagreements, which came to be known as the FISA–FOCA war, resulted in several races being cancelled, or declared non-valid (e.g. the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix). Goodyear threatened to withdraw entirely from Formula One, an event which would have been commercially disastrous for the sport, so Ecclestone organized a meeting with all team managers, Balestre, and other FISA representatives at the FIA headquarters in Place de la Concorde, Paris, France. On 19 January 1981, after thirteen straight hours of negotiation, all parties present signed the first Concorde Agreement, named after the square in which the negotiations took place.

The contract's terms remain largely confidential, though its known stipulations required the signatory teams to appear and compete in every race, and guaranteed their right to do so in order to assure the sport's newly acquired television public that they would have a race to watch. Also, perhaps most importantly, the agreement granted FOCA the right to televise Formula One races — this right was "leased" to Formula One Promotions and Administration, a company established and owned by Bernie Ecclestone. Another important element was the stability in rules, described as protecting the teams from "the whims of the governing body".

It expired on 31 December 1987.

Second Concorde Agreement (1987)
The second Concorde Agreement governed the to  seasons.

Third Concorde Agreement (1992)
The third Concorde Agreement covered the to  seasons. Ecclestone required the approval of Jean-Marie Balestre and the FIA to transfer Formula One television rights to FOCA. He arranged that his business partner Paddy McNally, who was proficient in French, should negotiate the agreement with Balestre, and eventually they came to terms. Balestre was unaware of Ecclestone's aggressive expansion and the value of the television rights. Max Mosley became FIA president shortly after in 1993.

Fourth Concorde Agreement (1997)
In 1995, the FIA decided to transfer Formula One's commercial rights from FOCA to Formula One Administration for a 14-year period. In exchange, Ecclestone would provide an annual payment. McLaren, Williams and Tyrrell protested this by rejecting the proposed Concorde Agreement (negotiations for which started as early as 1993). Ken Tyrrell in particular was enraged by the fact that Ecclestone, as the president of FOCA, had negotiated the transfer of the rights from the current organization to his own company. Tyrrell also objected the addendum to the Agreement being secret, arguing that secrecy surrounding the agreement would have only benefitted Ecclestone (by weakening the bargaining power of other parties).

The said three teams refused to sign the proposed Concorde Agreement, initially with the support of the remaining teams. However, on 5 September 1996 the new Concorde Agreement was signed by all teams except McLaren, Williams and Tyrrell. The agreement was supposed to be in effect from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2002.

In 2005, racing journalist Forrest Bond published the 120-page 1997 Concorde Agreement on RaceFax, hence making it the first (and to this date only) version of the agreement to ever be released to the public.

Fifth Concorde Agreement (1998)
By taking a stand against the actions of Ecclestone, the FIA and the wider commercial aspects of Formula One, McLaren, Williams and Tyrrell lost both influence in the sport and the income which they would have received as signatories. A compromise was reached and on 27 August 1998, a new Concorde Agreement was signed, which accommodated the three teams and which expired on 31 December 2007.

Sixth Concorde Agreement (2009)
On 7 December 2004, at a meeting attended by the bosses of all teams except Ferrari, Ecclestone offered a payout of £260,000,000 over three years in return for unanimous renewal of the fifth Concorde Agreement, which would guarantee the continuation of Formula One in its present form at least until the expiration of that contract.

On 19 January 2005, Ferrari announced that it had signed an extension to the previous agreement to expire on 31 December 2012. On 18 July 2005, Red Bull also signed an extension, as Jordan and Midland did two days later. On 7 December 2005, Williams became the fourth team to sign the extension.

On 27 March 2006, the five Grand Prix Manufacturers Association-backed teams - BMW Sauber, Renault, Honda, McLaren and Toyota - submitted their applications for the 2008 season, agreeing to stay in the sport until 2012. On 14 May 2006, the five GPMA-backed teams signed a memorandum of understanding with the commercial rightsholders (CVC/Ecclestone) which formed the basis of the next Concorde Agreement. As such, a full Concorde Agreement was not in place for the season, with the Memorandum, extensions and agreements with the other individual teams acting as a stop-gap solution.

On 29 July 2008, the ten currently competing teams created the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) to negotiate the terms of contract. After a dispute between FOTA and the FIA in the first half of 2009, a new Concorde Agreement was signed by Mosley and all of the teams, although Sauber, in transition as majority owner of BMW, had announced, shortly beforehand, its intention of withdrawing from the sport at the end of the season, so waited until a controlling stake of the team was returned to Peter Sauber before signing. The new agreement provides for a continuation of the terms of the 1998 agreement, and runs until 31 December 2012. At the same meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, a programme of resource restriction was also agreed upon, as were a revised set of sporting and technical regulations for the season.

Seventh Concorde Agreement (2013)
The 2013 Concorde Agreement took an extended period of negotiations. The sixth agreement ran until 31 December 2012, but no new agreement was in place for the start of the 2013 season. In October 2012 FIA communicated that they were expecting a final settlement between all parties involved within weeks. In reality it took until September 2013.

Strictly speaking the 2013 Agreement does not really meet the qualifications for a 'Concorde' Agreement, as it is not a collective agreement among the parties involved. Rather, it is a series of individual bilateral agreements between Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Group and all other parties involved being FIA and the individual Formula One teams.

In October 2012, Bernie Ecclestone indicated that he already had agreements with all teams for the 2013-2020 period. However, this list did not yet include Marussia. The Marussia Formula One Team did manage to sign its own bilateral agreement with the Formula One Group in October 2013.

The Concorde Implementation Agreement between the FIA and the Formula One Group was signed in July 2013 and was enforced on 27 September 2013. It expired on 31 December 2020. The FIA press announcement about this agreement mentioned that "the parties will move towards the conclusions of a multi-party Concorde agreement", but such a multi-party agreement never materialized.

Eighth Concorde Agreement (2021)
Negotiations over the terms to replace the 2013 agreement began as part of wider discussions over the future of the sport in 2017. A deadline to reach a deal was extended until 31 October 2019. The Agreement was reported to be nearing completion in January 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix weekend, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff declared his dissatisfaction with the terms of the new agreement, which was to introduce a budget cap from the season and change the prize money distribution. Wolff believed that his team would be affected most negatively. In response, the deadline for signing the agreement, previously set for 12 August, was moved back a week. However, after discussions with Chase Carey, Wolff changed stance and declared his willingness to sign the new agreement. The new Concorde Agreement seeks to protect the value of the incumbent teams, by requiring new entrants to pay 200 million dollars up front, shared equally among 10 existing teams, in exchange for having the right of revenue share in its first year of competition. Previously, new entries only received the prize money from their second year of competition.

On 18 August 2020, Ferrari, McLaren, and Williams announced that they had signed the new Concorde Agreement,  whilst the following day Formula One announced that the other teams had also signed. The agreement, which is the first to be signed under new owners Liberty Media, covers the to  seasons, and came into force on 1 January 2021.

General references

 * The Economist: Grand prix, grand prizes
 * GrandPrix.com: Who owns what in F1 these days?

title: Concorde Agreement


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Fang Zhimin

Fang Zhimin (, Wade–Giles: Fang Chih Min; August 21, 1899 – August 6, 1935) was a Chinese communist military and political leader.

Life
Born in a poor peasant household in Yixian, Jiangxi Province, Fang joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1924 and assisted in setting up a provincial party organization.

After the failure of the Shanghai Uprising in 1927, Fang returned to Jiangxi, where he worked in organizing the peasantry and urged them to take part in armed uprisings.

From 1928 to 1933 Fang conducted guerrilla operations, enacted land reforms, established a base area in the border area of Jiangxi and Fujian provinces, and organized a section of the Chinese Red Army.

Death
Fang was later elected a member of the Central Committee during the sixth session of the Fifth Party Congress. Fang was captured by the Kuomintang in January 1935 and executed on August 6, 1935. The 2015 opera Fang Zhimin commemorates his life and death.

title: Fang Zhimin


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Gerard Schwarz

Gerard Schwarz (born August 19, 1947), also known as Gerry Schwarz or Jerry Schwarz, is an American symphony conductor and trumpeter. As of 2019, Schwarz serves as the Artistic and Music Director of Palm Beach Symphony and the Director of Orchestral Activities and Music Director of the Frost Symphony Orchestra at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

Early life
Schwarz was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, to Jewish parents. His parents were both physicians and took him to concerts and opera performances. Schwarz began his trumpet career at age 8. By 12 years of age, he dedicated his life to becoming a musician. He graduated from New York City's High School of Performing Arts and Juilliard School of Music and began his musical career as a trumpeter, performing until 1977 as co-principal of the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez. He began conducting in 1966.

Schwarz champions American composers, past and present. He has made more than 100 recordings with the Seattle Symphony including many American works. In particular, he won acclaim for his recordings of symphonies and orchestral works by Walter Piston, Howard Hanson, William Schuman, Alan Hovhaness, and David Diamond.

Schwarz built the strength of the Seattle Symphony. In 1983 it had 5,000 subscribers; as of 2008 it had 35,000. He spearheaded the effort to build Benaroya Hall for the symphony. However, his leadership style of the Seattle Symphony was controversial among some musicians. A portrait painting of Schwarz by artist Michele Rushworth was unveiled and installed at Benaroya Hall in 2011.

Career
In 1971 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

He frequently held multiple positions simultaneously. He was music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1978 to 1986.

He served as music director of New York's Mostly Mozart Festival from 1982 to 2001. He was the music director of the Seattle Symphony from 1985 to 2011.

From 2001 to 2006, Schwarz was music director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO). He served as music director of the New York Chamber Symphony and music advisor to Tokyo's Orchard Hall in conjunction with the Tokyo Philharmonic.

In 2007, Schwarz was named music director of the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, having served as its principal conductor since 2005. He expanded the festival's audience to the largest in its history, enhanced education and programming to include a composer in residence and three new concert series and increased collaboration with An Appalachian Summer Festival, where he is artistic partner for symphonic music programming.

Recordings
Among the orchestras that Schwarz has led on his other recordings are the Czech Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de France. In 2003 he recorded two concertos by Philip Glass: the Cello Concerto (with Julian Lloyd Webber) and the Concerto for Two Timpanists (with Evelyn Glennie and Jonathan Haas with the RLPO).

He recorded all of Mahler's symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems with the RLPO.

As a trumpet soloist, Schwarz has recorded the concertos of Franz Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel for Delos.

In 2011, the block around Benaroya Hall was named "Gerard Schwarz Place."

Discography

 * Judith Blegen and Frederica von Stade: Songs, Arias and Duets, with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Columbia, 1975

Awards

 * Ditson Conductor's Award for his commitment to the performance of American music. (1989)
 * Musical America's Conductor of the Year (1994) He was the first American to win that award
 * 14 Grammy nominations
 * 4 Emmy awards (of 5 nominations) for his performance of Mozart's Requiem on Live from Lincoln Center and performances with the Seattle Symphony on PBS.
 * Seattle City of Music Outstanding Achievement Award (2010).

Personal life
Gerard Schwarz married Jody (née Greitzer ) in June 1984. He has four children, including cellist Julian Schwarz.

title: Gerard Schwarz


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Santos-Dumont (crater)

Santos-Dumont is a small lunar impact crater that lies in the northern end of the Montes Apenninus range at the eastern edge of the Mare Imbrium. It is located about 30 kilometers to the northeast of Mons Hadley, a mountain massif.

This crater is a circular, bowl-shaped formation that is situated atop a ridge in the Montes Apenninus. It is otherwise an unremarkable formation with no unusual features and little appearance of wear.

To the northwest of Santos-Dumont is a 90-km-wide system of rilles designated the Rimae Fresnel, being named for the Promontorium Fresnel that lies to the north of the crater. This last formation forms the northern end of the Montes Apenninus, and lies astride the gap that joins the Mare Imbrium to the west with the Mare Serenitatis to the east. To the southeast, in the valley past Mons Hadley, is the landing site of the Apollo 15 mission.

This feature is named in honour of the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. It was previously designated Hadley B.

title: Santos-Dumont (crater)


text:
Talk:Oranmore

Untitled
A news source, or some substatiation would be necessary for the following claims added by an anonymous editor, if they are indeed true:

 * A local group known as the O.P.A. have recently gained huge influence in the village, espeicially amongst youths, and are thought to have links with several terrorist orginizations. Thier goals remain unknown to the villagers.

zoney ♣ talk 16:50, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The above is absolute tripe. A joke I would imagine.

Haha - Oranmore Pioneers Association. Its a long time running joke, so yes, its obviously tripe. :D

-Havok

Why was the Joe Howley link removed? I hardly think a historical figure, of which there is actually a statue in the village, constitutes 'vandalism'.

Joe Howley was an Irish rebel shot dead in December 1920 who came from Oranmore. It is hard to find alot of information on him but needless to say he did exist. The statue is on the corner, right beside the betting office and Ti Gearoid, in a small court. Mention of his death here:

http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/december_1920.htm

No offence but I think that somebody who is not familar with Oranmore - and I say this, because everybody who lives in Oranmore is aware of the statue - is exactly suitable to be editing the villages wikipedia page.

Joe Howley
I removed a lot of the notable figures because they were the work of vandals. I have been to Oranmore but have not seen this statue. I cannot find anything about Joe Howley. Can you tell more about Joe Howley? Mfields1 01:58, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Joe Howley was an Irish rebel shot dead in December 1920 who came from Oranmore. It is hard to find alot of information on him but needless to say he did exist. The statue is on the corner, right beside the betting office and Ti Gearoid, in a small court. Mention of his death here:

http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/december_1920.htm

No offence but I think that somebody who is not familar with Oranmore - and I say this, because everybody who lives in Oranmore is aware of the statue - is exactly suitable to be editing the villages wikipedia page.

 * No offense taken.  Due to vandalism of Wikipedia I assumed Joe Howley was an add on item by a vandal.  I apologize for the mistake.  I was in your lovely city but one time.  I did not see the statue.  I did visit the thatched roof pub and the one across the street (can't remember the name).  My visit was during the golfing tournament last fall.  Oranmore is a lovely town. The weather was not too good but the people were friendly.  Mfields1 22:59, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for putting that back. I'm currently trying to find out more about him, actually, my information is extremely limited. When I was in primary school in Oranmore, one of my teachers there was a massive fan of Irish History and had pages upon pages of information on both Howley and the general activities of the rebels in the area. Sadly I've forgotten most of it, and I can't find anything online other then the vague reference to his death, so I may have to go back to the school and hope she can spare something....

Highest per capita income
Can someone substantiate this with a reputable citation please? PD (talk) 22:12, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

Translation of placename
Does anybody have a translation of the placename? Galway explains the origin of its' name, as do Sligo, Cork, Waterford and Dublin. Autarch (talk) 20:29, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Musters
I removed the Musters mention under the notable people. It didn't seem notable or encyclopedic. Wonderland42 (talk) 10:19, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Oranmore. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20130705153931/http://www.connachttribune.ie/breaking-news/23610-transport-minister-to-open-oranmore-rail-station to http://www.connachttribune.ie/breaking-news/23610-transport-minister-to-open-oranmore-rail-station
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120303160718/http://www.galwaynews.ie/13599-wartime-submarine-commander-and-adventurer-turns-100 to http://www.galwaynews.ie/13599-wartime-submarine-commander-and-adventurer-turns-100

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title: Talk:Oranmore


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Habitat fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the physical environment (suspected of being one of the major causes of speciation ), and human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment much faster and causes the extinction of many species. More specifically, habitat fragmentation is a process by which large and contiguous habitats get divided into smaller, isolated patches of habitats.

Definition
The term habitat fragmentation includes five discrete phenomena:
 * Reduction in the total area of the habitat
 * Decrease of the interior: edge ratio
 * Isolation of one habitat fragment from other areas of habitat
 * Breaking up of one patch of habitat into several smaller patches
 * Decrease in the average size of each patch of habitat

"fragmentation ... not only causes loss of the amount of habitat but by creating small, isolated patches it also changes the properties of the remaining habitat" (van den Berg et al. 2001). Habitat fragmentation is the landscape level of the phenomenon, and patch level process. Thus meaning, it covers; the patch areas, edge effects, and patch shape complexity.

In scientific literature, there is some debate whether the term "habitat fragmentation" applies in cases of habitat loss, or whether the term primarily applies to the phenomenon of habitat being cut into smaller pieces without significant reduction in habitat area. Scientists who use the stricter definition of "habitat fragmentation" per se would refer to the loss of habitat area as "habitat loss" and explicitly mention both terms if describing a situation where the habitat becomes less connected and there is less overall habitat.

Furthermore, habitat fragmentation is considered as an invasive threat to biodiversity, due to its implications of affecting large number of species than biological invasions, overexploitation, or pollution.

Additionally, the effects of habitat fragmentation damage the ability for species, such as native plants, to be able to effectively adapt to their changing environments. Ultimately, this prevents gene flow from one generation of population to the next, especially for species living in smaller population sizes. Whereas, for species of larger populations have more genetic mutations which can arise and genetic recombination impacts which can increase species survival in those environments. Overall, habitat fragmentation results in habitat disintegration and habitat loss which both tie into destructing biodiversity as a whole.

Natural causes
Evidence of habitat destruction through natural processes such as volcanism, fire, and climate change is found in the fossil record. Studies have demonstrated the impacts of individual species at the landscape level For example, From research the results show that the impact of deer herbivory on forest plant communities can be observed at the landscape level at the Rondeau Provincial park for the period of 1955-1978 and also, habitat fragmentation of tropical rainforests in Euramerica 300 million years ago led to a great loss of amphibian diversity, but simultaneously the drier climate spurred on a burst of diversity among reptiles.

Human causes
Habitat fragmentation is frequently caused by humans when native plants are cleared for human activities such as agriculture, rural development, urbanization and the creation of hydroelectric reservoirs. Habitats which were once continuous become divided into separate fragments. Due to human activities, many tropical and temperate habitats have already been severely fragmented, and in the near future, the degree of fragmentation will significantly rise. After intensive clearing, the separate fragments tend to be very small islands isolated from each other by cropland, pasture, pavement, or even barren land. The latter is often the result of slash and burn farming in tropical forests. In the wheat belt of central-western New South Wales, Australia, 90% of the native vegetation has been cleared and over 99% of the tall grass prairie of North America has been cleared, resulting in extreme habitat fragmentation.

Endogenous vs. exogenous
There are two types of processes that can lead to habitat fragmentation. There are exogenous processes and endogenous processes. Endogenous is a process that develops as a part of species biology so they typically include changes in biology, behavior, and interactions within or between species. Endogenous threats can result in changes to breeding patterns or migration patterns and are often triggered by exogenous processes. Exogenous processes are independent of species biology and can include habitat degradation, habitat subdivision or habitat isolation. These processes can have a substantial impact on endogenous processes by fundamentally altering species behavior. Habitat subdivision or isolation can lead to changes in dispersal or movement of species including changes to seasonal migration. These changes can lead to a decrease in a density of species, increased competition or even increased predation.

Habitat and biodiversity loss
One of the major ways that habitat fragmentation affects biodiversity is by reducing the amount of suitable habitat available for organisms. Habitat fragmentation often involves both habitat destruction and the subdivision of previously continuous habitat. Plants and other sessile organisms are disproportionately affected by some types of habitat fragmentation because they cannot respond quickly to the altered spatial configuration of the habitat. Habitat fragmentation consistently reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. This underscores the severe and lasting ecological impacts of fragmentation, which could be highlighted in the sections discussing the consequences of fragmentation.

Habitat loss, which can occur through the process of habitat fragmentation, is considered to be the greatest threat to species. But, the effect of the configuration of habitat patches within the landscape, independent of the effect of the amount of habitat within the landscape (referred to as fragmentation per se ), has been suggested to be small. A review of empirical studies found that, of the 381 reported significant effect of habitat fragmentation per se on species occurrences, abundances or diversity in the scientific literature, 76% were positive whereas 24% were negative. Despite these results, the scientific literature tends to emphasize negative effects more than positive effects. Positive effects of habitat fragmentation per se imply that several small patches of habitat can have higher conservation value than a single large patch of equivalent size. Land sharing strategies could therefore have more positive impacts on species than land sparing strategies. Although the negative effects of habitat loss are generally viewed to be much larger than that of habitat fragmentation, the two events are heavily connected and observations are not usually independent of one another. Area is the primary determinant of the number of species in a fragment and the relative contributions of demographic and genetic processes to the risk of global population extinction depend on habitat configuration, stochastic environmental variation and species features. Minor fluctuations in climate, resources, or other factors that would be unremarkable and quickly corrected in large populations can be catastrophic in small, isolated populations. Thus fragmentation of habitat is an important cause of species extinction. Population dynamics of subdivided populations tend to vary asynchronously. In an unfragmented landscape a declining population can be "rescued" by immigration from a nearby expanding population. In fragmented landscapes, the distance between fragments may prevent this from happening. Additionally, unoccupied fragments of habitat that are separated from a source of immigrants by some barrier are less likely to be repopulated than adjoining fragments. Even small species such as the Columbia spotted frog are reliant on the rescue effect. Studies showed 25% of juveniles travel a distance over 200m compared to 4% of adults. Of these, 95% remain in their new locale, demonstrating that this journey is necessary for survival.

Additionally, habitat fragmentation leads to edge effects. Microclimatic changes in light, temperature, and wind can alter the ecology around the fragment, and in the interior and exterior portions of the fragment. Fires become more likely in the area as humidity drops and temperature and wind levels rise. Exotic and pest species may establish themselves easily in such disturbed environments, and the proximity of domestic animals often upsets the natural ecology. Also, habitat along the edge of a fragment has a different climate and favours different species from the interior habitat. Small fragments are therefore unfavourable for species that require interior habitat. The percentage preservation of contiguous habitats is closely related to both genetic and species biodiversity preservation. Generally a 10% remnant contiguous habitat will result in a 50% biodiversity loss.

Much of the remaining terrestrial wildlife habitat in many third world countries has experienced fragmentation through the development of urban expansion such as roads interfering with habitat loss. Aquatic species’ habitats have been fragmented by dams and water diversions. These fragments of habitat may not be large or connected enough to support species that need a large territory where they can find mates and food. The loss and fragmentation of habitats makes it difficult for migratory species to find places to rest and feed along their migration routes.

The effects of current fragmentation will continue to emerge for decades. Extinction debts are likely to come due, although the counteracting immigration debts may never fully be paid. Indeed, the experiments here reveal ongoing losses of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning two decades or longer after fragmentation occurred. Understanding the relationship between transient and long-term dynamics is a substantial challenge that ecologists must tackle, and fragmentation experiments will be central for relating observation to theory.

Informed conservation
Habitat fragmentation is often a cause of species becoming threatened or endangered. The existence of viable habitat is critical to the survival of any species, and in many cases, the fragmentation of any remaining habitat can lead to difficult decisions for conservation biologists. Given a limited amount of resources available for conservation is it preferable to protect the existing isolated patches of habitat or to buy back land to get the largest possible contiguous piece of land. In rare cases, a conservation reliant species may gain some measure of disease protection by being distributed in isolated habitats, and when controlled for overall habitat loss some studies have shown a positive relationship between species richness and fragmentation; this phenomenon has been called the habitat amount hypothesis, though the validity of this claim has been disputed. The ongoing debate of what size fragments are most relevant for conservation is often referred to as SLOSS (Single Large or Several Small). Habitat loss in a biodiversity hotspot can result in a localized extinction crisis, generally speaking habitat loss in a hotspot location can be a good indicator or predictor of the number of threatened and extinct endemic species.

One solution to the problem of habitat fragmentation is to link the fragments by preserving or planting corridors of native vegetation. In some cases, a bridge or underpass may be enough to join two fragments. This has the potential to mitigate the problem of isolation but not the loss of interior habitat. Wildlife corridors can help animals to move and occupy new areas when food sources or other natural resources are lacking in their core habitat, and animals can find new mates in neighbouring regions so that genetic diversity can increase. Species that relocate seasonally can do so more safely and effectively when it does not interfere with human development barriers.

Due to the continuous expansion of urban landscapes, current research is looking at green roofs being possible vectors of habitat corridors. A recent study has found that green roofs are beneficial in connecting the habitats of arthropods, specifically bees and weevils.

Another mitigation measure is the enlargement of small remnants to increase the amount of interior habitat. This may be impractical since developed land is often more expensive and could require significant time and effort to restore.

The best solution is generally dependent on the particular species or ecosystem that is being considered. More mobile species, like most birds, do not need connected habitat while some smaller animals, like rodents, may be more exposed to predation in open land. These questions generally fall under the headings of metapopulations island biogeography.

Genetic risks
As the remaining habitat patches are smaller, they tend to support smaller populations of fewer species. Small populations are at an increased risk of a variety of genetic consequences that influence their long-term survival. Remnant populations often contain only a subset of the genetic diversity found in the previously continuous habitat. In these cases, processes that act upon underlying genetic diversity, such as adaptation, have a smaller pool of fitness-maintaining alleles to survive in the face of environmental change. However, in some scenarios, where subsets of genetic diversity are partitioned among multiple habitat fragments, almost all original genetic diversity can be maintained despite each individual fragment displaying a reduced subset of diversity.

Gene Flow and Inbreeding
Gene flow occurs when individuals of the same species exchange genetic information through reproduction. Populations can maintain genetic diversity through migration. When a habitat becomes fragmented and reduced in area, gene flow and migration are typically reduced. Fewer individuals will migrate into the remaining fragments, and small disconnected populations that may have once been part of a single large population will become reproductively isolated. Scientific evidence that gene flow is reduced due to fragmentation depends on the study species. While trees that have long-range pollination and dispersal mechanisms may not experience reduced gene flow following fragmentation, most species are at risk of reduced gene flow following habitat fragmentation.

Reduced gene flow, and reproductive isolation can result in inbreeding between related individuals. Inbreeding does not always result in negative fitness consequences, but when inbreeding is associated with fitness reduction it is called inbreeding depression. Inbreeding becomes of increasing concern as the level of homozygosity increases, facilitating the expression of deleterious alleles that reduce the fitness. Habitat fragmentation can lead to inbreeding depression for many species due to reduced gene flow. Inbreeding depression is associated with conservation risks, like local extinction.

Genetic drift
Small populations are more susceptible to genetic drift. Genetic drift is random changes to the genetic makeup of populations and leads to reductions in genetic diversity. The smaller the population is, the more likely genetic drift will be a driving force of evolution rather than natural selection. Because genetic drift is a random process, it does not allow species to become more adapted to their environment. Habitat fragmentation is associated with increases to genetic drift in small populations which can have negative consequences for the genetic diversity of the populations. However, research suggests that some tree species may be resilient to the negative consequences of genetic drift until population size is as small as ten individuals or less.

Genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation for plant populations
Habitat fragmentation decreases the size and increases plant populations' spatial isolation. With genetic variation and increased methods of inter-population genetic divergence due to increased effects of random genetic drift, elevating inbreeding and reducing gene flow within plant species. While genetic variation may decrease with remnant population size, not all fragmentation events lead to genetic losses and different types of genetic variation. Rarely, fragmentation can also increase gene flow among remnant populations, breaking down local genetic structure.

Adaptation
In order for populations to evolve in response to natural selection, they must be large enough that natural selection is a stronger evolutionary force than genetic drift. Recent studies on the impacts of habitat fragmentation on adaptation in some plant species have suggested that organisms in fragmented landscapes may be able to adapt to fragmentation. However, there are also many cases where fragmentation reduces adaptation capacity because of small population size.

Examples of impacted species
Some species that have experienced genetic consequences due to habitat fragmentation are listed below:

 * Macquaria australasica
 * Fagus sylvatica
 * Betula nana
 * Rhinella ornata
 * Ochotona princeps
 * Uta stansburiana
 * Plestiodon skiltonianus
 * Sceloporus occidentalis
 * Chamaea fasciata

Effect on animal behaviours
Although the way habitat fragmentation affects the genetics and extinction rates of species has been heavily studied, fragmentation has also been shown to affect species' behaviours and cultures as well. This is important because social interactions can determine and have an effect on a species' fitness and survival. Habitat fragmentation alters the resources available and the structure of habitats, as a result, alters the behaviours of species and the dynamics between differing species. Behaviours affected can be within a species such as reproduction, mating, foraging, species dispersal, communication and movement patterns or can be behaviours between species such as predator-prey relationships. In addition, when animals happen to venture into unknown areas in between fragmented forests or landscapes, they can supposedly come into contact with humans which puts them at a great risk and further decreases their chances of survival.

Predation behaviours
Habitat fragmentation due to anthropogenic activities has been shown to greatly affect the predator-prey dynamics of many species by altering the number of species and the members of those species. This affects the natural predator-prey relationships between animals in a given community and forces them to alter their behaviours and interactions, therefore resetting the so-called "behavioral space race". The way in which fragmentation changes and re-shapes these interactions can occur in many different forms. Most prey species have patches of land that are a refuge from their predators, allowing them the safety to reproduce and raise their young. Human introduced structures such as roads and pipelines alter these areas by facilitating predator activity in these refuges, increasing predator-prey overlap. The opposite could also occur in the favour of prey, increasing prey refuge and subsequently decreasing predation rates. Fragmentation may also increase predator abundance or predator efficiency and therefore increase predation rates in this manner. Several other factors can also increase or decrease the extent to which the shifting predator-prey dynamics affect certain species, including how diverse a predators diet is and how flexible habitat requirements are for predators and prey. Depending on which species are affected and these other factors, fragmentation and its effects on predator-prey dynamics may contribute to species extinction. In response to these new environmental pressures, new adaptive behaviours may be developed. Prey species may adapt to increased risk of predation with strategies such as altering mating tactics or changing behaviours and activities related to food and foraging.

Boreal woodland caribous
In the boreal woodland caribous of British Columbia, the effects of fragmentation are demonstrated. The species refuge area is peatland bog which has been interrupted by linear features such as roads and pipelines. These features have allowed their natural predators, the wolf, and the black bear to more efficiently travel over landscapes and between patches of land. Since their predators can more easily access the caribous' refuge, the females of the species attempt to avoid the area, affecting their reproductive behaviours and offspring produced.

Communication behaviours
Fragmentation affecting the communication behaviours of birds has been well studied in Dupont's Lark. The Larks primarily reside in regions of Spain and are a small passerine bird which uses songs as a means of cultural transmission between members of the species. The Larks have two distinct vocalizations, the song, and the territorial call. The territorial call is used by males to defend and signal territory from other male Larks and is shared between neighbouring territories when males respond to a rivals song. Occasionally it is used as a threat signal to signify an impending attack on territory. A large song repertoire can enhance a male's ability to survive and reproduce as he has a greater ability to defend his territory from other males, and a larger number of males in the species means a larger variety of songs being transmitted. Fragmentation of the Dupont's Lark territory from agriculture, forestry and urbanization appears to have a large effect on their communication structures. Males only perceive territories of a certain distance to be rivals and so isolation of territory from others due to fragmentation leads to a decrease in territorial calls as the males no longer have any reason to use it or have any songs to match.

Humans have also brought on varying implications into ecosystems which in turn affect animal behaviour and responses generated. Although there are some species which are able to survive these kinds of harsh conditions, such as, cutting down wood in the forests for pulp and paper industries, there are animals which can survive this change but some that cannot. An example includes, varying aquatic insects are able to identify appropriate ponds to lay their eggs with the aid of polarized light to guide them, however, due to ecosystem modifications caused by humans they are led onto artificial structures which emit artificial light which are induced by dry asphalt dry roads for an example.

Effect on microorganisms
While habitat fragmentation is often associated with its effects on large plant and animal populations and biodiversity, due to the interconnectedness of ecosystems there are also significant effects that it has on the microbiota of an environment. Increased fragmentation has been linked to reduced populations and diversity of fungi responsible for decomposition, as well as the insects they are host to. This has been linked to simplified food webs in highly fragmented areas compared to old growth forests. Furthermore, edge effects have been shown to result in significantly varied microenvironments compared to interior forest due to variations in light availability, presence of wind, changes in precipitation, and overall moisture content of leaf litter. These microenvironments are often not conducive to overall forest health as they enable generalist species to thrive at the expense of specialists that depend on specific environments.

Effect on mutualistic and antagonistic relationships
A metadata analysis has found that habitat fragmentation greatly affects mutualistic relationships while affecting antagonistic relationships, such as predation and herbivory, to a less degree. For example, the mutualistic relationship between Mesogyne insignis and Megachile. A study has found greater pollination and increased fruit production of M. insignis in unfragmented forests verses fragmented forests. As for an example of an antagonistic relationship of nest predation, a study found that there is no increase in nest predation on fragmented forests - thus not supporting the edge effect hypothesis.

Effect on ecosystem services
Habitat fragmentation has profound effects on ecosystem services, impacting nutrient retention, species richness, and local biophysical conditions. Fragmentation-mediated processes cause generalizable responses at the population, community, and ecosystem levels, resulting in decreased nutrient retention. Furthermore, habitat fragmentation alters relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across multiple scales, affecting both the local loss of biodiversity and the local loss of function. Moreover, fragmentation can change the microclimate at both local and regional scales, influencing biodiversity through interactions with anthropogenic climate change. Overall, habitat fragmentation significantly disrupts ecosystem services by altering nutrient retention, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning at various spatial and temporal scales.

Forest fragmentation
Forest fragmentation is a form of habitat fragmentation where forests are reduced (either naturally or man-made) to relatively small, isolated patches of forest known as forest fragments or forest remnants. The intervening matrix that separates the remaining woodland patches can be natural open areas, farmland, or developed areas. Following the principles of island biogeography, remnant woodlands act like islands of forest in a sea of pastures, fields, subdivisions, shopping malls, etc. These fragments will then begin to undergo the process of ecosystem decay.

Forest fragmentation also includes less subtle forms of discontinuities such as utility right-of-ways (ROWs). Utility ROWs are of ecological interest because they have become pervasive in many forest communities, spanning areas as large as 5 million acres in the United States. Utility ROWs include electricity transmission ROWs, gas pipeline and telecommunication ROWs. Electricity transmission ROWs are created to prevent vegetation interference with transmission lines. Some studies have shown that electricity transmission ROWs harbor more plant species than adjoining forest areas, due to alterations in the microclimate in and around the corridor. Discontinuities in forest areas associated with utility right-of-ways can serve as biodiversity havens for native bees and grassland species, as the right-of-ways are preserved in an early successional stage.

Forest fragmentation reduces food resources and habitat sources for animals thus splitting these species apart. Thus, making these animals become much more susceptible to effects of predation and making them less likely to perform interbreeding - lowering genetic diversity.

Additionally, forest fragmentation affects the native plant species present within the area by dividing large populations into smaller ones. In turn, smaller populations are more inclined to be affected by genetic drift and population performance, as well as experience increases in inbreeding activities. Moreover, fragmentation can affect the relationship present between animals and plants, such as the relationships regarding seed-dispersal or pollinator-plant relationship.

Implications
Forest fragmentation is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity in forests, especially in the tropics. The problem of habitat destruction that caused the fragmentation in the first place is compounded by:
 * the inability of individual forest fragments to support viable populations, especially of large vertebrates
 * the local extinction of species that do not have at least one fragment capable of supporting a viable population
 * edge effects that alter the conditions of the outer areas of the fragment, greatly reducing the amount of true forest interior habitat.

The effect of fragmentation on the flora and fauna of a forest patch depends on a) the size of the patch, and b) its degree of isolation. Isolation depends on the distance to the nearest similar patch, and the contrast with the surrounding areas. For example, if a cleared area is reforested or allowed to regenerate, the increasing structural diversity of the vegetation will lessen the isolation of the forest fragments. However, when formerly forested lands are converted permanently to pastures, agricultural fields, or human-inhabited developed areas, the remaining forest fragments, and the biota within them, are often highly isolated.

Forest patches that are smaller or more isolated will lose species faster than those that are larger or less isolated. A large number of small forest "islands" typically cannot support the same biodiversity that a single contiguous forest would hold, even if their combined area is much greater than the single forest. However, forest islands in rural landscapes greatly increase their biodiversity. In the Maulino forest of Chile fragmentation appear to not affect overall plant diversity much, and tree diversity is indeed higher in fragments than in large continuous forests.

McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada released a university based newspaper statement stating that 70% of the world's remaining forest stands within one kilometre of a forest edge putting biodiversity at an immense risk based on research conducted by international scientists.

Reduced fragment area, increased isolation, and increased edge initiate changes that percolate through all ecosystems. Habitat fragmentation is able to formulate persistent outcomes which can also become unexpected such as an abundance of some species and the pattern that long temporal scales are required to discern many strong system responses.

Sustainable forest management
The presence of forest fragments influences the supply of various ecosystems in adjacent agricultural fields (Mitchell et al. 2014). Mitchell et al. (2014), researched on six varying ecosystem factors such as crop production, decomposition, pesticide regulation, carbon storage, soil fertility, and water quality regulation in soybean fields through separate distances by nearby forest fragments which all varied in isolation and size across an agricultural landscape in Quebec, Canada. Sustainable forest management can be achieved in several ways including by managing forests for ecosystem services (beyond simple provisioning), through government compensation schemes, and through effective regulation and legal frameworks. The only realistic method of conserving forests is to apply and practice sustainable forest management to risk further loss.

There is a high industrial demand for wood, pulp, paper, and other resources which the forest can provide with, thus businesses which will want more access to the cutting of forests to gain those resources. The rainforest alliance has efficiently been able to put into place an approach to sustainable forest management, and they established this in the late 1980s. Their conservation was deemed successful as it has saved over nearly half a billion acres of land around the world.

A few approaches and measures which can be taken in order to conserve forests are methods by which erosion can be minimized, waste is properly disposed, conserve native tree species to maintain genetic diversity, and setting aside forestland (provides habitat for critical wildlife species). Additionally, forest fires can also occur frequently and measures can also be taken to further prevent forest fires from occurring. For example, in Guatemala’s culturally and ecologically significant Petén region, researchers were able to find over a 20-year period, actively managed FSC-certified forests experienced substantially lower rates of deforestation than nearby protected areas, and forest fires only affected 0.1 percent of certified land area, compared to 10.4 percent of protected areas. However, it must be duly noted that short term decisions regarding forest sector employment and harvest practices can have long-term effects on biodiversity. Planted forests become increasingly important as they supply approximately a quarter of global industrial roundwood production and are predicted to account for 50% of global output within two decades (Brown, 1998; Jaakko Poyry, 1999). Although there have been many difficulties, the implementation of forest certification has been quite prominent in being able to raise effective awareness and disseminating knowledge on a holistic concept, embracing economic, environmental and social issues, worldwide. While also providing a tool for a range of other applications than assessment of sustainability, such as e.g. verifying carbon sinks.

Approaches to understanding habitat fragmentation
Two approaches are typically used to understand habitat fragmentation and its ecological impacts.

Species-oriented approach
The species-oriented approach focuses specifically on individual species and how they each respond to their environment and habitat changes with in it. This approach can be limited because it does only focus on individual species and does not allow for a broad view of the impacts of habitat fragmentation across species.

Pattern-oriented approach
The pattern-oriented approach is based on land cover and its patterning in correlation with species occurrences. One model of study for landscape patterning is the patch-matrix-corridor model developed by Richard Forman The pattern-oriented approach focuses on land cover defined by human means and activities. This model has stemmed from island biogeography and tries to infer causal relationships between the defined landscapes and the occurrence of species or groups of species within them. The approach has limitations in its collective assumptions across species or landscapes which may not account for variations amongst them.

Variegation model
The other model is the variegation model. Variegated landscapes retain much of their natural vegetation but are intermixed with gradients of modified habitat This model of habitat fragmentation typically applies to landscapes that are modified by agriculture. In contrast to the fragmentation model that is denoted by isolated patches of habitat surrounded by unsuitable landscape environments, the variegation model applies to landscapes modified by agriculture where small patches of habitat remain near the remnant original habitat. In between these patches are a matrix of grassland that is often modified versions of the original habitat. These areas do not present as much of a barrier to native species.

title: Habitat fragmentation


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Bamboo lemur

The bamboo lemurs or gentle lemurs are the lemurs in genus Hapalemur. These medium-sized primates live exclusively on Madagascar.

Etymology
Bamboo lemurs were first described by French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1851. Comparing their small size, proportions, speckled fur, and other traits to those of marmosets—then classified in the genus Hapale—he named the genus Hapalemur. Hapale derives from the Greek word ἁπαλός (hapalos), meaning "gentle".

In their discussion of lemur name etymologies, Dunkel et al. speculated that the once popular vernacular name for the genus, "gentle lemur", derived from the translation of Hapalemur, despite their notoriety for being one of the most aggressive lemurs in captivity—an observation first noted in a letter by Dutch naturalist François Pollen published in 1895. More recently, the common name "bamboo lemur" first appeared in the mid- to late-1980s following the rediscovery of the greater bamboo lemur (Hapalemur simus). However, the name became more generally used a year or two later following the discovery of the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) in 1987. For a few years, both names or combinations of both were widely used, but "bamboo lemur" became the preferred name in 1994 with the publication of the first edition of Lemurs of Madagascar. The term "gentle lemur" has seen little use in both popular and academic literature since the early 2000s.

Description
The bamboo lemurs are characterized by a grey-brown fur, which varies by species. Their muzzles are short and their ears are round and hairy. Lengths vary from 26 to 46 cm (10.2 to 18.1 inches), with tails just as long or longer, and they weigh up to 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds.)

Bamboo lemurs prefer damp forests where bamboo grows. Although they can be active any time of the day, they are often active just after dawn. Though primarily arboreal, they sometimes come down to the ground. The Lac Alaotra gentle lemur or "bandro" (Hapalemur alaotrensis), which lives in the reed beds of Lac Alaotra, spends much of its time in water and can swim well, unlike other lemur species, which only venture to water to drink.

The lesser gentle lemurs live together in groups of three to five animals, which probably represent families composed of a male, one or two females, and their offspring. They communicate with a variety of sounds.

Gestation lasts 135 to 150 days and ends between September and January, when the female bears one to two young. These are weaned after about four months (if the food supply is ample) and are fully mature at two years of age. Their life expectancy is up to 12 years.

Cyanide consumption
Not all bamboo contain cyanide, but H. aureus selects the growing tips of Cephalostachyum viguieri, which contain 15 mg of cyanide per 100 g. Other bamboo lemurs have been found to consume less cyanogenetic forms of bamboo, such as mature shoots of C. viguieri or the leaves of Cephalostachyum perrieri. How certain bamboo lemurs can detoxify the high amounts of cyanide in their diets is unknown.

Classification
As of 2010, the classification of bamboo lemurs lists five species and three subspecies. The greater bamboo lemur was removed from this genus in 2001 to Prolemur but was restored in 2016.

 * Genus Hapalemur
 * Eastern lesser bamboo lemur, H. griseus
 * Eastern lesser bamboo lemur, H. g. griseus
 * Gilbert's bamboo lemur, H. g. gilberti
 * Ranomafana bamboo lemur, H. g. ranomafanensis
 * Southern lesser bamboo lemur, H. meridionalis
 * Western lesser bamboo lemur, H. occidentalis
 * Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur, H. alaotrensis
 * Golden bamboo lemur, H. aureus
 * Greater bamboo lemur, H. simus

title: Bamboo lemur


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David Gress

David Richard Gress (born 29 January 1953) is a Danish historian, known for his 1998 survey From Plato to Nato on Western identity and grand narratives.

Life
He was born in Copenhagen, the son of R. W. B. Lewis, an American literary historian, and the Danish writer, playwright and essayist Elsa Gress. The two were not married, which is why Gress uses his mother's maiden name. She subsequently married the American painter Charles Clifford Wright.

He attended Sorø Akademis Skole. He was later educated in Classics at Cambridge University, England, and Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, where he received his Ph.D. in medieval history in 1981. From 1982 to 1992 he was a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, publishing articles and books on international strategy, the West German peace movement, U.S. foreign policy, Nordic politics, and a history of West Germany. From 1993 to 1995 he was visiting fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and lecturer in international history there. From 1996 to 1999 he was a fellow at the Danish Institute of International Affairs and from 1999 to 2001 assistant professor of Classics at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. In 2001-03 he was professor of the history of civilizations at Boston University and has since 2003 been based in Denmark, where he continues to publish articles and books in political philosophy, the origins of Western prosperity, contemporary history and political culture. He is a well-known face in the public debate of Denmark. He has been a fellow of the Danish Institute of International Affairs and director of the Center for Studies on America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia. he has been a columnist in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. David Gress is also a frequently used media commentator, and a senior fellow of the Danish think tank CEPOS.

Work
In his first book, 'Demokrati eller?' Gress provided a justification of liberal democracy. It included a defense of ecological production, something that Gress has since disavowed. His doctoral dissertation was a critical edition of a 13th-century papal biography. 'Peace and Survival' was a philosophical and political history and critique of the pacifist mentality, with particular reference to the West German peace movement, which in his view was surrendering to Soviet power. Apart from various shorter works on Nordic politics and U.S. foreign policy, his next major work followed on from 'Peace and Survival' to provide a political, social, and economic history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The first edition appeared in the fall of 1989, a French edition in 1992 and a second in English in 1993; these included a survey of the unification of Germany and a look back at the history of East Germany.

From Plato to Nato was, amongst other things, an intervention in the campus culture wars, explaining that the narrative model of 'The West', in the general style of Will Durant, had become threadbare. His proposed replacement marked him as, in general terms, a Burkean conservative. He argued that 'The West' was in operative terms much more of a complex compound of elements he identified as 'Old West', of Roman and Germanic provenance, with modern Adam Smith economics, than a pure play on the Enlightenment philosophy. The book's development is complex and somewhat muddied by the wish also to be inclusive of other conservative views. Norman Davies, a Polish history specialist critical of incoherent definitions of Europe viewed from the Atlantic end, has lent some support to the outline thesis.

Gress has further identified the campus debates as a target, with an attack on Martin Bernal and other interventions in U.S. and British journals of opinion.

From 2003 to 2012 he published mostly in Danish, including two books and numerous articles, reviews, and comments in Danish daily newspapers, chiefly Jyllands-Posten, but from 2009 also Politiken. One, more polemical, focus has been criticism of the Nordic welfare state and environmental policy, another has been periodic surveys of international publications and research on U.S. politics and society, history, and religion. He has been one of the most outspoken Danish opponents of the scientific consensus on climate change, and has accordingly received heavy criticism by Danish scientists.

Major works

 * "Demokrati eller?" (1978)
 * "Gesta Innocentii III: Introduction, Text and Commentary" (1981) doctoral dissertation
 * "Peace and Survival" (1985)
 * "A History of West Germany" (1989) with Dennis L. Bark; French edition 1992, second English edition 1993
 * "From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents" (1998)
 * "Det bedste guld - en bog om frihed" ('The best gold - a book on freedom') (2005)
 * "Velstandens kilder" ('The Origins of Wealth', in cooperation with CEPOS) (2007)
 * "Egne veje" ('Own paths'), memoirs (2011)

title: David Gress