Thesis (M.A.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 109. Thesis director: Richard J. Diecchio. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed June 30, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-108). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Guelph, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-84).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Biology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-68). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11805

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2008. / Includes reprints of four papers and manuscripts co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Also partially issued electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks reprints of four papers and manuscripts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2001. / Title from title page screen. Document formatted into manuscript-like pagination: vii, 98 leaves : ill. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-86).

Thesis (MTech (Nature Conservation))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / A survey in 2010 suggested that the lion (Panthera leo) population of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (KGNP) was exhibiting a skewed sex ratio in favour of males, which can ultimately lead to a decline in lion population numbers. In the KGNP artificial water provision has influenced the abundance of resident prey and potentially, lion diet and body condition. Changes in mammalian diet, and consequently body condition, have been found to influence the sex ratio of offspring. In response to a concern that diet may be influencing lion sex ratios in the KGNP, aspects of the spatial and temporal variation in lion diet were investigated between May 2013 and June 2015. The lion diet profile in the KGNP was described using evidence of prey remains identified through GPS cluster analysis (n = 278) from seven collared lionesses, lion scat analysis (n = 189) and opportunistic observations of lion feeding events (n = 52). Spatial variation in diet was investigated between three regional landscape types (north, south and west), based on the different vegetation types represented within each area, and two habitat types (riverbeds and dunes). Seasonal variations were assessed according to the hot-wet season (November to April), and the cold-dry season (May to October). Findings were also used to assess whether lion diet in KGNP has changed over the last 45 years through evaluating results from historical lion diet studies.

Animal diversity is rapidly decreasing across the globe as their habitats are being degraded by human activities. At the same time, forest restoration is an increasing practice, contributing to preserving nature values, but to what extent? On Borneo, only a fraction of its previous tropical rainforest remains today as conversion into monoculture tree plantations has been increasingly profitable. This study aims at investigating the potential of tropical reforestation in sustaining native animal diversity, a group that is often overlooked when it comes to studying restoration success. I collected audio recordings from four different land uses in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia (oil palm and eucalypt plantations, primary and restored forest) to compare their soundscapes, i.e., all the sounds stemming from the different landscapes. I also created a list of 57 species based on the recordings, used it to compare species richness and presence of threatened species within the land uses. Both the animal diversity and soundscape composition differed significantly between restored forest and tree plantations, with more than twice as many species found in the rainforest both in total and per plot. The largest difference was observed comparing oil palm and restored forest plots; the latter harbored an average of 3.7 times more species. The soundscape from the restored forest showed high similarity to primary forest and the mean number of threatened species were the same in both land uses. More species were on average found in the restored plots than in the primary sites, 26 compared to 21. The findings from this study are promising, giving insight in the possibility to restore animal diversity simultaneously to restoring plant diversity. At the same time, it also stresses the need for a more sustainable alternative to the present plantation forestry and more comprehensive studies on how tropical rainforest restoration affects animal diversity.

Leopard Panthera pardus are an economically valuable asset and when used in sustainable consumptive use programs can provide tangible benefits to communities to improve human livelihoods and the conservation of the species. Sport hunting is increasingly proposed as a tool to generate funds to support the conservation of leopard and other large carnivores. However, to assess the value of sport hunting as a conservation tool it is critical to understand its economic impact and ensure that the off-takes are sustainable. In this study I assessed the conservation status of leopard and the ecological sustainability of legal and illegal off-take in Niassa National Reserve (NNR) the largest protected area, 42,000 km2, in Mozambique, which is inhabited by 35,000 people. I also investigated whether the revenues from leopard sport hunting off-set the costs of depredation on livestock in local communities and individual benefits from poaching by local hunters. To perform this study, I interviewed hunting operators and villagers, collected camera trapping data, and analyzed long-term leopard sport hunting data. Leopard had high value for sport hunters, however, the economic benefits from the legal hunting did not off-set the costs from livestock depredation and did not compete with benefits from the illegal hunting which accrued to individuals at the household level. Leopard population densities in Niassa Reserve were comparable with the study sites in central and southern Africa. The numbers of leopard legally hunted in NNR appear to be ecologically sustainable, however a high percentage of the leopard taken as trophies were under the recommended age of seven years. The illegal off-take was unsustainable and resulting in high turnover and combined with the operators’ off-take is likely to be negatively affecting leopard populations. For the future ecological and economic sustainability of leopard quotas, I recommend improvements in the distribution of economic benefits and creating economic incentives to encourage villagers not to engage in the illegal hunting and quantification and inclusion of the illegal off-take in the annual quotas. My study also indicates the need to zone community and wildlife areas in NNR to reduce the anthropogenic effects on leopard and other carnivore populations. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

The aim of this study was to comparatively evaluate the Conservation Education programmes of the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG) in Pretoria, South Africa, the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) in Entebbe, Uganda and Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, in order to devise a Model for an effective zoo Conservation Education Programme. A mixed-methods strategy, namely concurrent triangulation, was used for data-collection. The quantitative method was that of surveys by means of group-administered questionnaires. The population for the quantitative study was school groups that visited the zoos. The qualitative research questions were addressed by means of individual semi-structured interviews. Interpretive analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The participants of the qualitative study were staff members at the zoos and other key figures in the zoo – and conservation sector. The impact of Conservation Education programmes of the zoos were evaluated by means of a logic model. The quantitative results indicated that the Conservation Education programmes were successful in increasing the knowledge of the learners and in increasing their intention to change behaviour. This study further indicated that, although attending zoo Conservation Education programmes has the potential to increase the attitudes and values of learners, this was not always the case. Furthermore, the results show that when learners tested high with regard to their knowledge, attitudes and values prior to attending a Conservation Education programme, their knowledge, attitudes and values will not change significantly after they attended a Conservation Education programme. Furthermore, the results of the qualitative study indicated that the evaluation of Conservation Education programmes and the training of zoo educators should receive more attention to ensure the success of these programmes. It can be concluded that the role of zoos have become even more important to conserve biodiversity through their Conservation Education programmes. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)