Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
source of supply (Ullman
1954
). They encourage sub-optimization and motivate
sentient entities to choose a lesser but still-adequate alternative, rather than a more
distant but better location (Lowe and Moryadas
1975
).
Transferability can be thought of as the affordability/possibility that individuals
are relocatable, or that places can be accessed with certain travel modes. Trans-
ferability is determined by the comparative differences in terms of cost of moving
between areas (Brook
1977
). Different travel modes have different costs in terms
of time and money, which may influence one's choice of mode. Generally, the
higher the distance costs, the lower the transferability. This is the principal issue
addressed in network analysis.
Pacemakers are entities which control or influence the rhythm of activities
(Halberg and Katinas
1973
) and operate to bring coherence (in a sense
'liveability') to places (Parkes and Thrift
1980
). The spatial aspect of pacemakers
may be certain spaces at various scales (e.g., a university, sports stadium, or city).
The temporal aspect of pacemakers may be a set of durations or instants in time (e.g.,
business hours, school terms, timetables). Some pacemakers are periodic features of
a lifetime (e.g., sleeping and eating). Others are irregular but generally recurrent (or
fluctuating), such as a significant sporting or musical events (Parkes and Thrift
1980
).
The great majority of the concepts above derive from concerns about human
movement, but reflect factors which can be found in animal lives also. Putting on
different eyes we can appreciate that pacemakers influence animal movements and
can in fact articulate as well as instigate them, so that regular patterns and the
rhythm of movements become apparent. Commuting from home to places of work
or study, or movements from locations of breeding colonies to foraging areas, are
in many ways parallel examples, and a particularly clear example can be seen in
Fig.
4
, which illustrates the daily movements of a common brushtail possum from
its den location to a patch of blue gum trees where it forages. The comparisons
continue.
Place and time utility. Place utility refers to the possibility that sentient objects
obtain greater rewards in some places than in others. For example, during the
nineteenth-century explosion of European agricultural populations, the new
farmlands of America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand attracted millions
of Europeans migrants (Abler et al.
1971
, p. 196).
Time utility is the temporal availability of desirable services or facilities at the
moment of need. Even if a given place offers certain facilities and services, these
may only be available during limited operating hours.
Place and time utility also influence movements of animals. Clear examples are
the numerous annual migrations which occur from Polar Regions to more tem-
perate areas, undertaken to take advantage of the great seasonal availability of food
during summers and to avoid the harsh climatic conditions of winter.
Nathan et al. (
2008
, p. 19054) suggested that the dynamic interplay among four
principal components, namely internal state, motion capacity, navigation capacity
and external factors, generally causes the movements of animals.
Internal state is surely the most complex of Nathan et al. four factors, referring
as it does to physiological and, where appropriate, psychological states, which
