Knowledge transfer has been identified as a strategic process for bridging the persistent gap between theory and practice. In biodiversity management, experts generate different types of knowledge that is transferred to citizen communities for practice. On the other hand, citizens constantly interact with their biosphere and from time to time are requested to convey ground knowledge to the experts for scientific analysis and interpretation. The transfer of knowledge between experts and citizens is faced by different challenges key among them being the large volume of the knowledge, complexity of the knowledge, as well as variegated absorptive capacity among citizen communities. Knowledge transfer models adopted for expert-citizen engagement in the biodiversity management domain must therefore consider these characteristics of the domain. Advances in computing technologies present opportunities to create knowledge transfer models that can minimize these challenges. Current knowledge transfer models were created mainly for organizational knowledge transfer and without consideration of specific computing technologies as a mode of knowledge transfer. These challenges and opportunities highlighted a need to investigate how a technology-based knowledge transfer model for biodiversity management could be created. The focus of this study was to explore enhancement of knowledge transfer in the biodiversity management domain using two specific technologies; knowledge representation using ontologies and crowd computing. The research draws from existing knowledge transfer models and properties of the two technologies. This study assumed the pragmatist philosophical stance and adopted the design science research (DSR) approach which is characterised by two intertwined cycles of ‘build’ and ‘evaluate’. The research produced two main contributions from the two cycles. The build cycle led to creation of a technology-based model for knowledge transfer between experts and citizens in the biodiversity domain and was named the Biodiversity Management Knowledge Transfer (BiMaKT) model. Evaluation cycle resulted in development of a platform for transfer of biodiversity management knowledge between experts and citizens. The BiMaKT model reveals that two technologies; knowledge representation using ontologies and crowd computing, could be synergised to enable knowledge transfer between experts and citizens in biodiversity management. It is suggested that this model be utilised to guide development of biodiversity management applications where knowledge needs to be transferred between experts and citizens. The model also presents opportunity for exploration in other domains, especially where experts and citizens need to exchange knowledge. The knowledge transfer platform, reveals that the BiMaKT model could be used to guide development of biodiversity management knowledge transfer platforms. The study utilises a case of fruit fly control and management knowledge transfer between fruit fly experts and fruit farmers for evaluation of the contributions. An experiment using the case demonstrated that the challenges facing knowledge transfer in the domain could be reduced through ontological modelling of domain knowledge and harnessing of online crowds participation through crowd computing. The platform presents opportunity for more empirical studies on usage of the platform in knowledge transfer activities. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Informatics / PhD / Unrestricted

Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2016-06-14T14:44:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alyson Luiz Santos de Almeida.pdf: 906504 bytes, checksum: 1db0b99568abe66c29e485bec83d7de4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-14T14:44:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alyson Luiz Santos de Almeida.pdf: 906504 bytes, checksum: 1db0b99568abe66c29e485bec83d7de4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-12 / Human action under natural environments, such as habitat alteration for the development of agriculture and cattle breeding, is considered one of the major causes of species loss and rupture of ecological processes. Such actions can directly and indirectly affect reproduction aspects of plant species such as blowing, fruiting, dispersion and interaction with pollinators and dispersors. The present work verified the influence of different forms of environment managements in an area of caatinga on the reproduction of Spondias tuberosa Arruda (Anacardiaceae), an andromonoic and endemic species from this ecosystem. In this area distinct soil management conditions were identified, being them characterized by different plant covers, use frequencies and intensities, and where individuals of S. tuberosa were maintained after deforestation. For this work these areas were named as soil management units (MU´s): “serra” and “base da serra” (with regenerating vegetation), “pasto” (pasture)and “cultivo” (mainly maize and bean cultures). Mean floral production, proportion between floral types (hermaphroditic or male), mean fruit production per inflorescence, the composition of pollinators guild and the visitation frequency were investigated in these areas. On average, individuals from the UM “cultivo” produced more flowers per inflorescence than the other UMs. In“serra” and “pasto”, more hermaphroditic flowers were produced in relation to male flowers. Average fruit production was not different among UMs. The only difference in the average number of visits among the UMs was found between “cultivo” (65.83 ± 38.49) and “serra” (11.5 ± 12.8). Cluster analysis concerning number of visits showed that: a) “cultivo” is very far from the other UMs; b) “pasto” and “base da serra” are very close to each other and they are also grouping with “serra” and c) among the visitants, pollinators are the responsible for drawing the differences described above. Visits were made by 19 insect morpho-species, such as bees (31.6%), butterflies (31.65), wasps (26.3%) and flies (10.5%), which mainly collected nectar. Analysis of similarity with pollinators showed a clear separation among the managed and non-managed areas because of their pollinators, suggesting that human action influenced native pollinators behavior, who might have been overlapped by exotic species. / A ação humana sobre ambientes naturais tais como a alteração de habitats para desenvolvimento de agricultura e pecuária, é considerada uma das maiores causas de perda de biodiversidade e da ruptura de processos ecológicos. Tais ações podem afetar direta e indiretamente aspectos da reprodução de espécies vegetais como, por exemplo, a floração, a frutificação, e as interações com polinizadores e dispersores. O presente estudo verificou a influência de diferentes formas de manejo do ambiente em uma área de caatinga sobre a reprodução de Spondias tuberosa Arruda (Anacardiaceae), uma espécie andromonóica e endêmica desse ecossistema. Nesta área foram identificadas distintas condições de manejo, caracterizadas pelas diferentes coberturas vegetais, freqüência e intensidade de uso, e nas quais os indivíduos de S. tuberosa foram mantidos após a supressão da vegetação. Estas áreas foram denominadas como unidades de manejo (UMs): “serra” e “base da serra” (com vegetação em regeneração), “pasto” (pastagens) e “cultivo” (cultura de milho e feijão, principalmente). Foram comparadas entre as UMs a produção média de flores, a proporção entre tipos de flores (hermafroditas e masculinas), a formação média de frutos por inflorescência, a composição da guilda de polinizadores e a freqüência de visitas. Em média, osindivíduos da UM “cultivo” produziram mais flores por inflorescência do que os das demais UMs. Na “serra” e no “pasto” foram produzidas mais flores hermafroditas do que masculinas por inflorescência. A produção média de frutos não foi diferente entre as UMs. A única diferença encontrada nas médias de visitas entre as UMs foi entre “cultivo” (65,83 ± 38,49) e “serra” (11,5 ± 12,8). A análise de agrupamento com relação ao número de visitas mostrou que: a) “cultivo” está muito distante das outras unidades de manejo; b) pasto e base da serra estão bem próximas formando um grupo com serra e c) dentre os visitantes, os polinizadores são os responsáveis pelo delineamento das distâncias acima descritas. As visitas foram feitas por 19 morfo-espécies de insetos, dentre elas abelhas (31,6%), borboletas (31,6%), vespas (26,3%) e moscas (10,5%), que coletavam principalmente néctar. A análise de similaridade dos polinizadores mostrou uma clara separação entre áreas manejadas e não manejadas em função de seus polinizadores, sugerindo que a ação humana influenciou o comportamento dos polinizadores nativos, os quais foram rechaçados por espécies exóticas. No entanto, esta alteração aparentemente não afetou o sucesso reprodutivo pré-emergente.

Magister Scientiae (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) - MSc (Biodiv and Cons Biol) / Areas of high biodiversity and complex species assemblages are often difficult to manage and to set up meaningful monitoring and evaluations programmes. Mountain Fynbos is such an ecosystem and in the Cape of Good Hope (part of the Table Mountain National Park) plant biodiversity over the last five decades has been in decline. The reasons are difficult to speculate since large herbivores, altered fire regimes and even climate change could be contributors to this decline which has been quantified using fixed quadrats and standard cover-abundance estimates based on a Braun-Blanquet methodology. To provide more detailed data that has more resolution in terms of identifying ecological processes, Fixed-Point Repeat Photography has been presented as a management “solution”. However, photography remains a difficult method to standardize subjects and has certain operational limitations.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第17922号 / 情博第504号 / 新制||情||89(附属図書館) / 30742 / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 守屋 和幸, 教授 吉川 正俊, 准教授 小山 里奈 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DGAM

Aj Many different methods are used to protect nature. Recently, however, the Earth Remote Sensing (RS) methods have come to the fore. An indisputable advantage is the ability to apply acquired data from RS in the GIS environment and to combine them easily with other important data about studied areas. To evaluate the change in the status of grassland Natura 2000 habitats, a manual assessment of the change of vegetation cover from orthophoto maps was chosen. In the GIS tools were used to analyses the changes in cover of target habitats in selected administrative areas of four municipalities in the Šumava NP between years 2004 and 2015. Differences in the enlargement of the built-up areas of four studied municipalities as a whole and the losses of target habitats due to development activities were studied. The results are compared with the results of similar monitoring conducted in the Krkonoše NP. Key words: Management of protected areas, secondary grasslands, rare habitats, succession, biodiversity