This project provides a fire ecology lesson to accompany a hike for student groups from fourth through eighth grade. The lesson plan will acquaint students with the beneficial aspects of forest fires.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This creative project is a field and laboratory guide major to the study of Marine Ecology in Long Island Sound, Connecticut. It provides students with basic instructions for collecting, preserving, testing, and analyzing data from field and laboratory investigations. The guide is designed as an open-ended investigative approach to the examination of the ecological aspects of the marine environment. It is arranged to incorporate the five ecosystems of the marine environment: salt marsh, estuary, rocky shore, open ocean, and sandy beach ecosystems. Included are techniques for thorough examination of the physical, chemical, and biological portions of these ecosystems.

One of modern society's most pressing problems today is the environment with which it interacts. Though this interaction is inseparable, the environment has been treated as a separate entity. This lack of a symbiotic relationship between the society and its environment has produced certain pathologies such as increasing economic growth, excessive exploitation of resources, socio-economic inequalities, consumerism and environmentally insensitive planning and decision making. Education is deemed in this thesis, as a determinant and potential transformer of existing socioeconomic, environmental and administrative ideologies. With education/conscientization being regarded as the catalyst for societal change, Gramscian social theory is used to conceptualize societal functioning. Society has a hegemonic and counter-hegemonic realm. The' organic' intellectuals (leaders) within these realms will determine the nature and extent of political, socio-economic and environmental changes in society. A third grouping - the semi-hegemony - is recognized in this thesis. This group which includes tertiary educative institutions, plays a pivotal role between the hegemony and counter-hegemony in determining the nature of societal change. Universities could adopt a critical environmental paradigm. The environmentally conscientized intellectuals from these institutions can permeate the broader society bringing about gradual environmental, economic and societal transformations. For this reason, the research sets out to gauge the extent to which environmentalism has permeated into some South African universities. The nature and quantity of environmental content in disciplines, the predominant ideological trends and interdisciplinary potentials are assessed. Though experiencing many shortcomings, it is found that these universities had the potential to foster an holistic environmental paradigm. In conclusion, a set of models are proposed that could strengthen the: university's semi-hegemonic role; ensure the integration of an holistic environmental paradigm (via at' Integrated University Environmental Programme); establish links between the semi- hegemony and the broader society; and allow universities to play a role in regional cooperation as regards the promulgation of an environmentally based set of socio-economic and development policies and strategies. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1989.

Project 1: This is a literature review on the teaching of ecology in South African schools. The importance of ecology education in the school curriculum is well reported. It is also reported that in spite of the apparent importance of the subject, not much ecology is taught or learned in schools. This report examines what ecology is supposed to be about and the challenges that confront its teaching. The approaches to teaching the subject are also discussed. It would seem that if teachers focus on teaching ecological concepts using constructivist teaching/learning strategies, students might be helped to learn ecology meaningfully. Project 2: 'Constructing eco-concepts' is a case study that reports the effects of a module whose design was informed by social constructivist ideas on the understanding of selected ecological concepts by college students. Social constructivism as a philosophy of learning has gained increasing attention in science education in recent times and yet the approach is so alien to so many. Many teachers still teach by the traditional teacher-centred approaches. This research project reports the conceptual change of students after undertaking the module. It also reports the students' perceptions about the teaching/learning strategies employed in the module. It would seem that the social constructivist strategies used in the module assisted the students to improve their frameworks of ecological concepts. Data also tend to reveal that the students enjoyed the approach to learning and had positive views about the social constructivist teaching/learning approach. Project 3: With the advent of the new curriculum framework for South Africa, the outcomes based curriculum, it would seem that teachers could no longer approach teaching by the traditional transmission methods. Colleges of education have been criticised for producing teachers who do not seem to be adequately prepared for their job. Presently, the argument seems to be that teachers would need in-service education on a wide scale and the colleges of education would seem to be important in-service teacher education centres. This research, using case study methodology, investigated the potential of one of the colleges of education to become an in-service teacher education institution based on its physical and human resources.

Orientadores: Carlos Roberto Espindola, Maristela Simões de Carmo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T05:11:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pinho_RenataZambello_M.pdf: 1412625 bytes, checksum: 98623e114d1a80cfb90d9455d2b89bb4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: O Movimento Mutirão Agroflorestal começou em 1996, a partir do contato com as idéias inovadoras do agricultor/experimentador Ernst Götsch, e sempre foi um movimento espontâneo, com livre participação de todos os interessados. O grupo possui organização e dinâmica próprias, e desde o início se propôs a trabalhar de forma auto-gestionária. É formado por profissionais das áreas de ciências agrárias, biológicas, exatas e humanas, estudantes (graduação e pós-graduação), agricultores e técnicos extensionistas, que se reúnem em propriedades rurais para aprender a fazer agrofloresta na prática e de forma coletiva. Hoje, onze anos depois, conta com um acúmulo de experiências em implantação e manejo de agroflorestas, bem como no desenvolvimento de metodologias de ensinoaprendizagem em agrofloresta e percepção ambiental. Os principais objetivos deste trabalho foram resgatar a história e trajetória do Movimento Mutirão Agroflorestal, dando ênfase ao processo de formação em agrofloresta, e avaliar as contribuições do Mutirão para a formação pessoal e profissional de seus participantes. As metodologias utilizadas foram a sistematização da experiência do Movimento Mutirão Agroflorestal, por meio do resgate e análise dos materiais de registros do grupo, e a avaliação das contribuições e impactos do Mutirão sobre seus participantes, por meio de um questionário que foi veiculado via internet, para ampliar o alcance da pesquisa. O enfoque principal desse trabalho é a análise do processo de formação em agrofloresta sucessional vivenciado pelo grupo, considerando os aprendizados adquiridos em técnicas e práticas agroflorestais e em métodos pedagógicos de aprendizagem. Os resultados observados levam a conclusão de que o Mutirão é muito importante para a formação pessoal e profissional de seus participantes, e que o aprendizado transcende as técnicas agroflorestais, promovendo uma transformação pessoal profunda, favorecendo uma mudança de paradigma. Dessa forma, o Mutirão contribui para a construção de uma sociedade mais justa e sustentável. / Abstract: The Movimento Mutirão Agroflorestal (MMA) began in 1996, from the contact with the new ideas of the agriculturist/researcher Ernst Götsch. Its has always been an spontaneous movement, as all interested people may participate freely. The group has its own organization and dynamic, and since the beginning it has the proposal of working in a self-management way. It's composed by professionals of agrarian, biologics, exacts and humans sciences, students (graduation and post-graduation), agriculturist and technicist. The group meets at farms, where they learn about agroforestry systems in practice and collective way. Today, eleven years after its beginning, it counts on a large experience of implantation and conduction of agroforestry system, as well as teaching-learning methodologies development and environmental perception. The main purposes of this work were to rescue the history and path of Movimento Mutirão Agroflorestal, emphasizing the education process on agroforestry systems; and to evaluate the contribution of Mutirão on personal and professional formation of its members. The methodologies in use were the systematization of MMA experience, through rescue and analysis of documents of the group. The contribution and impact of MMA over its members were evaluated by a questionnaire that was sent through internet, enlarging, this way, the scope of the research. The main approach of this work is the analysis of the education process in agroforestry system experienced by the group, considering agroforestry techniques and practices learning, as well as teaching methods learning. Observing the results, the conclusion is that the MMA is very important for personal and professional formation of its members, and the learning experienced by them transcends agroforestry techniques, providing a deep personal transformation, promoting a paradigm change. MMA contributes, in this way, to the construction of a more just and sustainable society. / Mestrado / Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial / Mestre em Geografia

The potential role of sanctuary areas for biological control of Schistosomiasis and development of sustainable fisheries was investigated at Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi National Park (LMNP). There has been a recent increase in the incidence of schistosomiasis infection which is a threat to the local community as well as the tourism industry which is the major source of income to LMNP as well as Chembe Village. At the same place there is increasing fishing pressure due to growing human population and declining fish resource. The increase in the incidence of schistosomiasis transmission was attributed in part to over-fishing of the molluscivorous fish which are believed to control the vector snails for schistosomiasis. Four molluscivorous fish species, Trematocranus placodon; Trematocranus microstoma; Mylochromis sphaerodon and Mylochromis anaphyrmus were reported to account for more than 90% of the fishes (by numerical abundance) which feed on the gastropods above 15 metre depth. The gastropod numbers was reported to be highest at 1.5 to 4.5 metre depth. Of the four molluscivores, T. placodon was proposed as a biological control agent for schistosomiasis based upon the previous observations of its feeding habits in artificial conditions. Captive propagation of T. placodon for reintroduction at Cape Maclear in Lake Malawi has been proposed. The present study aimed at providing baseline data required to test the hypotheses that: 1) Over-fishing of the molluscivorous fish has resulted to the increased incidence of schistosomiasis at Cape Maclear. A sub hypothesis to this was that an extension of the LMNP can act as a sanctuary area for the biological control of schistosomiasis by protecting molluscivorous fish which could control schistosomiasis vector snails. 2) A park initially designed to protect the colourful rock dwelling fish and for promotion of tourism may not effectively protect the food fish. To test the first hypothesis, the biology and ecology of T. placodon were investigated with a view to evaluating the effect this species could have on the schistosomiasis vector snail population and hence the control of bilharzia in the lake. The proportions of various gastropod species at Cape Maclear was compared with those found in T. placodon guts. Comparisons of T. placodon abundance and demographic structure inside and outside LMNP were made. To test the second hypothesis, this study investigated the food fish species that use LMNP 100 m protected zone and some basic ecological factors to appreciate the extent to which the adjacent fishery might benefit from their use of the park waters. T. placodon numerical abundance (number of individuals per unit area) ranged from 5.7 to 40.5 /200 m² and it significantly (P< 0.05) varied between sampling sites. Otter Point and Mitande which are inside the park had the lowest abundance as compared to the other three sites; Nguli inside the park; Fisheries and Nchenga outside the park. Two sites in the park, Otter Point and Mitande, had a greater proportion of mature T. placodon individuals than all other sites. The abundance of T. placodon fluctuated significantly from month to month at Nchenga, Nguli and Fisheries (X² test, P<0.0001 for all the three sites) and insignificantly (P>0.05) at Otter Point and Mitande (X² test). T. placodon densities found in the present study corresponded to the peak density of 30 individuals / 200 m² reported in 1986 but did not correspond to that of 1.0 / 200 m² for 1994. There was no evidence to support the previous reports that T. placodon abundance had decreased tremendously from 1986. The reason suggested to account for the discrepancies of T. placodon abundance reported in the present study and other studies was inadequate sampling in the previous studies which did not take into account spatial and temporal variability in T. placodon abundance. The findings reported in this thesis show that there is no need for captive propagation of T. placodon to be reintroduced into the lake at Cape Maclear and that it may prove to be unsuccessful. However, since juvenile T. placodon dominated in abundance at the three sites along the major beach which is outside the park boundaries, it is suggested that the park boundaries be extended to this area so that T. placodon should be protected to allow individuals to grow to bigger size which would be more effective for gastropod control. T. placodon between 60 mm and 80 mm TL fed on benthic insects, phytoplankton and from detritus material. Individuals between 80 mm and 100 mm fed on a mixture of benthic insects, fish scales and small gastropods and at sizes greater than 100 mm individuals specialized feeding on gastropods. Gastropods of five genera were taken and they were: Melanoides , Bulinus, Gabiella, Lanistes and Bellamya. Of these genera Melanoides fonned the greatest part of T. placodon diet. Bulinus was the second most abundant genus but compared to Melanoides its proportion was very small. Of the three Bulinus species taken by T. placodon, B. globosus, is a confirmed vector for Schistosoma haematobium which is prevalent at Cape Maclear. This species was eaten in the least quantities. A comparison ofthe five gastropod proportions in T. placodon diet and in the habitats they occupy showed that Melanoides were taken in proportionately more quantities than Bulinus at most sites. These findings contrasted the previous reports that T. placodon preferred Bulinus to Melanoides. By applying the optimal foraging theory which predicts that an animal species searching for food will go for the type of prey with the highest profitability, it is concluded that the Bulinus cannot be eliminated completely by molluscivores because if their population size falls below a certain level, the fish will switch to other gastropod types. It is concluded that the increase in schistosomiasis may not be necessarily due to overfishing the molluscivorous fish but could be due to the fact that there has been an increase in the proportion of the B. globosus albeit in small numbers which are infected with schistosomiasis parasites. An integrated approach to schistosomiasis control at Cape Maclear comprising vector control, improved water supply, sanitation and health education is suggested since no method can be effective in isolation. Few food fish species were observed to use the park at various times, varying from one species to another with regards to duration, life history stages and abundance. Only a few fish species taken by the adjacent artisanal and commercial fisheries were represented among those observed in the park. This was attributed to the limited diversity of habitat types covered. Only small population size of some species visited the protected area and only part of the life cycle of some species were observed in the park. The use of the park area was seasonal for some species and the protected zone boundaries can be crossed more than once within a day because 100 m distance is just a few minutes swim by fish. Under such circumstances the park cannot function as an effective sanctuary for food fish. An increase of the park size may be a better option to effectively protect the food fish.

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