Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2003. / Thesis documentation sheet inserted. Appendix reproduces five published papers and submitted manuscripts, four co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Also partially issued electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 347-364). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR51701

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Integrative Biology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-130).

This thesis investigated the development of the Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA Standard), which is a new approach to identifying important sites for biodiversity. Key Biodiversity Areas are defined as sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. The KBA Standard was developed through a global stakeholder engagement process convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IUCN Task Force). The engagement process included four main components: (i) technical workshops with subject experts; (ii) interviews and an online questionnaire with end-users; (iii) regional events with additional interested stakeholders; and (iv) an open online consultation where stakeholders were invited to review the draft KBA Standard. The aim of this thesis was to use an action research approach to work with the IUCN Task Force to analyse the end-user component of the global stakeholder engagement process. End-users were defined during the engagement process as those who lead or influence decision-making processes linked to mechanisms that secure biodiversity or that avoid biodiversity loss. The main objectives of this research were to: (i) clarify the purpose of engaging end-users by examining the use of normative, instrumental, and substantive rationales; (ii) use mixed methods to gain an understanding of end-users’ needs and concerns; (iii) categorise and analyse end-users’ needs and concerns by sector and region; (iv) assess the end-user engagement process through a summative evaluation; (v) examine how end-user input was used to inform the development of the KBA Standard; and (vi) develop a set of recommendations related to global end-user engagement practice. The analysis indicated that the IUCN Task Force used a blend of instrumental and substantive rationales to justify engaging end-users. Five main categories of end-user needs and concerns emerged from the analysis of the qualitative interview data: (i) the need for communication and local stakeholder engagement; (ii) the potential for the KBA Standard to either complement or conflict with existing approaches; (iii) the need for clarity regarding the scale at which KBAs can be identified (i.e. global, regional, and/or national); (iv) concerns about the implementation of the KBA Standard, including data availability, timeliness, and resources; and (v) comments about how KBAs inform decision-making, including management options, sustainable use, and prioritisation. These topics were examined in depth through the qualitative interviews and in breadth through the quantitative questionnaire. The results demonstrate a high level of convergence in opinion on many topics; however, four topics resulted in a divergence in opinion between end-users, including: (i) the scale at which KBAs are identified; (ii) the prioritisation of KBAs over other areas; (iii) whether KBA data should be made freely available; and (iv) whether development activities should be permitted in KBAs. These areas of divergence were analysed further by categorising end-user questionnaire responses by sector and region. The results have important implications for how end-users are identified, categorised, and engaged and highlight the complex and individual nature of end-users’ needs and concerns. The summative evaluation analysed the purpose, process, outputs, and outcomes against a typology of engagement and principles of good practice for international standard setting to reflect upon how end-users’ needs and concerns were integrated into the development of the KBA Standard. This indicated both the strengths and weaknesses of the engagement approaches used and informed the development of 11 recommendations to inform future similar processes. This thesis ultimately helps to bridge the gap between stakeholder engagement theory and practice and provides insight into the challenges and benefits of using a mixed methods action research approach to investigate a global stakeholder engagement process.

In this study, the diversity of forty Salmonella isolates from selected drinking water and wastewater sources in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa was assessed using parameters such as protein and lipopolysaccharide profile analysis, DNA fingerprinting and antibiotic susceptibility profile as test indices. Wastewater samples from Amalinda, Shornville and Fort Hare wastewater plants, and water samples from Gogogo and Tyume rivers were collected on ice and transported to the laboratory of the department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, University of Fort Hare for processing. The DNA dendograms of Salmonella and the applied UPGMA revealed 4 similarity groups of the strains. Most of the strains recovered from Amalinda, Shornville, Fort Hare wastewater plants, Gogogo and Tyume rivers show a high percentage of genetic similarity. On the other hand, protein dendograms of Salmonella isolates revealed 2 similarity groups which varied widely. Also, the lipopolysaccharide dendograms revealed three similarity groups with the first similarity groups showing a very high relatedness between strains from different water sources. The second similarity group included 16 strains which formed a rather homogenous group, and the third similarity group formed a distinct group. Of the seven antibiotics and sulfonamides tested against the Salmonella species, five namely, neomycin, chloramphenicol, kanamycin, streptomycin and cotrimoxazole were significantly inhibitory, while the bacteria showed considerable resistance to doxycycline and sulphamethoxazole. Our results based on restriction digestion, SDS/PAGE and dendogram construction show that there is a high similarity between the forty Salmonella strains studied, and that these methods are valuable tools for evaluating the relatedness ofSalmonella species. Our observations have proffered a veritable reference point on the diversity of Salmonella strains in the studied area.

This research aimed to verify the viability of brazilian biodiversity protection on the developmental paradigm impressed by Brazil in recent decades. It was intended to analyze the possibilities of biodiversity protection and conservation, one of the biggest country's wealth, through environmental legislation and Brazilian Federal Constitution. The relevant interest in this research finds support in the case of Turvo State Park that will be the analysis basis for the present study. There is a threat of impact on biological diversity of the Turvo State Park because of the possibility of building two hydroelectric power plants, Pananbi and Garabi, on the Uruguay River, as the flooding caused by the dams would affect a Park´s area. This interest is evident in the fact that the Park is one of the last remnants of Atlantic Forest in Rio Grande do Sul, forming an ecological corridor, which includes in its midst the natural heritage of Salto do Yucumã and extensive diversity of threatened flora and fauna. Starting from a systemic-complex analysis, we have as a result of this research the understanding that what is required to perform the connection between the concepts of sustainability and development in order to solve environmental conflicts targeted to a biocentric perspective, which strives for conservation biodiversity, social and cultural development. This paradigm that takes into account the limits of natural resources, traditional knowledge, forest peoples, non-urban societies and also comprising the true wealth of this tropical country, its biodiversity, to be respected and preserved for long years is the basis of consolidation of the right to social biodiversity. / A presente pesquisa objetivou verificar as diretrizes de proteção da biodiversidade brasileira diante do paradigma desenvolvimentista imprimido pelo Brasil nos últimos tempos. Pretendeu-se analisar as possibilidades de proteção e conservação da biodiversidade, uma das maiores riquezas do país, através da legislação ambiental e Constituição Federal brasileira. O relevante interesse nessa pesquisa encontra amparo no Parque Estadual do Turvo que será base de analise para o presente estudo. Existe uma ameaça de impacto à diversidade biológica do Parque por conta da possibilidade de construção de duas usinas hidrelétricas, de Pananbi e Garabi, no rio Uruguai, pois o alagamento provocado pelas barragens afetaria uma área do Parque. Esse interesse evidencia-se no fato de que o Parque é um dos últimos remanescentes do bioma Mata Atlântica no Rio Grande do Sul, formador de um corredor ecológico, que comporta em seu meio o patrimônio natural do Salto do Yucumã e extensa diversidade de flora e fauna ameaçadas de extinção. Partindo-se de uma análise sistêmico-complexa, tem-se como resultado dessa pesquisa a compreensão de que é necessário realizar a conexão entre os conceitos de sustentabilidade e desenvolvimento, a fim de dirimir conflitos ambientais voltados a uma ótica biocêntrica, que prima pela conservação da diversidade biológica, social e cultural do país. Esse paradigma que leva em consideração os limites dos recursos naturais, dos saberes tradicionais, dos povos da floresta, das sociedades não urbanas e ainda, que compreende a verdadeira riqueza desse país tropical, a sua biodiversidade, a ser respeitada e conservada em longos anos é à base da consolidação do direito à sociobiodiversidade.

L’apport majeur de la thèse est de montrer que la place grandissante de la biodiversité dans les politiques d’aménagement du territoire tient beaucoup au rôle joué par les instruments d’évaluation des impacts, qu’on regroupe sous le terme d’évaluation environnementale. En considérant ces instruments (études d’impact, mécanismes de compensation, processus participatifs associés) comme des « coproductions », c’est-à-dire des instruments mélangeant des éléments de science et de décisions politiques, nous avons montré qu’ils avaient des effets propres qui ont largement influencé les politiques d’aménagement et la manière dont les acteurs de l’aménagement se représentent la biodiversité.L’étude des instruments de l’évaluation environnementale, selon une démarche socio-historique d’une part et au travers de l’étude d’une série de grands projets ferroviaires d’autre part, nous a permis de montrer l’existence de plusieurs « régimes » caractéristiques de l’évaluation environnementale, qui mobilisent différents outils et différentes représentations de la biodiversité, et que nous avons identifié comme « pionnier », « institutionnalisé » et « utilitariste ».L’étude de la biodiversité dans la société peut être appréhendée non seulement au travers des conventions, lois, et conflits d’acteurs qu’elle génère mais aussi par les instruments concrets mis en place pour la prendre en compte, ces instruments étant à la fois des révélateurs des représentations de la biodiversité à un moment donné et des vecteurs de changement de ces représentations. / The major contribution of this thesis is to show that the growing role for biodiversity in territorial planning policies is firmly linked to the role played by impact assessment instruments, grouped together under the term 'environmental assessment'. By considering these instruments (impact studies, offset mechanisms, associated participatory processes) as 'co-productions', that is to say as instruments mixing elements of science and political decision-making, we showed that they had their own effects, which have strongly influenced planning policies and the way in which planning actors conceive of biodiversity.The study of environmental assessment instruments, following on the one hand a socio-historical approach and on the other a series of case studies of large-scale railway projects, allowed us to show the existence of several 'regimes' characteristic of environmental assessment, that mobilise different tools and different representations of biodiversity, and which we have identified as 'pioneering', 'institutionalised' and 'utilitarian'.The study of biodiversity in society can therefore be approached not only through analysing the conventions, law and conflicts between actors that it generates, but also through considering the concrete instruments implemented in order to take biodiversity into account, these instruments revealing the representations of biodiversity at a moment in time and being the vectors of change in these representations.

One in four known species of fruit flies inhabit the Hawaiian Islands. From a small number of colonizing flies, a wide range of species evolved, some of which managed to reverse-colonize other continental environments. In order to explore the developmental pathways, which separate the Hawaiian Drosophila proper and the Scaptomyza group that contains reverse-colonized species, the transcriptomes of two better-known species in each group, Scaptomyza anomala and Drosophila grimshawi, were analyzed to find changes in gene expression between the two groups. This study describes a novel transcriptome for S. anomala studies as well as unusual changes in gene expression in D. grimshawi relative to other species, revealing priorities of both species in early development.

One of the largest inventories of tardigrades ever conducted occurred from 2000 2010 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Over 16,000 specimens were catalogued, 85 species were identified, 11 species new to science were described, and 16 other possible new species await further study. More than 20 papers have resulted from the GSMNP tardigrade inventory, making the Smokies the most thoroughly studied area in North America for tardigrades. Several species lists have been published over this 20-year period, but many taxonomic revisions and new identifications have led to significant changes to the list. Biogeographical studies citing species records from earlier studies could yield serious errors. Here we update the species list from the Smokies to accommodate the many recent changes in tardigrade taxonomy, we re-Analyze some species in light of delineations of cryptic species groups that have occurred recently via integrative taxonomy, and we provide a table of all synonyms that have been used in previous publications. We also make available, for the first time, the Smokies tardigrade database, complete with all locations, elevations, and substrates.

MSc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Riparian zones harbour different species pools from the surrounding landscape and are thus important to biodiversity conservation. However, riparian zones are highly variable. Network characteristics, morphology, flow-sediment interactions, biophysical connectivity and biological characteristics all vary along the length of a river. It could therefore be expected that the biodiversity characteristics of different riparian zones may also be variable. To investigate this, this study quantified compositional and structural diversity in 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th stream order rivers in south-western Kruger National Park (KNP). A suite of measures, chosen to encompass the variety, balance, and disparity properties of diversity, was used to quantify woody vegetation and bird compositional and structural diversity within each stream order. Woody plant species richness and species diversity was highest in the 7th order river and similar in the 1st through 5th order rivers. Likewise the woody vegetation community composition of the 7th order river was distinct from those in the other stream order rivers. Bird species diversity was similar in all five stream orders considered. Bird community composition of the 7th order river was distinct from the bird community composition of the 4th and 5th order rivers, which in turn was distinct from the bird community composition of the 2nd and 1st order rivers. Woody vegetation height, canopy width and diameter diversity tended to be highest in the 4th and 5th order rivers, while number of stem (NoS) diversity was generally highest in the 1st order rivers and decreased along the stream order sequence to the 7th order river. Bird body mass diversity was highest in the middle of the stream order sequence, while bird wing length/body length (WL/BL) and leg length diversity was similar along the entire stream order sequence. Overall, a variety of patterns of change in biodiversity along the stream order sequence were observed The lack of a consistent pattern along the stream order sequence among the different elements of compositional and structural diversity illustrates that no single measure can properly characterise the biodiversity of an area, and thus researchers and managers need to be explicit about which aspect of biodiversity they are aiming to study/conserve. Additionally, the unique combination of biodiversity found in each of the stream orders illustrates that each contributes importantly to overall regional biodiversity, and thus there is need to consider the role of entire drainage networks in the landscape, rather than simply focusing on perennial rivers. Finally, this study illustrates the need to consider the heterogeneous nature of biodiversity itself.