Columbian black-tailed deer (Qdocoileus hemionug cplumbianus Richardson) were radio-tagged in a deep snowfall region on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. These deer were monitored to determine seasonal movements and habitat use. Deer exhibited either resident or migratory movement patterns. Resident deer made seasonal shifts in their home range centres but their seasonal home ranges overlapped. In migratory deer, summer home ranges were separated from both spring and winter home ranges, although their spring and winter home ranges overlapped. Altitudinal migrations occurred by deer moving between high and low elevation habitats. Horizontal migrations occurred by deer moving between a small tributary valley and the main valley. Seasonal movements of black-tailed deer result from habitat selection by deer seasonally moving to more favourable habitats as determined by more available energy and nutrients, and lower risk of predation. The causal differences between vertical and horizontal migrations as well as seasonal shifts in home range centres can be resolved by a model of habitat selection based on these factors. The densities of available digestible dry matter in Amabilis Fir - Twisted Stalk, and Mountain Hemlock - Copperbush associations are comparable with those in the shrub and conifer serai stages. This abundance of deer food in high elevation habitats suggests that forest harvesting in high elevations will not affect deer populations, if their other habitat requirements are met. In areas where forested summer ranges already exist, low elevation logging of Sword Fern - Western Red Cedar, Deer Fern - Western Hemlock, and Western Hemlock - Plagiothecium associations will provide deer with sources of abundant food closer to their winter ranges than the high elevation summer ranges. Use of these food sources may result in only a redistribution and not an increase in the deer population. Logging of Amabilis Fir - Western Hemlock, Salal - Douglas-fir, and Salal - Western Hemlock associations may be detrimental to deer populations because of their need for these habitats during winter. Management policies emphasizing preservation of severe winter range could be detrimental to deer populations. Habitat management for black-tailed deer must include provision of mild winter range as well as severe winter range. Because mild winter range provides deer with greater amounts of available energy and nutrients, it may be as important to the over-winter survival of deer as is severe winter range. The mobility of black-tailed deer and their sensitivity to snow suggest that few deer would be trapped in high elevations by early snowfalls. Corridors joining high and low elevations appear unnecessary to facilitate deer migrations. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

No description available.

During 2020 and 2021, a migration crisis has been developing on the Canary Islands in Spain. Large numbers of African migrants have made the dangerous journey from West Africa to the Canary Islands, risking their lives on the Atlantic Sea. Humanitarian aid organizations, like the Spanish Red Cross, are working intensively to handle the humanitarian needs of the migrants on land and on sea. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze why the migration crisis on the Canary Islands occurs. The migrants originate from different African countries with different reasons why they choose to migrate. In some countries, there are ongoing wars and conflicts, like in Mali. In other countries, people migrate because of poverty, climate change and displacement to seek a better life. This thesis will answer why Senegalese people choose to migrate on this dangerous route on the Atlantic Sea. The study is based on interviews with three Senegalese migrants and two representatives of humanitarian aid organizations. The analysis has been made from different migration theories. It shows that an important reason why the Senegalese migrants choose to migrate is that it is no longer possible to make a living by fishing and provide for their families. This works as an important push factor to migrate. Another push factor is the lack of trust in the Senegalese government. An important pull factor are the success stories from migrants who have made the journey through the Canary Islands. According to the aspiration and capabilities theory, the aspirations to migrate increase when a country goes from being very poor to richer. This is because the knowledge about the surrounding world and the opportunities increase. The study shows that migrants are well aware of the risks when crossing the Atlantic Sea, but they choose the route because there are almost no legal ways for them to migrate.

The aim of the thesis is to contribute to a growing understanding on how Venezuelan refugees are being constructed by the Brazilian media during the ongoing refugee crisis in South America and the main discourses related to them. The fact that South-South migration has so far been understudied and the relevant and fast-escalating displacement of people from Venezuela are the motivations for this study. The theoretical framework consists of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of CDA and the theoretical concepts of stereotypes and othering. Twenty-one articles about Venezuelan refugees, published between 2016 and 2021, were analyzed. The findings of the thesis show that Venezuelans were mainly associated with negative aspects, entailing two sub discourses: in the first one, they were constructed as the origin of diseases at the borders and associated with violence and tension, and in the second one they were constructed as exploited, underemployed and poorly integrated into the formal labor market.

This thesis addresses representation of ‘irregular’ migrants in the ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ (SZ). The study employs the discourse event of New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne as a temporal marker and aims to examine representations of ‘irregular’ migrants prior to and following the event. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) of fourteen articles is conducted, and Fairclough’s three-dimensional model is employed to analyse the material. Following a textual analysis, in which the use of modality is examined, the sociocultural dimension of the newspaper discourse is investigated. This section sees the application of Stuart Hall’s Othering to the analysis, as well as an inspection of prevalent themes found in the material. The analysis concludes with the finding of ‘deservingness’ and ‘semantics of crime and threat’ as prevalent themes. Furthermore, the results show that ‘irregular’ migrants are constructed as the ‘Other’ in SZ articles, however, this finding is not generalisable to the entire sample.

The Swedish Migration Agency has, through the years, received criticism regarding its management and assessments of different cases. One of these critiques has been towards the Agency’s management of asylum seekers claiming to have converted as a refugee claim. Therefore, this thesis aims to strengthen the Agency’s management of these cases. Using the critisism made against the Swedish Migration Agency, I suggested recommendation and amendments to the Agency’s established guidelines. The findings in this thesis showed extensive criticism towards the Agency’s usage of religious knowledge tests to assess the genuineness of a conversion. The critic also argues that the Agency lacks religious understanding and that the Agency should focus on identity, community, and faith in a higher power. The analysis presented a need to address religion, the conversion process, and the role of the Agency’s personnel in the guideline.

With the research aim to analyze how the Romanian migrants residing in Sweden use social media for transnational, mobility and integration purposes, this thesis builds on previous transnationalism and social media literature to reach its key findings. Its theoretical field uses Vertovec’s takes on transnationalism along with Wolpert’s place utility theory in order to analyze the observational results. These results were acquired by doing observations of four Facebook groups over a one-month period to which representative discussions from a few group posts were added. Thus, on one hand, the results show that the observed Romanian Facebook groups serve as avenues for socializing, networking and help-seeking between the Romanian migrants in Sweden. Strong potential for the formation of personal connections based on the discussions had by the migrants is also found. On the other hand, this thesis finds that the groups also function as major pathways for the reproduction of Romanian political and cultural aspects within the migrant community, a process which is not obvious and not directly intended for these groups.

No description available.

This thesis explores the role of environmental perceptions and activism in migration decision-making within the context of a country highly vulnerable to climate change. It focuses on a case study of young climate activists in Bangladesh, and their aspirations for staying or moving. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. For analysis of migration decisions, the study utilizes a theoretical framework of aspirations and capabilities by De Haas (2021), while incorporating concepts of Hirschman’s (1978) “voice” and Robins’(2022) “duty to loyalty”. The study reveals that climate activists are aware of and concerned about environmental changes, but do not perceive them as immediate threat to their current livelihoods. While they face daily challenges and witness the vulnerability of communities, they express hope and actively choose to stay in their country. Activism serves them to voice their concern and help their community. The constant interaction between the environmental perceptions and activism, shapes their capacity to envision a better future and enhances their aspirations for staying in their motherland

The on-going conflicts and hardships in various parts of the world, especially in theMiddle East and regions like Syria and Somalia, have triggered a significant wave ofmigration towards Europe. A considerable fraction of these migrants comprisesunaccompanied minors. This research study aims to explore how pre-migration,migration, and post-migration factors influence the mental health and well-being ofSyrian and Somali unaccompanied minors in Sweden during the asylum-seekingprocess. The study is qualitative in nature, employing six in-depth semi-structuredinterviews as its primary data collection method. Using the frameworks of the Senseof Coherence theory and coping theory, the research delves into the challengesunaccompanied minors encounter during the asylum process and the subsequentimpacts on their mental health. The findings suggest that the asylum-seeking processsignificantly impacts the mental health of unaccompanied minors, eliciting mentalhealth issues such as depression, anxiety, and feelings of uncertainty and insecurity.These influences are not confined to mental well-being alone but also permeate otheraspects of their lives. This study therefore highlights the necessity of acknowledgingand addressing the complex link between the asylum-seeking process and mentalhealth among unaccompanied minors.