ABSTRACT Recreational disturbances from birdwatching have been widely reported at birdwatching sites, implying the need for more in-depth explorations on how birdwatchers and birds interact to help manage disturbance from humans. This study investigated the influence and interaction of the nature of recreational disturbance with the intrinsic characteristics of birds on the responses of birds to birdwatcher activities. Data was collected in 25 field days from Oct 2019 to April 2020 at Mai Po Nature Reserve, a local Ramsar site in Hong Kong. Regarding the nature of disturbances, visual impacts were found to cause a more significant number of birds to be disturbed. Birds in the functional guild of dabblers were also shown to display a greater level of response to birdwatching activities. Based on the impacts and interactions between birdwatchers and birds, relevant recommendations on birdwatcher management are given.

ABSTRACT A significant segment of the global medical tourism industry is dependent on domestic medical tourists (DMTs)—the buyers of biomedical services within a country. However, in medical tourism in South Asia, academic and policy attention has primarily been paid to the international consumers despite the fact that a large part of the medical tourism business is dependent on domestic buyers. By gathering sporadic shreds of evidence on patients’ travel under the theme of domestic medical tourism, this study explores the differences in travel motivation and experience amongst the DMTs based on their socio-demographic and treatment profiles. In Northeast India, this study observed that demographic factors (age and gender) have the least impact on the movement of DMTs, while social factors (state of residence, sources of finance, nature of visitation) remain significant determinants. We also observe that amidst the chaos of regional disparity in healthcare resource allocation and need-based travel within restrictive medical travel conditions, DMTs are happier and more eager to travel to destinations which, apart from providing medical help, promise diverse tourism activities.

ABSTRACT Vietnam is the world’s third largest exporter of shrimp products. Small-scale farmers are the main actors in producing shrimp but they depend on middlemen to market their products. This study aims to explore the role, network relationships and strategies of middlemen in shrimp farming in the central Vietnamese Thua Thien Hue province. This is based on semi-structured interviews with farmers, middlemen, wholesalers, input suppliers and local government representatives as well as complementary statistical data. The research findings illustrate the role of middlemen as buyers and as facilitators of information and capital. The network relationships between middlemen, farmers, wholesalers and input-suppliers are a stable arrangement based on trust and personal interaction. Within the framework of global value chains (GVC), they can be characterized as “captive” and “relational.” The main determinant enabling the structure of these interactions is the informality of transactions which are conditioned by the institutional framework conditions in Vietnam.

ABSTRACT The evolution of land surface temperatures (LSTs) within the Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) is examined with respect to patterns of urbanization from 2000 to 2019. Change detection as well as examinations of five periods within the 20 years yield insights into the spatial patterning of surface urban heat (SUH) within the BMR. Results suggest that the LSTs in portions of the BMR have increased more than 5°C during the 20-year period. The spatial distribution of SUH exhibits a pattern where high LSTs occur outward and primarily westward from the urban core along highways serving as development corridors and related regions of rapid urbanization. Nighttime LSTs have not increased as markedly as daytime; however, several noted “hotspots” have intensified over time and are located in districts along the southern seaboard. The greatest LST increase through the 20-year period is located in the northwest of the Bangkok urban core in Bang Kruai and Mueang Nonthaburi. A close investigation of this area indicates that the LST hotspots are co-located with rapid urban expansion into the area that has been facilitated by the destruction of orchards and other agriculture lands from a flood that occurred in 2011. The significant changes in land cover from orchards and agriculture to urban and built-up have led to the large increases in LSTs within the region.

ABSTRACTClimate change, especially the rapid warming since the industrial revolution, has drawn much attention over the past decades. However, the short instrumental climate records on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) impede our understanding of the current status of climate. Although tree-ring-based temperature reconstructions have been developed on the TP, increasing the spatial distribution of sampling sites can improve our understanding of the recent warming. Here we present a new tree-ring maximum latewood density chronology of Balfour spruce (Picea likiangensis var. balfouriana) growing near the upper treeline on the eastern TP, and use it to reconstruct late summer (August–September) mean temperature since AD 1837. The reconstruction explains 61.7% of the actual variance of instrumental August–September mean temperature over the calibration period 1957–2014, and represents regional-scale temperature variations over the eastern and southeastern TP. The August–September mean temperature reconstruction reveals three relatively cold phases (the 1850s–1870s, the 1900s–1910s and the 1960s) and two warm periods (the 1930s–1940s and 1972–2014) over the past two centuries. Comparisons of our reconstruction with other independent tree-ring-based temperature records and glacier fluctuation documents near our research area show good consistencies in those cold and warm phases. Our reconstruction exhibits a pronounced and persistent temperature rise since the 1960s, providing a new line of evidence for the recent warming on the TP. Moreover, our results indicate that the August–September mean temperature variability over the eastern TP has a potential linkage with the EI Nino/Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation.

ABSTRACTHaving gone from 11.8% of its population inhabiting urban areas in 1950 to 49.2% by 2010, China represents the most dramatic urban transformation the world has seen. With the contemporary urban narrative presenting new challenges, particularly in terms of its unprecedented pace and scale, this paper conducts an inquiry into the nature and causes of China’s rapid urban ascent. Making use of a new analytical framework, this paper maps out the changing stages of China’s urban transition and examines the components of urban growth underpinning it. It arrives at several notable findings. Rural to urban migration has been the dominant component of urban growth, followed by urban natural population increase and reclassification. Although China’s urban growth rates were high, it is the reduction in rural growth rates that underpinned China’s particularly rapid urbanization rates. China is currently in the latter part of the accelerated stage of its urban transition, and is expected to enter the terminal stage by 2030. In light of China’s ongoing urban transition, this paper concludes with reflections on China’s New-Type Urbanization Plan 2014–2020.

ABSTRACTThis paper advances geographic theoretical models on the spatial and temporal effects of tourism development and modifies them to analyze archipelagic destinations. Using Okinawa, Japan, as a case study, changes in the distribution of resort hotels, transportation linkages, tourism numbers, and development policies are examined over a period of 40 years. The results of this empirical study suggest that Okinawa’s development corresponds very closely to the archipelagic model which, in turn, corresponds to other similar models predicting the spread of tourism.

ABSTRACTAligned with geography's efforts to recover subaltern spaces, this paper investigates the phenomenon of smoking in Singapore through the concept of the queer closet. In so doing, I argue that the closet offers a refreshing analytical framework for thinking about the spatial politics of smoking beyond the dichotomies of public and public spheres, visibility and invisibility, concealment and disclosure, among others. By employing a qualitative methodology, I examine how embodied senses of fragmented selves may vary across space as young people selectively “out” themselves as smokers. Relatedly, I demonstrate that they are to varying degrees, in and out of the closet. Additionally, I contend that they are creative agents who are capable of working around the spatio-social constraints that have been imposed by the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act.

The effectiveness of agricultural adaptation determines the vulnerability of this sector to climate change, particularly during the preindustrial era. However, this effectiveness has rarely been quantitatively evaluated, specifically at a large spatial and long-term scale. The present study covers this case of preindustrial society in AD 1500–1800. Given the absence of technological innovations in this time frame, agricultural production was chiefly augmented by cultivating more land (land input) and increasing labor input per land unit (labor input). Accordingly, these two methods are quantitatively examined. Statistical results show that within the study scale, land input is a more effective approach of mitigating climatic impact than labor input. Nonetheless, these observations collectively improve Boserup's theory from the perspective of a large spatial and long-term scale.