Of all anthropogenic pressures, urbanisation is one of the most damaging, and is expanding in its influence throughout the world. In Australia, 90% of the human population live in urban centres along the eastern seaboard. Before European settlement in the early 1800s, much of the Australia's East coast was dominated by forests. Many of the forest dependent fauna have had to adapt to forest fragmentation and habitat loss resulting from clearing for urbanisation. However, relatively few studies have investigated the impact of urbanisation on biodiversity. This is especially true for the remaining fauna in large metropolitan areas, such as Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The physical and conceptual context of this thesis is the increasing impact of urbanisation and the potentially threatening factors to forest dependent fauna. Bats were selected because they comprise a third of Australia's mammal species, and therefore form a major component of Australia's biodiversity. Very little is known about the ecology and conservation biology of hollow-dependent bats in general, but particularly in urban environments. The study was conducted in Brisbane, south-east Queensland, one of Australia's most biodiverse regions. More than a third of Australia's bat species occur in this region. A large insectivorous bat, the white-striped freetail bat (Tadarida australis), was selected to study two key resources in this urban area - hollow availability and foraging habitat. This thesis also examined if artificial roost habitat could provide temporary roosts for white-striped freetail bats and other insectivorous bats and assessed whether these bat boxes can be used as a conservation tool in urban environments where natural hollow-availability is limited. The white-striped freetail bat is an obligate hollow-dweller and roosted largely in hollows of old or dead eucalypts throughout Brisbane's urban matrix. These roost trees harboured significantly more additional hollow-dependent species compared to control trees of similar age, height, and tree diameter. Roost cavities inside trees often exceeded 30 cm in diameter. Furthermore, maternity colonies used cavities of hollow trunks, which often extended into major branches, to roost in big numbers. Therefore artificial alternatives, such as small bat boxes, may provide temporary shelter for small roosting groups, but are unlikely to be suitable substitutes for habitat loss. Although five bat species used bat boxes during this study, the white-striped freetail bat was not attracted into bat boxes. Roost-switching behaviour was then used to quantify associations between individual white-striped freetail bats of a roosting group. Despite differences in gender and reproductive seasons, the bats exhibited the same behaviour throughout three radio-telemetry periods and over 500 bat-days of radio-tracking: each roosted in separate roosts, switched roosts very infrequently, and associated with other tagged bats only at a communal roost. Furthermore, the communal roost exhibited a hub of socialising between members of the roosting group especially at night, with vocalisation and swarming behaviour not found at any of the other roosts. Despite being spread over a large geographic area (up to 200 km2), each roost was connected to others by less than three links. One roost (the communal roost) defined the architecture of the network because it had the most links. That the network showed scale-free properties has profound implications for the management of the habitat trees of this roosting group. Scale-free networks provide high tolerance against stochastic events such as random roost removals, but are susceptible to the selective removal of hub nodes, such as the communal roost. The white-striped freetail bat flew at high speed and covered large distances in search for food. It foraged over all land-cover types found in Brisbane. However, its observed foraging behaviour was non-random with respect to both spatial location and the nature of the ground-level habitat. The main feeding areas were within three kilometers of the communal roost, predominantly over the Brisbane River flood plains. As the only mammal capable of flight, bats can forage above fragmented habitats. However, as this study showed, hollow-dependent insectivorous bats, including free-tailed bats, are specialised in their roosting requirements. The ongoing protection of hollow-bearing trees, and the ongoing recruitment of future hollow-bearing trees, is essential for the long-term conservation of these animals in highly fragmented landscapes. Furthermore, loss of foraging habitat is still poorly understood, and should be considered in the ongoing conservation of bats in urban environments.

A twenty year mark-recapture dataset from the loggerhead nesting beach on Keewaydin Island, off the southwest coast of Florida, was analyzed using a two-state open robust design model in Program MARK to provide insight into recent nesting declines in the state. A total of 2,292 encounters representing 841 individual tag IDs were used for this analysis. Survival was estimated at 0.73 (95% CI 0.69-0.76), and there was no evidence from remigration rate or clutch frequency to suggest the composition of the nesting assemblage had changed over time. The mark-recapture analysis was supplemented with a satellite tracking component to identify the offshore foraging areas utilized by Keewaydin nesters. Eleven nesting females were outfitted with platform terminal transmitters, which transmitted for 42 to 300+ days including inter-nesting intervals and subsequent migration to foraging grounds. Site fidelity tests and kernel density home range analyses were used to describe foraging habitats. Females foraging in the eastern Gulf of Mexico were within the recent 64 m bottom longline fishery restriction. Areas identified as important habitats during the remigration interval should be used to inform managers in creating targeted management strategies to aid population recovery without the use of broad fishery closures.

This dissertation examines some important physiological and pheromonal factors regulating foraging and colony growth in honey bee colonies. The first study analyzed effects of soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) on the development of hypopharyngeal gland, midgut enzyme activity and survival of the honey bee. In this study newly emerged caged bees were fed pollen diets containing three different concentrations of SBTI. Bees fed 1% SBTI had significantly reduced hypopharyngeal gland protein content. This study indicated that nurse bees fed a pollen diet containing at least 1% SBTI would be poor producers of larval food. In the second study nurse bee biosynthesis of brood food was manipulated using SBTI, and the resulting effects on pollen foraging were measured. Experimental colonies were given equal amounts of SBTI treated and untreated pollen. SBTI treatments had significantly lower hypopharyngeal gland protein content than controls. There was no significant difference in the ratio of pollen to non-pollen foragers and pollen load weights collected between the treatments. These results supported the pollen foraging effort predictions generated from the direct independent effects hypothesis. In the third study we tested whether brood pheromone (BP) regulated queen egg laying via modulation of worker-queen interactions and nurse bee rearing behaviors. This experiment had BP and control treatments. Queens in the BP treatment laid greater number of eggs, were fed for a greater amount of time and were less idle. Significantly more time was spent in cell cleaning by the bees in BP treatments. The results suggest that brood pheromone regulated queen egg-laying rate by modulating worker-queen interactions and nurse bee rearing behavior. The final study of this dissertation focused on how dose-dependent BP-mediated division of labor affected the partitioning of non-foraging and foraging work forces and the amount of brood reared. Triple cohort colonies were used and there were three treatments, Low BP, High BP and Control. Low BP treatments had significantly higher ratio of pollen to non-pollen foragers and greater pollen load weights. Low BP treatment bees foraged at a significantly younger age. This study has shown that BP elicits dose-dependent modulation of foraging and brood rearing behaviors.

The late Holocene marks a period of significant population movement and subsistence change throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Around 3500 BP it appears that foraging populations in southernmost South Africa began to experience stress related to an increasing population and changing climatic conditions. Approximately 1500 years later a new form of subsistence - sheep herding – emerged in areas previously occupied solely by foragers, but was not exclusively adopted. The mechanisms surrounding the introduction of this new subsistence strategy – an indigenous adoption via diffusion or a foreign migration - remain unresolved. This study takes a biological approach to this significant question in southern African prehistory by exploring a collection of Later Stone Age skeletal remains that predate and postdate the appearance of pastoralism in order to determine if any significant changes in skeletal morphology indicative of population discontinuity can be identified at 2000 BP. A collection of seventy-three Later Stone Age adult skeletons (31 M, 42 F) with newly generated radiocarbon dates ranging from 8000 BP to 300 BP (uncalibrated) from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa forms the basis of this study. Questions surrounding population continuity or discontinuity associated with the advent of sheep herding are investigated by examining metric variables collected from the cranium, post cranial skeleton and dentition, in conjunction with cranial discrete traits. Some changes in skeletal morphology are observed, but the timing, pattern and magnitude of these changes are not consistent with a foreign migration. A reduction in overall skeletal size in the absence of changes in shape corresponds with the period of forager intensification. Body size rebounds at around 2000 BP when evidence for a new form subsistence, sheep herding, is first observed in this region, suggesting that some foragers may have adopted sheep and the herding way of life as a stress relieving mechanism, while others maintained the foraging lifestyle. The timing of the observed changes in skeletal size, the absence of shape changes and the homogeneity in cranial discrete trait frequencies through time argues against the idea that sheep herding was introduced to the Cape region by outsiders. Rather, the findings of the current study suggest sheep herding was an indigenous development among existing foragers.

Archaeological research has provided evidence of change in the settlement and subsistence practices of human groups inhabiting the Great Plains throughout the Holocene. A substantial part of this reorganization appears to be tied to concurrent changes affecting local bison populations, a species upon which these groups were uniquely dependant. Although bison are thought to have been strongly affected by the severe climates of the Mid-Holocene, there is an absence of appropriate models from which to interpret data in the archaeological and paleontological records. Nevertheless, new techniques are allowing for the determination of ecological information directly from prehistoric remains. This study uses stable isotope ratios (813C, 8'SN, 8D) in bone collagen to examine the dietary ecology of bison in Southern Saskatchewan during eight distinct time periods spanning the last 9,000 years. Stable isotopes of hydrogen and nitrogen in the tissues of animals relate to aspects of local climate, while stable-carbon isotope values reflect dietary choices. When employed in a comparative fashion, these sources may be used to construct simple models of foraging behaviour.<p> The environmental data developed from this investigation appear to correlate generally with patterns predicted by conventional models of Holocene climate. Nevertheless, at least one period of unexpectedly moderate temperature was identified from a context dating to the and Mid-Holocene. The ecological impact of such an episode may have been significant. In addition, the results of this study suggest that bison diet has a complex relationship with local climate. Changes in plant distribution resulting from variations of temperature and precipitation appear to have less of an impact upon bison consumption patterns than do climatically induced changes in the nutritional quality of vegetation. Nevertheless, during specific time periods characterized by similar climatic regimes, their relative consumption of certain forage species (C3 and C4 plants) does not appear to have been consistent. Such a discrepancy may reflect adaptive differences between bison from distinct time periods, or alternatively, the effects of a climatic difference undetectable by isotopic means. In either case, it would appear that bison of the past may have been subject to significant nutritional stresses that could have caused them to behave in fundamentally different ways from modern populations.

The late Holocene marks a period of significant population movement and subsistence change throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Around 3500 BP it appears that foraging populations in southernmost South Africa began to experience stress related to an increasing population and changing climatic conditions. Approximately 1500 years later a new form of subsistence - sheep herding – emerged in areas previously occupied solely by foragers, but was not exclusively adopted. The mechanisms surrounding the introduction of this new subsistence strategy – an indigenous adoption via diffusion or a foreign migration - remain unresolved. This study takes a biological approach to this significant question in southern African prehistory by exploring a collection of Later Stone Age skeletal remains that predate and postdate the appearance of pastoralism in order to determine if any significant changes in skeletal morphology indicative of population discontinuity can be identified at 2000 BP. A collection of seventy-three Later Stone Age adult skeletons (31 M, 42 F) with newly generated radiocarbon dates ranging from 8000 BP to 300 BP (uncalibrated) from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa forms the basis of this study. Questions surrounding population continuity or discontinuity associated with the advent of sheep herding are investigated by examining metric variables collected from the cranium, post cranial skeleton and dentition, in conjunction with cranial discrete traits. Some changes in skeletal morphology are observed, but the timing, pattern and magnitude of these changes are not consistent with a foreign migration. A reduction in overall skeletal size in the absence of changes in shape corresponds with the period of forager intensification. Body size rebounds at around 2000 BP when evidence for a new form subsistence, sheep herding, is first observed in this region, suggesting that some foragers may have adopted sheep and the herding way of life as a stress relieving mechanism, while others maintained the foraging lifestyle. The timing of the observed changes in skeletal size, the absence of shape changes and the homogeneity in cranial discrete trait frequencies through time argues against the idea that sheep herding was introduced to the Cape region by outsiders. Rather, the findings of the current study suggest sheep herding was an indigenous development among existing foragers.

The aim of this experiment was to test whether LIPX-induced decreases in body fat affect appetitive (foraging effort and food hoarding) or consummatory (food intake) ingestive behaviors and whether the effects of LIPX on these behaviors is in turn affected by changes in energy expenditure produced by varying the amount of work required to obtain food. This was accomplished by housing male Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) in a foraging/hoarding apparatus where food pellets (75 mg) could be earned by completing various wheel running requirements. Requiring a foraging effort (10 revolutions/pellet) abolished the normal compensation of WAT mass by the non-excised WAT pads that typically follows IWATx or EWATx. After foraging, food hoarding was increased more than food intake when hamsters were required to forage for food (10 revolutions/pellet). The magnitude of the LIPX-induced lipid deficit (IWATx > EWATx) did not correspond to a proportional change in either appetitive or consummatory ingestive behaviors.

Archaeological research has provided evidence of change in the settlement and subsistence practices of human groups inhabiting the Great Plains throughout the Holocene. A substantial part of this reorganization appears to be tied to concurrent changes affecting local bison populations, a species upon which these groups were uniquely dependant. Although bison are thought to have been strongly affected by the severe climates of the Mid-Holocene, there is an absence of appropriate models from which to interpret data in the archaeological and paleontological records. Nevertheless, new techniques are allowing for the determination of ecological information directly from prehistoric remains. This study uses stable isotope ratios (813C, 8'SN, 8D) in bone collagen to examine the dietary ecology of bison in Southern Saskatchewan during eight distinct time periods spanning the last 9,000 years. Stable isotopes of hydrogen and nitrogen in the tissues of animals relate to aspects of local climate, while stable-carbon isotope values reflect dietary choices. When employed in a comparative fashion, these sources may be used to construct simple models of foraging behaviour.<p> The environmental data developed from this investigation appear to correlate generally with patterns predicted by conventional models of Holocene climate. Nevertheless, at least one period of unexpectedly moderate temperature was identified from a context dating to the and Mid-Holocene. The ecological impact of such an episode may have been significant. In addition, the results of this study suggest that bison diet has a complex relationship with local climate. Changes in plant distribution resulting from variations of temperature and precipitation appear to have less of an impact upon bison consumption patterns than do climatically induced changes in the nutritional quality of vegetation. Nevertheless, during specific time periods characterized by similar climatic regimes, their relative consumption of certain forage species (C3 and C4 plants) does not appear to have been consistent. Such a discrepancy may reflect adaptive differences between bison from distinct time periods, or alternatively, the effects of a climatic difference undetectable by isotopic means. In either case, it would appear that bison of the past may have been subject to significant nutritional stresses that could have caused them to behave in fundamentally different ways from modern populations.

A widespread problem in the housing of captive animals is the occurrence and development of abnormal behaviors. In the pig breeding industry the abnormal behaviors causing the biggest welfare problems are stereotypies such as tail-biting, ear-biting, equipment-biting and belly-nosing. In this study a rope and an activation ball were tested as curative treatments to reduce the performance of these stereotypies by inducing the underlying innate behaviors. A total of 141 pigs spread over 18 pens were used as test-subjects. They were divided into three groups which were introduced to one of the two enrichments or no enrichment at all. Both the enrichments contained characteristics which mostly targeted exploratory and foraging needs and, if functional, were thought to mainly have an effect on tail-biting, ear-biting and equipment-biting. The pigs were observed both at initial contact with the enrichments and after having familiarized with them for three days, and the amount of registered enrichment interaction and performed stereotypies were used to evaluate the effect of the enrichment objects. In both enrichment treatments the enrichments occupied the pigs both on day one and after three days. The presence of equipment-biting was successfully reduced on both day one and day three while the presence of tail-biting and ear-biting only were initially reduced. No effect was found on belly-nosing in either enrichment treatment. This suggests that both enrichments are functional over time and efficient in reducing some types of harmful social behaviors. However, belly-nosing would need to be targeted with a different kind of object.

<p>Increased pressure has been placed on researchers to focus on processes at an ecosystem level. However, ecological processes operate at multiple scales from an individual predator up to ocean basin migrations, and research across these scales is extremely difficult. More accurate and detailed understanding of prey distributions relative to physical and biological features can greatly aid in understanding top predator distributions and ultimately ecosystem functioning. High resolution acoustic data is a critical tool that can be used to investigate food web linkages at many spatial scales. At a broad scale, migratory top predators are often modeled relative to oceanographic structure as a proxy for the distribution of their prey. At a fine scale, combining novel technologies including fisheries acoustics, real time oceanographic sensors, and digital tags allows examination of decisions made by an individual foraging whale. In the Gulf of Mexico, fish distributions at fine scales (both horizontal and vertical) were examined relative to hypoxic bottom waters to understand potential ecosystem effects. Forage fish distribution (sand lance, Ammodytes spp.) were measured relative to physical features and oceanographic processes up to the decision making of a top predator, the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). The effect of geostrophic currents and environmental regimes on the deep scattering layers of the central tropical pacific were examined relative to sightings of marine mammals in the area. Analyses across trophic levels and at multiple scales is an important step towards understanding community ecology and ecosystem processes in pelagic systems.</p> / Dissertation