A wave energy park has been established on the Swedish west coast outside Lysekil and pioneer work about its interactions with the marine environment has been conducted. So far, little is known about the effects of offshore energy installations on the marine environment, and this thesis assists in minimizing environmental risks as well as in enhancing potential positive effects on the marine environment. The Lysekil research site is situated about two kilometres offshore and has been under development since 2005. During this time 26 “environmental devices”, without generators, consisting of a steel buoy attached via a wire to a foundation on 25 m depth have been placed out for ecological studies on macrofauna in surrounding sediments and on colonization of the foundations and the buoys. Sediment samples to examine macrofauna in the seabed have been taken during five seasons. Biomass, abundance and diversity of infauna in the test site were generally low, but higher than in a nearby control site. The species composition was typical for the area and depth. In addition to sediment analysis, the effect of wave power concrete foundations on the marine environment has been investigated by scuba diving. The surface orientation and its effect on colonization by sessile organisms was examined on the first five foundations, placed out in 2005, and observations of habitat use by fish and crustaceans were made. The results show a succession of colonization over time (three years of investigation) with a higher cover by sessile organisms on vertical surfaces. Mobile fauna abundance on and around the foundations was generally low. Three months after the deployment of the 21 new foundations in 2007, assemblages of mobile organisms were examined visually. Also here, mobile species exhibit a low density, but still higher than on surrounding soft bottoms. The edible crab used artificial holes in the foundations frequently. The foundations were placed in two different clusters, north and south, and the degree to which early recruits covered the foundations and the succession of epibenthic communities were documented during two years. Sessile organisms colonized the northern foundations more rapidly, producing a higher diversity which suggests that the placement of wave energy devices affects colonization patterns. Biofouling on buoys was examined and blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, dominated with a cover about 90%. Wave exposed buoys were particularly favoured by M. edulis which there had a higher biomass and larger shells compared to those on sheltered buoys. Biofouling on wave power buoys, independent whether these had a cylindrical or toroidal shape, was insufficient to markedly affect their energy production. Finally, the thesis incorporates a review describing wave power projects in general pointing out the need of future research on for instance no-take zones, marine bioacoustics and electromagnetic fields. The main conclusions are that large-scale renewable wave energy conversion will cause ecological impact primarily by adding new hard substrate to an area but not by harming organisms or decreasing biodiversity within wave power parks.

This thesis focuses on the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, as an invasive species. Its non-native distribution, the biology behind its success and the reasons for its introduction are examined. A worldwide email survey revealed that the guppy is established in at least 73 countries outside of its native range and that mosquito control schemes and the release of unwanted aquarium fish are the two primary routes of introduction. Knowledge gaps were identified; primarily the scarcity of scientific evidence for negative impacts of guppy introductions and similarly for mosquito control efficacy. Replicated mesocosm experiments demonstrated that female guppies are capable of routinely establishing populations, and that these retain behavioural viability over several generations. The first mesocosm study suggested that founders with very different evolutionary histories were equally good at establishing populations. The second mesocosm study suggested that monandrous females were extremely successful at establishing behaviourally viable populations, with no decline in behavioural variation. The effectiveness of guppies as mosquito control agents was examined in two related foraging experiments. The first study found little evidence for the presence of ‘prey switching’ in guppies, questioning the validity of previous work advocating their introduction to stabilise prey populations. The second study revealed a preference for non-vector mosquito larvae in a two-prey system. However, both mosquito species were consumed equally readily when habitat complexity increased. The presence of conspecifics affected female foraging behaviour. The presence of males reduced the strength of prey preference in the first study, and the presence of conspecifics of either sex removed prey preference in the second. Both demonstrate that multi-prey systems have important implications for the efficacy of poeciliids in biological control. Despite severe demographic bottlenecks, their adaptability and ability to rapidly increase in numbers enable guppies to establish and persist when introduced. Such bottlenecks are typical of introduction scenarios, warning that particular caution should be exerted when introducing this species, or other livebearing fish, to natural water bodies.

Une double dynamique traverse l’œuvre de Mongo Beti, et ce dès 1953 et ses débuts en littérature : en premier lieu, un engagement inflexible, intransigeant, que l’écrivain brandit comme un signe identificateur de son esthétique romanesque et de son action citoyenne. En second lieu, un courant d’échanges souvent fructueux s’instaure entre « prose latérale » (écrits journalistiques et politiques, essais, pamphlets) et production fictionnelle. Autant dire que l’homme et l’œuvre, pour reprendre une formule désuète, sont indissociablement liés et que les combats de l’un trouve toujours un écho et une transposition, plus ou moins distanciée selon les périodes, dans l’autre. Dans le sillage de Sartre et fidèle en cela à la volonté affichée par les promoteurs de la revue Les Temps modernes, Beti refuse le silence du clerc. Et si trahison il y a, elle se niche, selon lui, dans le refus obstiné de dire l’injustice criante et les manquements aux droits de l’homme. C’est cette ligne de conduite idéologique et scripturaire qui unit tous les ouvrages de Mongo Beti, de la « chronique coloniale » aux « romans d’un retour au pays natal » que ce travail souhaite mettre en évidence, tout en s’interrogeant sur les limites et les tensions qu’engendre une telle posture. Mais, parce qu’il n’est pas un propagandiste appointé mettant son œuvre au service d’une cause qui la transcenderait, Beti évite le piège du roman à thèse - même si certains textes, ceux du « cycle Dzewatama » en particulier, témoignent d’un didactisme pesant - et livre une œuvre qui est avant tout le témoignage passionné et ironique sur plus de soixante-dix ans de l’histoire, souvent douloureuse et tragique, parfois drolatique, de l’Afrique. / Two tendencies underpin the works of Mongo Beti, right from his literary beginnings in 1953. First, an inflexible, uncompromising commitment that the writer raises as a sign identifying his novelistic aesthetics and his action as a public figure. Second, a channel permitting frequently productive exchanges between “secondary prose” (journalistic and political writing, essays, political pamphlets) and fictional production. All of which means, as the hackneyed saying goes, that the man and his works cannot be dissociated and that the struggles of the former are always echoed in the latter, and transposed, at a distance varying from great to small depending on the period. Following in the steps of Sartre and thus respectful of the ideal promoted by those who defended the literary review Les Temps modernes, Beti refused to be a silent cleric. If there be betrayal, in his view, it is to be found in the stubborn refusal to denounce patent injustice and failures to respect human rights. It is this ideological and scriptural line of conduct which unites all the works of Mongo Beti, from the “Colonial Chronicles” to the “Returned to Homeland” cycle. However, since he is not an official propagandist dedicating his works to a cause that might transcend him, Beti avoids the pitfalls of thesis novels, even if some texts, particularly those of the “Dzewatama Cycle”, are weightily didactic. His works are above all the impassioned and ironic testimony of more than 70 years of African history: often painful and tragic, sometimes droll.

Le présent travail est consacré à l’étude de la construction de la nation en Colombie au XIXe siècle, sujet qui a été traditionnellement étudiée par des historiens et dont le thème de la langue nationale est complètement négligé. Cette problématique est liée au fait que les scientifiques du langage en Colombie n’ont jamais traité le problème de la langue et sa relation avec la nation c’est pourquoi cette nécessité s’impose. Une deuxième préoccupation concerne le rôle des grammairiens-politiciens dans la conformation de la nation. L’élite éclairée qui a participé à l’indépendance et celle d’après qui a fondé la nation ont choisi le modèle de nation européen, et en même temps ont développé une stratégie où le mécanisme administratif colonial espagnol est remplacé par d’autres mécanismes de colonisation interne, que j’appelle d’endo-colonisation. La période d’étude de cette recherche commence en 1770 par l’édit royal du 10 mai qui interdit l’usage des langues autochtones dans tout le royaume espagnol, en passant par la création de l’Académie Colombienne de la Langue Espagnole en 1871, première Académie correspondante de l’Académie Royale Espagnole dans le monde jusqu’à 1886 année de la promulgation de la Constitution nationale qui a dominé le panorama politique Colombien au XXe siècle. L’étude de cette longue période implique l’élaboration d’une méthode d’analyse basée sur la combinaison de la méthode archéologique, généalogique et l’analyse du discours. Elle implique aussi une réflexion sur les rapports pouvoir-savoir et sur la production de subjectivités, qui interrogent notre passé à partir du présent. / This work is devoted to the construction of the nation in Colombia in the nineteenth century. This subject has been traditionally studied by historians who had neglected the national language theme related to the fact that language scientists in Colombia have never studied the relationship between nation and language. That’s why the need arises.A second concern is the role of grammarians-politicians in the conformation of the nation. The enlightened elite who participated in the independency and that who succeeded founding the nation chose the European nation model and at the same time developed a strategy where the Spanish colonial administrative mechanism is replaced by other internal colonization mechanisms that I call endo-colonization. This study examines the period between 1770 when the royal decree of May 10th prohibits the use of natives languages throughout the Spanish kingdom; going through the creation of the Colombian Academy of the Spanish Language in 1871 corresponding the Royal Spanish Academy, until the 1886 Constitution, which dominated the Colombian political landscape of the twentieth century. This study of this period involves the development of an analytical method based on the combination of archaeological, genealogical and discourse analysis method. It also involves a reflection about the relation power-knowledge and the production of subjectivities that interrogates our past from the present.

Invasive spread of neophyte Impatiens glandulifera in central Europe started approximatelly eighty years ago. First records of dense cover stands come from belt stands in riparian habitats. The scale of invaded habitats and degree of the dominance of I. glandulifera is more diversified nowadays. This thesis is objected on the dominance and fertility of I. glandulifera within different habitat types and scale of invaded habitats in different parts of invaded range within Europe (i. e. in Czech Republic and Switzerland). The results show that the height and cover (substitutes for biomass and dominance) of this neophyte (i) correlates with the character of invaded vegetation (ii) relates to the degree of hemeroby (a measure of human impact) negativelly, and (iii), of course, both the growth and dominance are positively affected by nutrient content. Fertility does not differ among the types of invaded habitats, but goes up with the height of I. glandulifera and decreases with its cover. Invaded habitats comprises ruderal and riparian vegetation, but also wet maedows, forest clearances, beach and slope forests or weed vegetation.

Cette thèse a pour objet de recherche le mariage et la conjugalité à Lifou, île de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, de 1842, date du début de l’évangélisation, jusqu’à nos jours. Au travers de l’étude de la socialisation au mariage, des rituels matrimoniaux et de leurs transformations, elle cherche à apporter une contribution à la connaissance du système de genre de ce pays kanak. La vie cérémonielle lifoue est actuellement rythmée par d’opulents rituels matrimoniaux. Le système des classes d’âge fait du mariage un passage obligé sans lequel un individu ne peut devenir « adulte » (nyipi atr) ; passage lors duquel le droit d’user des capacités productives et génésiques de l’épouse est transféré au mari. Lors des échanges cérémoniels de mariage, véritable « guerre des dons », l’ensemble des relations qui constituent le réseau des deux parentés en présence est réactivé. Honorer les membres de son réseau de parenté et d’alliance implique de se soumettre au mariage et à la relation de conjugalité. L’institution matrimoniale a été considérablement transformée sous l’action des missionnaires chrétiens, lesquels ont cherché à remplacer le modèle local de la séparation et de l’antagonisme des sexes par un système de genre basé sur le couple conjugal, dans lequel « l’homme est la tête et la femme le corps ». Sous le régime de l’indigénat, les lois coloniales ont renforcé le pouvoir de l’époux sur l’épouse et réduit considérablement la liberté d’action de celle-ci. Ce n’est qu’en 1946 (fin du régime de l’indigénat), et lors des revendications indépendantistes des années 1980, que les femmes de Lifou ont acquis de nouvelles marges de manœuvre et pu ainsi contester l’exercice unilatéral du pouvoir du mari. / The research subject of this thesis is marriage and conjugality on Lifou, an island of New Caledonia, from 1842, the beginning of evangelization, up until the present day. By studying socialization for marriage, matrimonial rituels and their transformations, it seeks to make a contribution to knowledge of the gender system of this Kanak region. Ceremonial life on Lifou today is governed by opulent marriage rituals. The age group system makes marriage an obligatory passage without which an individual cannot become an "adult" (nyipi atr). Once married, the productive and reproductive capacities of the wife belong to her husband. During ceremonial marriage exchanges, a veritable "war of gifts", the totality of the relatives who constitute the network of the two kinship groups present is reactivated. Honouring the members of ones kinship and alliance networks involves accepting marriage or a conjugal relationship. Marriage and conjugality were transformed by the action of the Christian missionaries who sought to replace the local model of separation and antagonism between the sexes by a gender system based on the conjugal couple, in which "the man is the head and the woman the body". Under the system of Native Regulations (régime de l’indigénat), colonial laws strengthened a husband's rights over his wife and considerably reduced the latter's freedom of action. It was only in 1946 (the end of the system of Native Regulations), and during the independence protests in the 1980s, that the women of Lifou gained new room for manoeuvre and could thus oppose a husband's unilateral exercise of power.

At birth, the immune system is immature and the gut microbiota influences immune maturation. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and lactobacilli are part of the neonatal gut microbiota and have seemingly opposite effects on the immune system. S. aureus is a potent immune activator and early-life colonization associates with higher immune responsiveness later in life. Lactobacilli-colonization associates with reduced allergy-risk and lower immune responsiveness. Further, lactobacilli modulate immune-activation and have probiotic features. Here, we investigated S. aureus-induced activation of human lymphocytes, including T regulatory cells (Tregs), conventional T-cells (CD4+ and CD8+), unconventional T-cells (γδ T-cells and MAIT-cells) and NK-cells from children and adults, together with the modulatory effect of lactobacilli on immune-activation. Further, early-life colonization with these bacteria was related to lymphocyte-maturation, plasma cytokine- and chemokine-levels and allergy.  S. aureus cell free supernatant (CFS) and staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) A induced an increased percentage of FOXP3+ Tregs and of CD161+, IL-10+, IFN-γ+ and IL-17A+ Tregs (Paper I). The same pattern was observed in children with a lower degree of activation, possibly due to lower CD161-expression and poor activation of naive T-cells (Paper II). S. aureus-CFS induced IFN-γ-expression, proliferation and cytotoxic capacity in conventional and unconventional T-cells, and NK-cells. SEA, but not SEH, induced activation of unconventional T-cells and NK-cells by unknown mechanism(s) (Paper III, extended data). Lactobacilli-CFS reduced S. aureus-induced lymphocyte activation without the involvement of IL-10, Tregs or monocytes, but possibly involving lactate (Paper III). Early-life colonization with S. aureus associated with increased percentages of CD161+ and IL-10+ Tregs while lactobacilli-colonization negatively correlated with the percentage of IL-10+ Tregs later in life (Paper II). Allergic disease in childhood associated with double allergic heredity, being born wintertime and with higher plasma levels of TH2-, TH17- and TFH-related chemokines early in life. Lactobacilli-colonization associated with lower prevalence of allergy, reduced chemokine-levels and increased levels of IFN-γ in plasma (Paper IV).    This thesis provides novel insights into S. aureus- and SE-mediated activation of Tregs, unconventional T-cells and NK-cells and suggests an overall impairment of immune-responsiveness towards this bacterium in children. Further, S. aureus-colonization may influence the maturation of peripheral Tregs. Our data show that lactobacilli potently dampen lymphocyte-activation in vitro and that colonization associates with Treg-responsiveness, altered plasma cytokine- and chemokine-levels and with remaining non-allergic, thereby supporting the idea of lactobacilli as important immune-modulators. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>

Cette recherche porte sur les dynamiques de fusion et de dispersion traversant le corps social et culturel guadeloupéen. Le conflit hérité de l'esclavage et de la colonisation n'ayant pas été résolu, a été mis en latence devenant sous-jacent à toutes sortes de relations sociales. Ce conflit, à l'origine de la société et de la culture guadeloupéennes, engendre désormais des dynamiques de dispersion. Il s'agit donc ici de relever diverses formes conflictuelles se déployant dans les champs économique, socioculturel et politique, pour en faire émerger la trame culturelle. Ce conflit opposant originellement dominés et dominants ou soi et l'autre, a été intégré à la culture, il la façonne et se transmet par son biais. L'étude des représentations et pratiques liées à la consommation, des perspectives de changement social, de la mémoire collective ou des relations hiérarchiques au travail, permet de saisir la reproduction et la transmission de certaines grilles d'interprétations de la réalité, de schèmes de comportements et de modes de relation à l'autre. Les protagonistes réels ayant disparu à la fin de la colonisation, ce conflit oppose désormais des systèmes de valeur, des références culturelles et identitaires, des paradigmes de pensée ou en encore des figures, en somme, des forces contradictoires internes et transversales à cette société. L'assimilation politico-culturelle à la France ayant cours depuis la loi de départementalisation de 1946, les frontières entre soi et l'autre se sont partiellement estompées, renforçant les sentiments de déréalisation et la menace de disparition du collectif. Les dynamiques d'unification du corps socioculturel se réalisent alors dans l'adversité, dans une relation de pouvoir problématique avec un autre. Ce phénomène entraîne des formes de recentrement identitaire et des tentatives d'expulsion de l'autre en soi. La figure du dominant est ainsi projetée hors de soi. Ce schéma récurrent est notamment mis en avant dans les notions de pwofitasyon, de masse et d'identités nèg donnant lieu à des tentatives de production d'authenticité culturelle et d'appropriation du pouvoir. Il est donc aussi question d'étudier les paramètres selon lesquels les sujets individuels et collectifs se construisent, les identités produites et leurs relations, mais aussi les façons dont ces sujets composent avec la diversité pour se construire une existence. Dans un tel contexte, la gestion permanente de ce conflit se manifeste par la fluidité des positions, la porosité des références et la multiplicité des allégeances et des outils culturels, donnant forme au processus syncrétique. Ainsi, ce conflit transversal, global, donne lieu à l'émergence de sujets périphériques, dont l'existence est surdéterminée par le déséquilibre de la relation à l'autre. Et parce que ces sujets ont intégré une part de cet autre, qu'ils n'ont d'existence qu'à l'intérieur de cette relation conflictuelle, leurs quêtes identitaires consistent à se positionner à la marge de l'autre, mais aussi d'eux-mêmes. / This research focuses on the dynamics of fusion and dispersion throughout Guadeloupean social and cultural groups. The unresolved conflict inherited from slavery and colonization has become latent and underlies all kinds of social relationships. This conflict, which is at the origin of Guadeloupean society and culture, now encompasses dynamic dispersion. It is therefore a matter of diverse conflicting forms unfolding within the economic, social, cultural and political fields that emerge through the cultural fabric. This conflict, originally between the dominated and the dominant or oneself and the other, has been incorporated into the culture, and is shaped and transmitted by its bias. The study of representations and practices related to consummation, perspectives of social change, collective memory and hierarchical relationships at work, captures the reproduction and transmission of certain interpretations of reality, patterns of behavior and ways of relating to each other. This conflict is left with now opposing value systems, cultural and identity references, paradigms of thought and even figures as the real protagonists disappeared at the end of colonization, in fact, these are contradictory internal and transverse forces within this society. Since the politico-cultural assimilation that took place in France with the law of departmentalization of 1946, the boundaries between oneself and the other have become partially blurred, reinforcing feelings of déréalisation and the threat of the extinction of the collective. The dynamics of the unification of the socio-cultural body then occurs in adversity, in a power struggle relationship with another. This phenomenon leads to forms of re-centering of identity and attempts to evict the other in oneself. The dominant figure is thus projected outside itself. This recurring schematic is particularly highlighted in the notions of pwofitasyon, of mass and neg identities resulting in attempts to produce cultural authenticity and the appropriation of power. It is therefore also a matter of studying the parameters within which individual and collective subjects are constructed, identities produced and their relationships, and how these subjects are created with diversity to construct an existence of oneself. In such a context, the ongoing management of this conflict is manifested by the fluidity of positions, porous references and multiple allegiances and cultural tools that give shape to the syncretic process. Thus, this transversal and global conflict resulted in the emergence of peripheral subjects, whose existence is determined by the imbalance in the relationship with the other. And because these subjects have included a part of the other, they only exist within this conflicting relationship, their quest for identity consists not just of positioning oneself at the margin of the other, but also at the margin of themselves.

Semi-natural grasslands are among the most threatened habitats in Europe, endangered mainly by cessation of former management practices and conversion into other types of land use. Extensive research has been carried out in European grasslands in last decades, to explain origins of diversity and to provide guidelines for its conservation. However, the very slow response of perennial plants to landscape changes often impedes to accurately evaluate why species occur just where they occur and not elsewhere. Abandoned fields are perceived as potential habitats for species from declining grasslands. Indeed, many species are able to spontaneously colonise abandoned fields, but many other species are absent from communities that develop there. An important question remains what limits their successful establishment. By answering this question, we can gain also important insights into factors determining species distribution in grasslands because colonization of recently abandoned fields by grassland species is the ongoing process which is not obscured by historical changes in landscape structure. The very basic aim of this thesis was to evaluate the status quo of dry grassland plants in fields abandoned in last two decades. And in the second step, to identify what are the main constrains of successful...

Orientador: Edivaldo Domingues Velini / Banca: Dagoberto Martins / Banca: Antonio Sergio Ferraudo / Banca: Ricardo Victoria Filho / Banca: Robert Deuber / Abstract: The aquatic weeds are essentially important in water bodies under strong antropic influence, especially in hydropower water reservoirs built-up in highly urbanized regions. In the energy generation system of hydropower company “Light Serviços de Eletricidade”, the Santana reservoir historically has more problems with aquatic weeds. Aiming to solve these problems the company periodically promotes a mechanical harvesting cleaning up the reservoir, but after some time it is completely re-colonized by the macrophytes and the 4 problems are back. Aiming to understand the macrophytes re-colonization dynamics, fields surveys were done monthly, identifying and quantifying the aquatic weed populations in 91 sampling sites. The weeds quantification was done by means of a colonization scale changing from 0 (no plants) to 4 (high colonization, more than 80% of the sampling site). The evolution of colonization area and the geographic distribution pattern were studied for aquatic weed populations, while diversity and equitability coefficients, several similarity index and multivariate analysis were applied to study the macrophyte communities between sampling times. There was a well defined colonization succession process, characterized by variation in the relative size of the different populations and some seral stages could be established, at least for mechanical harvesting planning and some biotic conditions of the macrophyte community. It was not possible to detect a succession of populations, but a succession of colonization conditions since there were no expressive increments or extinctions of species in the reservoir during the year. The exotic species to the reservoir and with early colonization were the predominant ones in the macrophyte community with special attention to Egeria densa and Brachiaria arrecta. For some species, as Eichhornia crassipes and Myriophyllum aquaticum, the biotic pressures of natural enemies probably had decisive effects on. / Doutor