Efforts to achieve urban sustainability include ecological practices within civic society. A prominent example of this is the voluntary stewardship of green urban spaces such as community gardening. People participating in these practices – so the argument goes – draw on social-ecological memory (SE-memory) – knowledge, experience, and practice of local ecosystem management. The present study scrutinises the components and implications of the concept of SE-memory. It identifies and fills a theoretical gap by investigating and adding neglected dimensions of individual memory while strengthening the concept’s social component by examining implications of SE-memory for its actual individual carriers. The study centres on Berlin’s intercultural gardens – urban community gardens where processes of SE-memory are particularly diverse. It is based on five months of fieldwork, including intensive participant observations and in-depth interviews in such gardens. The findings show that the reviving, modifying, and transmitting of SE-memory involve expressions of individuality as well as community and comprise inter-locking streams of both individual and social memory. These play a pivotal role for individuals’ sense of belonging, social inclusion, and commitment to cultural diversity central to the intercultural gardens’ contribution to social urban sustainability as they provide space for personal memory revival, allow for people to practice their culture of origin, and offer points of manifold exchange with others.

The pressure on natural resources in urban areas increases as cities grow in size and populations; however, informal institutions as norms and values by ‘common people’ can play a major role for protection of urban greens.  As the city of Bangalore, India, rapidly grows in size and population, its green areas are disappearing. In rural parts of India, local people’s notion of certain ecosystems as sacred has rendered the ecosystems protection and contributed to sustenance of ecosystem services’ generation. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of stewardship of urban greens in a changing social context, focusing on religious beliefs and practices surrounding trees in Bangalore. It focuses on the cultural dimension of ecosystem services and connects previous research on sacred groves in rural areas with research on stewardship of urban greens. Methods include interview surveys with visitors to five focus sites of religious significance representing the city's four major religions; semi-structured interviews with key informants; and observations. Results show that on the Hindu sites -the study’s main focus- in the city, a range of trees were sacred themselves and revered through a set of practices. On the other sites, trees were rather an incorporated part of the land areas with religious significance. On all sites a set of cultural services was appreciated as generated by trees. Furthermore, visitors had a strong stake in the trees but the experienced levels of capacity to secure the trees’ protection differed between the sites. The study concludes that ‘common people’ are crucial stakeholders for ecosystem stewardship that ensures protection of the urban greens in Bangalore. The different religions in the city provide a multi-faceted protection of different types of urban greens. The level of protection is the outcome of a complex web of community values and norms, where sacredness is one included element.

Orientadores: Augusto Alberto Valero Flores, Fosca Pedini Pereira Leite / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T03:35:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vieira_EdsonAparecido_M.pdf: 2249686 bytes, checksum: fc1be273f482d859b6318c714194a62b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Os processos que afetam o desenvolvimento e estruturação de comunidades incrustantes é um tema central em Ecologia. Entender como distúrbios naturais e antrópicos interagem com esses processos, e identificar os mecanismos responsáveis por sua recuperação, ou pela transferência da comunidade para outro estado de equilíbrio, são questões muito importantes, principalmente devido às diversas modificações recentes promovidas pela ação humana. Numa primeira fase, investiguei experimentalmente como as comunidades incrustantes do sublitoral são afetadas por diferentes pressões de predação, exclusão de predadores e diferentes taxas de recrutamento. Observei um fraco efeito da predação como um todo, não havendo relação entre o padrão de riqueza e a estrutura das comunidades com o padrão de pressão de predação. Além disso, a exclusão de consumidores teve efeitos pontuais, tanto para riqueza quanto para a estrutura da comunidade. O padrão de recrutamento mostrou grande associação com o padrão de riqueza, entretanto esse fator também não foi importante para explicar a variação na estrutura da comunidade. A grande variação em pequena escala da estrutura das comunidades indica que esses são processos locais, que podem não ser perceptíveis em uma escala maior, onde outros processos atuam. Interessado no efeito de distúrbios na estruturação de comunidades, simulei uma alteração no regime de predação e recrutamento, transplantando comunidades em desenvolvimento entre locais com valores extremos desses fatores. No geral, as comunidades transplantadas ficaram mais similares aos destinos do que à origem, independente da direção do transplante e no momento em que ele foi feito. Esse resultado evidencia a importância de condições pós-distúrbio na trajetória da comunidade em direção a um novo estado de equilíbrio. Entretanto, apesar de mais similares, elas não ficaram idênticas ao destino, evidenciando a existência de um legado dos momentos iniciais de desenvolvimento / Abstract: Processes affecting the development and the structure of incrusting communities are of central importance in Ecology. Understanding how natural or anthropogenic disturbance interact with such processes, and identifying the mechanisms by which communities recover, or otherwise develop to new stable states, is a very important question, particularly at present, after increased habitat modifications promoted by humans. I had first investigated, experimentally, how incrusting communities are affected by different predation pressure, exclusion of consumers and different recruitment rates. I observed a weak overall effect of predation and no relation between richness and levels of predation pressure. Besides that, the exclusion of predators showed only local effects, either on species richness or community structure. Recruitment rate was correlated to richness, but also it was not important to explain variations in community structure. The large variation at a very small scale, within localities, indicates that predation and recruitment act locally, and their effects may not be noticed in a large scale, where other processes are important. I was also interested in the effect of disturbance in the structure of communities, so I simulated an alteration of predation and recruitment regimes by transplanting developing communities between localities with extreme values of these factors. Overall, transplanted communities became more similar to destination, regardless of direction and moment of transplant. This result shows an important role of post-disturbance conditions guiding community development towards a new equilibrium state. However, although similar, transplanted communities did not become equal to destination, evidencing the existence of some legacy from early moments of development / Mestrado / Ecologia / Mestre em Ecologia

Krčmářová Jana 2015 Title: Forgetting traditional agricultural knowledge in modernization. Interdisciplinry historical reconstruction of Czech agroforestry. Abstract: Corresponding with the tradition of current ecological and historical anthropology the study concentrated on reconstruction of transformation of one of the key complex human ecological relationships - modernization of agriculture. The roots of the changes are placed into 17th century Britain yet during the last centuries they spread over the globe and in some cases are still spreading. The process of agriculture modernization was enlightened with analysis of its local progression in the Czech Republic and in the light of mechanisms of cultural memory.. The establishment of modern industrial agriculture was described as forgetting of contemporary used agricultural knowledge during the application of new ideal agriculture form on the contemporary agricultural ecosystem. The new form was derived from the principles of modern economy, sciences and the availability of new technologies and was pushed forward by expert and economic elites and state. The form was applied on the biocultural system-landscape cultivated in majority of cases by thousand years present locals. The dialectical relationship between the new form, its application and the...

Krčmářová Jana 2015 Title: Forgetting traditional agricultural knowledge in modernization. Interdisciplinry historical reconstruction of Czech agroforestry. Abstract: Corresponding with the tradition of current ecological and historical anthropology the study concentrated on reconstruction of transformation of one of the key complex human ecological relationships - modernization of agriculture. The roots of the changes are placed into 17th century Britain yet during the last centuries they spread over the globe and in some cases are still spreading. The process of agriculture modernization was enlightened with analysis of its local progression in the Czech Republic and in the light of mechanisms of cultural memory.. The establishment of modern industrial agriculture was described as forgetting of contemporary used agricultural knowledge during the application of new ideal agriculture form on the contemporary agricultural ecosystem. The new form was derived from the principles of modern economy, sciences and the availability of new technologies and was pushed forward by expert and economic elites and state. The form was applied on the biocultural system-landscape cultivated in majority of cases by thousand years present locals. The dialectical relationship between the new form, its application and the...

Dissolved oxygen concentrations are declining in the bottom waters of many lakes around the world, posing critical water quality concerns. Throughout my dissertation, I assessed how bottom-water dissolved oxygen may mediate the effects of climate and land use change on water quality in lakes. First, I characterized causes of variation in summer bottom-water temperature and dissolved oxygen. I demonstrated that spring air temperatures may play a greater role than summer air temperatures in shaping summer bottom-water dynamics. I then characterized the effects of declining bottom-water oxygen concentrations across diverse scales of analysis (i.e., using microcosm incubations, whole-ecosystem oxygenation experiments, and data analysis of >600 widespread lakes). I found that low dissolved oxygen concentrations contributed to release of nutrients and organic carbon from lake sediments, potentially altering the role of lakes in global biogeochemical cycles. Importantly, I also found support for a previously-hypothesized Anoxia Begets Anoxia feedback, whereby bottom-water anoxia (i.e., no dissolved oxygen) in a given year promotes increasingly severe occurrences of anoxia in following summers. This finding demonstrates the need for forecasts of future oxygen dynamics in lakes, as management actions to preempt the first occurrence of anoxia will be more effective than actions to restore ecological function after oxygen concentrations have already declined. To build the capacity for such forecasts, I led a systematic review of ecological forecasting literature that characterized the state of the field, emerging best practices, and relative predictability of four ecological variables. Combined, my dissertation provides a mechanistic examination of the effects of climate change on water quality in lakes worldwide, ultimately helping to anticipate, mitigate, and preempt future water quality declines. / Doctor of Philosophy / Changes in climate and land use have caused dissolved oxygen concentrations to decline in many lakes around the world. These declines are concerning because low oxygen concentrations can cause substantial water quality problems. If we could better predict future water quality, we may be able to develop more effective lake management programs. To help meet this need, I analyzed how dissolved oxygen has mediated historical changes in water quality, and how dissolved oxygen may affect water quality in the future. I focused on bottom-water (rather than surface-water) dissolved oxygen, because bottom waters are more likely to experience very low oxygen concentrations that can lead to water quality problems. I started by assessing the drivers of summer bottom-water dissolved oxygen in 615 lakes. Across these lakes, spring air temperatures played a greater role than summer air temperatures in shaping summer bottom-water temperature and dissolved oxygen. I then characterized the effects of declining bottom-water oxygen concentrations using small-scale incubations in the lab, manipulations of oxygen concentrations in a whole reservoir, and data analysis across 656 lakes. I found that low dissolved oxygen conditions led to the release of nutrients and organic carbon from lake sediments, which may worsen water quality. Importantly, I also found support for a feedback effect, whereby low bottom-water dissolved oxygen in one summer perpetuates oxygen declines in following summers. This finding motivates the need for forecasts of future dissolved oxygen concentrations, as management actions to stop the first occurrence of low oxygen concentrations will be more effective than actions to restore water quality after oxygen concentrations have already started to decline. To build capacity for lake oxygen forecasts, I synthesized many published papers that have predicted future ecological states, and I documented proposed best practices in this emerging field. Ultimately, by advancing our understanding of how climate and land use change affect water quality in lakes worldwide, my dissertation research will help to anticipate, mitigate, and preempt future water quality declines.