Thesis (MSc) -- Stellenbosch University, 1996. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Principle objectives of this study were to investigate the ecological feasibility of sustained utilization of mopane, using Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve as a pilot study area. The study was limited to three different mopane dominated vegetation types on the reserve with most research being conducted in C.mopane woodland. Results can be summarized as follows: 1. Colophospermum mopane is ubiquitous on VLNR. 2. C.mopane woodland has the deusest mopane growth of the three vegetation types and highest densities are found on soils (OaB, VaB, Du, SwB & VaA) in association with C.mopane woodland. There seems to be a correlation between mopane density and soil type. 3. Largest mopane trees according to height and circumference were found in C.mopane/C.apiculatum open woodland. There is no significant difference between height and circumference on different soil types. 4. Most senility occurs in C.mopane shrubland and there is a significant difference in senility between mopane associated with different soils on which this vegetation type occurs. 5. Oldest average ages per tree were fo•.md in C.mopane woodland while growth rates were fastest in C.moparse!C.apiculatum open woodland. 6. There is a significant positive correlation between total and charcoal weights for mopane. Total and charcoul weights per tree were highest for C.mopane/C.apiculatum open woodland, while weights per hectare were highest for C.mopane woodland. Soils could not positively be associated with this trend. 7. Mopar.e lends itself to harvesting, especially C.mopane ••10odland in the Endora, Lizzulea and Hilda areas. Winter months seem to be most desirable for harvesting activities. Hand felling in elongated patches (increases ecotone boundary) is recommended where labour is cheap. A harvesting strategy of between 25% and 50% would make the operation economically viable and ecologically acceptable. An optimum harvesting rate of 27% is suggested by a harvesting model developed specifically for this mopane data. 8. Total herbivore densities, distribution and species proportions can be expected to change following bush clearing. Habitat for grazers should increase due to an increased grass production. Habitat for browsers should not be influenced much. Effect of noise and human disturbance during harvesting, especially for elephants is negligible, as hunting activities already take place on VLNR. 9. Grass production would increase but quality should decrease after harvesting, due to an increase in low quality opportunistic species, especially if soil disturbance takes place. Grass quality is best in association with herbaceous species such as Salvadora angustifolia. Carrying capacity for grazers should increase after harvesting as a result of habitat change and grass biomass increase. 10. Total browse production would decrease but leaf biomass should increase on remaining trees as they have improved water availability due to Q lack of intra­ specific competition. Higher seed production and more flowering takes place at lower tree densities. Greatest advantages for browsers after harvesting, is the fact that leaves become senescent later in autumn and that spring leaf flush takes place earlier thus prolonging bro\'se availability. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:Die hoof doelwitte van hierdie studie was om te bepaal wat die invloed van die oes van mop nie op die ekologie sou wees as dit op 'n volgehoue basis plaasvind en tot w•atter mate mopanie geskik is vir hou skoolvervaardiging. Die navorsing is op die Venetia Limpopo Natuureservaat in slegs drie van die belangrikste mopanie veldtipes uitgevoer met die oorgrote meerderheid van die navorsing in die C.mopane bosveld. Die resultate van die studie kan soos volg opgesom word: 1. Colophospermum mopane is alomteenwoordig op die VLNR. 2. Die C.mopane bosveld het die hoogste digtheid van al drie veldtipes en word ook geassosieer met sekere grondtipes (OaB, VaB, Du, SwB & VaA) wat eie is aan hierdie spesifieke veldtipe. Daar blyk 'n korrelasie te wees tussen die digthede van mopanie en grondtipes. 3. Die grootste mopanie borne, ten opsigte van hnogte en omtrek, word in die C.mopane/C.apiculatum oop bosveld aangetref. Daar is nie 'n beduidende verskil tussen die hoogte en omtrek van mopanie op die verskillende grondtipes nie. 4. Die C.mopane struikveld toon die meeste seniliteit ten opsigte van die persentasie kruin dood. Daar is 'n definitiewe aanduiding dat seniliteit ooreenstem met sekere grondtipes veral met betrekking tot die mopanie struikveld. 5. Die C.mopane bosveld het gemiddeld die oudste borne terwyl die C.mopane/C.apiculatum oop bosveld die vinnigste groeikoers toon. Die bogenoemde feite het 'n ver0and met die grondtipes. 6. Daar is 'n posltiewe korrelasie tussen die totale gewig en die houtskoolgewig van mopanle. Die S\vaarste borne is in die C.mopane!C.apiculatum oop bosveld aangetref, terwyl die swaarste gewig per hektaar in die C.mopane bosveld aangetref is. Gewig kon nie met grondt pes gekorreleer word nie. 7. Die mopanie in die C.mopane bosveld is geskik vir die oes vir houtskool, veral in die Endora, Lizzulea en Hilda gebiede. Dit is raadsaam om die borne in verlengde stroke per hand af te kap (vergroot die ekotoongebied), veral waar arbeid goedkoop is. 'n Oesstrategie van tussen 25% en 50% vir mopanie word aanbeveel om dit ekonomies en ekologies aanvaarbaar te maak. 'n Optimum oesstrategie van 27% word aanbeveel deur 'n oes model wat spesifiak vir hierdie mopane data opgestel is. 8. Daar kan verwag word dat na die oes van mopanie die getalle asook verspreidingspatrone van alle hoefdierspesies kan verander. 'n Voordeel van lae mopanie digthede is dat die verspreiding van die blaarbiomassa ewerediger oor die seisoene sal geskied. Grasvreters word bevoordeel vanwee die verandering in habitat. Die effek van geraas en ander oesbedrywighede op olifante behoort klein te wees aangesien jagaktiwiteite alreeds op diereservaat toegepas word en hulle redelik gewoond daaraan behoort te wees. 9. Grasproduksie behoort toe te neem terwyl die kwaliteit daarvan afneem as gevolg van opportunistieslae kwaliteit grasspcsies wat toeneem na die oes van mopanie, veral as die grand tydens oesaktiwiteite versteur word. Die beste kwaliteit gras word in assosiasie met kruidagtige spesies, veral Salvadora angustifolia, gevi.nd. As gevolg van die verandering in habitat asook die toename in grasbiomassa neem die drakrag vir grasvreters na die oes an mopanietoe. 10. Di.e totale blaarbi.)massa behoort na die oes van mopanie af te neem, maar behoort terselfdertyd op die oorblywende borne as gevolg van die afname in kompetisie vi= watr en anrler natuurlike hulpbronne toe te neem. Hoer persentasies blomvorming en saadproduksie vind by laer boomdigthede plaas. Die grootste enkele voordeel vir blaarvreters, na die oes van mopanie, is die feit dat die blare later in die herfs afval en vroeer in die lente uitbot en dus die voedselbeskikbaarheid vir blaarvreters verleng.

In the context of a changing political landscape, where shifts in state boundaries and socio-economic structures deeply affected the Italian peninsula and its people, this thesis analyses women and the law in action in the years from the Restoration up to the enactment of the Pisanelli code (1815-1865). It does so with particular reference to the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. These years also saw a number of changes in the legal system with various new laws instituted. The quick succession of these legal acts testified to the new ideas, behaviours and perceptions that began to take form in the period in question, but which the patriarchal and hierarchical nineteenth century society - so reliant on strict class stratification to perpetuate its status quo - resisted fully accepting. Within this context, women began to redefine their sense of self and to think of themselves as having an identity which went beyond their traditional domestic roles of mother, wife or daughter. This work aims to describe this process by focusing on women's attitudes towards the law and their interactions with the legal system. The thesis is structured in the following way: the first part focuses on the Ottocento context, the ideals promulgated about women in public discourse and the legal framework of the Italian peninsula. In the second part attention turns to relevant case studies from the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, brought to light by first-hand examination of archival documents and court proceedings preserved in legal journals of the time. Each part is subdivided into three chapters. After an examination of the social, political and economic context of the nineteenth-century Italian peninsula (Chapter one), the discussion presents a picture of contemporary views about women according to scientists, theorists, moralists and jurists (Chapter two). Chapter three is devoted to the law in force in the pre-unification states with regard to women, paying close attention to the institution of dowry. Chapter four deals with a selection of case studies concerning marriage promises, seduction, and extramarital relations. What emerges from the investigation is the intrusiveness of authorities and the reach they extended into people's private lives in an effort to maintain social order and exercise power within a society founded on hierarchy, immobility, and obedience. Chapter five examines lawsuits questioning dowries and wills. These acts show the families' choices to preserve their wealth, often inevitably paving the way to future discord, with women initiating lawsuits to obtain more money from their relatives. Finally, Chapter six analyses widowhood and separation, two possible moments in a woman's existence that had important implications in terms of both their intimate sphere and the devolution of wealth. In particular, the chapter traces widows' actual access to inheritance, and women's requests for separation, focusing on the reasons that drove them before a court to relate issues pertaining to their very intimate lives, such as contracting diseases. Through the analysis of the law in action and women's use of the law itself, this thesis will recover the forgotten voices and lives of those ordinary women, who, in their everyday life, reacted against the limitations and constraints imposed upon them by society and decided not to passively accept their status.

Extensive drought - and elephant-related dieback of Colophospermum mopane and Acacia tortitis, respectively, offered an opportunity for increasing understanding of the causes of drought-related patch dieback, the factors influencing elephant utilization of woody plants, and the response of woody plants to both aforementioned determinants of savanna structure and function. The dendrochronological analysis of both species was undertaken to estimate potential rates of replacement, following extensive mortality. Areas of discrete dieback were compared with adjacent paired areas of 'healthy' vegetation, which revealed, on average, 87% and 13% loss of basal area by mortality, respectively. 'Live' and 'dead' plots did not differ in soil type, topography or mean slope, but differed in vegetation structure, soil surface condition, and soil chemistry. Although there was evidence of self-thinning, neither inter - nor intra-specific competition explained dieback. 'Dead', by comparison with 'live' plots, had changed from functioning as sinks of sediment and water to sources, were less likely to retain water because of a poor soil surface condition, and were predisposed to drought effects because of a greater proportion of fines, and Na concentration. Dieback resulted from insufficient soil water for survival during a drought owing to the development of a dysfunctional landscape during 50 years of livestock ranching. Spatial heterogeneity within a landscape was suggested to enhance woodland resilience to severe droughts by ensuring the survival of plants in run-on sinks or 'drought refuge' sites. Stem sections were removed from 40 multi-stemmed C. mopane trees and prepared for examination under a dissecting microscope. It was impossible to age C. mopane, owing to a hollow and/or dark heartwood. Nevertheless, the distribution of stem diameters suggested a single recruitment event. Fire scars attributed to the last recorded fire in 1948 could explain the trees' multi-stemmed growth form and indicate that most trees of VLNR were > 50 years of age. Growth rings were identified in 29 A. tortilis trees of unknown age, but were not correlated with annual rainfall records. Growth rates varied between trees; mean ring width ranged from 1.4 to 3.5 mm (overall mean 2.4 ± 0.1 mm). A technique was proposed for predicting growth rate from annual rainfall, using selected data, and several factors potentially influencing ring width in semiarid environs were identified. Permanent ground-based transects were located within riparian (n = 16) and Acacia (n = 5) woodlands to monitor elephant utilization. Elephant had not changed the population structure of the woodlands by 2000, but had reduced stem density from 215.6 stems ha -1 (1996) to 84.4 stems ha -I (2000). Acacia tortitis trees in the woodlands had branches removed, were debarked, uprooted and broken. Acacia tortitis trees in the riverine had lower levels of utilization, whilst Acacia nilotica trees were mostly debarked. The method of elephant feeding varies within and between woody species, provided it is within the mechanical constraints of a certain size or species. Elephant behaviour is concluded to depend on spatiotemporal variation of forage abundance/quality, abundance of a preferred species, and species response (coppice or mortality). Elephant can cause a change of vegetation state, and increase spatial homogeneity of a plant population. The remnant population of woodland trees should provide the potential for recolonization, in which case the system would reflect the stable limit cycle. However, if browsing inhibits seedling recruitment, the system could reflect either a multiple stable state system or an artificial equilibrium imposed on a stable limit cycle. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

The life and fate of Maximilian I, the last emperor of Mexico, has attracted a substantial amount of research since his death in 1867. However, these works either only deal with the last few years of Maximilian’s life, from his candidature for the Mexican throne to his death at the hands of the Mexican liberals, or with other aspects of his life such as his time as governor of Lombardy-Venetia. Thus the main aim of this thesis is to offer a biography of Maximilian, which will not only look at Maximilian’s reign as emperor of Mexico but will also examine the Habsburg aspect of the story. It is thus necessary to look at the extent to which his Habsburg upbringing, his education and his experiences as governor of Lombardy-Venetia shaped his idea of kingship; how his travels and his time in Italy conditioned him to regard the “other” in a certain imperial way; and how all these essentially Habsburg experiences and ideas played a part in his failure and demise in Mexico. This thesis will thus aim to give a rounded picture the life and death of Maximilian I by examining his upbringing, his education, and his experiences in the navy and in Lombardy-Venetia. For without an understanding of these it is impossible to fully comprehend Maximilian’s actions in Mexico.