Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 34-42).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 34-42)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Australian National University, 2005. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 6, 2006). Thesis is broken up into 12 separate PDF files, plus one PDF file consisting of the entire document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-200).

Thesis (M.Phil.) -- Griffith University, 2004. / Facsimile of the author's original dissertation. Pagination of document: x, 121 leaves. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online via the World Wide Web.

The Eastern Cape contains the majority of the remaining forested areas in South Africa (95.8 percent Coastal forests and 47.6 percent Afromontane forests), however these occur in fragments. Due to the rapid rise in the human population and its needs, conversion of forests to agricultural land and the extraction of timber increases, natural vegetation are lost and this therefore leads to forests becoming fragmented into small forest patches. One of the main consequences of forest fragmentation is loss of contiguous habitat, which is the dominant threat to species globally as it negatively affects both species richness and genetic diversity. This research investigates the effects that forest fragmentation has on small mammal diversity and abundance. The study sampled small mammals in Southern Mistbelt Afromontane forest patches in the Eastern Cape. The first aim of this study was to identify which environmental variable, or combinations of variables, affect the diversity and abundance of small mammals in fragmented forest patches in the Eastern Cape during the austral summer. The second aim was to compare seasonal changes in small mammal diversity and abundance at a forest edge compared to the forest core at Beggars Bush, an Afromontane forest in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. To identify the environmental impacts that different forests have on small mammals, nine different forests were chosen in the Eastern Cape and sampled during the summer in 2013. These nine forests were: Fort Fordyce Forest, Thaba Ndoda Forest, Hogsback Forest, Dassie Kraans Forest, Langeni Forest, Burchell’s Reserve Forest, Maiden Dam Forest and Kagaberg Forest. At each site, three transects of 30 Sherman Traps each were used. Trapping periods within each forest patch lasted between three to five consecutive nights and traps were inspected once a day in the morning. Nine environmental variables were initially identified and after being tested for normality and colinearity, five variables were chosen. These variables were Altitude, Mean Annual Temperature, Gradient, Patch Size and Mean annual potential evaporation. The number of individuals captures and species richness were then incorporated as dependent variables for best subset multiple regression model selection using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). For the second aim, the same trapping methods were used when comparing seasonal changes to diversity and abundance within the forest core. However at the forest edge, due to the small size of the forest, only 20 Sherman traps were used in each transect with five traps (25 percent) placed in the grassland and 15 (75 percent) placed in the forest along each transect. This study was one of few to survey small mammal diversity and abundance in fragmented forests in the Eastern Cape. Gradient, patch size and mean annual potential evaporation were the variables that best predicted the individual number of small mammal captures while only gradient best explained species richness. It does however, need to be noted that capture rates and species richness were very low and this would therefore effect the analysis of environmental variables. Future studies should have a larger sample size of forest patches and include more microhabitat environmental variables to determine their effects on small mammal diversity and abundance. However, it should be noted that through climatic extinction filtering, forest mammals are resilient generalists that can tolerate fragmentation effects. Furthermore, it was found that forest edges appear to play a significant role in small mammal diversity and abundance in the Beggars Bush Afromontane forest. Some species were habitat specialists such as Rhabdomys pumilio preferring the grassland habitat and Graphiurus murinus and Aethomys namaquensis the forest habitat, while Myosorex varius was the only species that was not habitat dependant. It was found that there was a greater diversity and abundance at the forest edge compared to within the forest core throughout most of the seasons. One possible flaw was that the sampling methods were different at the edge and within the forest and therefore future studies should ensure that the method stays uniform throughout the study.

Forest assemblage composition is determined by local ecological (e.g. patch area, species interactions), landscape (e.g. patch connectivity) and regional (e.g. historical change in forest distribution) processes. I investigated the relative effect of these processes on bird and frog assemblage composition in two isolated archipelagos of Afrotemperate forest in the Limpopo Province. The linear relationship between local and regional species diversity suggests that forest bird assemblages in the Limpopo Province are unsaturated. In addition, 66% of bird species and 42% of frog species in southern African forests are generalist species (i.e., forest associated as opposed to forest dependent), suggesting that matrix species have invaded forest assemblages. I thus argue that forest bird and frog assemblage composition is primarily determined by regional (historical) processes and that local ecological processes play a relatively minor role. Forests in the Limpopo Province were eliminated by major climatic changes during the Quaternary with major forest expansion only in the last 6000 years. Limpopo Province forest assemblages have thus established fairly recently. No forest dependent frogs and one forest dependent bird have established in the Limpopo Province forests from the relatively proximate forests in eastern Zimbabwe. This suggests that the Limpopo River catchment has acted as a significant barrier to the dispersal of forest vertebrate faunas. Cluster analyses showed that the forest bird and frog assemblages are essentially Afrotemperate and South African in origin with all forest dependent frogs and 97% of forest dependent birds occurring in the KwaZulu-Natal scarp forests. In addition the most important environmental gradient of change in the southern African forest bird faunas was the geographical distance from northern KwaZulu-Natal. This gradient is congruent with a major northward radiation of faunas from the KwaZulu-Natal scarp into the Limpopo Province. As a result the Limpopo Province forests have low biodiversity values compared to the KwaZulu-Natal scarp because forest frog and bird faunas are largely derived from the latter region. However, the importance of the Limpopo Province forests lies in their protection of threatened vertebrates as well as in providing landscape heterogeneity and ecological services to the surrounding matrix. Soutpansberg forest bird assemblages appear to be more robust and resilient and comprise a significantly greater proportion of forest associated species than those of the Limpopo Province Drakensberg. This is likely to be a consequence of more severe climatic extinction filtering of these faunas caused primarily by the proximity of the Soutpansberg forests to the arid Limpopo valley during the development of these forests. Consequently, regional and historical processes have played a relatively greater role in determining forest bird assemblages in the Soutpansberg than in the Limpopo Province Drakensberg and species richness in the former region was not significantly affected by local ecological processes (including forest area, isolation and habitat heterogeneity). Forest area and habitat heterogeneity did, however, affect forest bird species richness and abundance in the Limpopo Province Drakensberg where the relatively lower importance of regional processes (compared to the Soutpansberg) has combined with anthropogenic disturbance of smaller forests to increase the influence of local ecological processes. However, the role of local processes in determining local species richness is likely to increase in both archipelagos if the current rates of anthropogenic change and disturbance to forests are sustained. Forests greater than 138 ha (minimum critical patch size) are needed to avoid an island effect on bird species richness in the Limpopo Province Drakensberg. However, the long-term conservation of vertebrate assemblages in Limpopo province forests depends upon the successful conservation of evolutionary and landscape processes. This can best be achieved by maximising forest connectivity and landscape heterogeneity through the protection of both riparian corridors and forests of all sizes. The maintenance of historical dispersal routes, in particular connectivity along the escarpment with the scarp forests of KwaZulu-Natal, is important. This would require the protection of forests on the KwaZulu-Natal scarp and along the entire northern Drakensberg escarpment. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

No description available.

No description available.

CAPES / O Brasil abriga uma das mais ricas avifaunas do mundo, a qual está submetida a altos índices de degradação ambiental, principalmente no que se refere à fragmentação florestal. O bioma Floresta Atlântica retrata esse histórico de devastação e hoje remanesce em paisagens altamente degradadas na forma de pequenos fragmentos isolados. Este projeto teve por objetivo avaliar os efeitos da fragmentação florestal em uma área com remanescentes de Floresta Atlântica no norte do Paraná (Brasil) sobre a distribuição e a organização da assembleia de aves florestais, testando a hipótese de que a organização da assembleia nos fragmentos é diferente daquela esperada ao acaso. Realizamos quatro amostragens qualitativas da avifauna em três conjuntos de fragmentos florestais na paisagem, cada um com três fragmentos cada: grande, médio e pequeno. Foram duas amostragens entre setembro e novembro/2013 e duas entre março e maio/2014. Em cada amostragem foi aplicado o método de pontos de escuta ao longo de transectos percorridos aleatoriamente, com um esforço amostral de dois dias de observação por fragmento e duas réplicas diárias (6h30 às 10h30 e 15h00 às 19h00), respeitando os horários de maior atividade das aves. A estrutura da assembleia foi avaliada por índices de coocorrência de espécies (Checkerboard e CScore) e padrões de diversidade α (riqueza) e β (turnover de espécies), enquanto a estrutura da paisagem foi analisada a partir dos parâmetros: área, distância entre os fragmentos, dimensão fractal, densidade de borda, índice de forma do fragmento e índice de área nuclear. A hipótese nula de ausência de estrutura na assembleia de aves na paisagem foi testada com modelos nulos a partir dos índices de coocorrência. Os efeitos da estrutura da paisagem sobre a estrutura da assembleia foram analisados pelo teste de Mantel e análise de componentes principais (PCA). A estrutura da assembleia na paisagem apresentou um padrão de organização espaço-temporal significativamente diferente daquele esperado ao acaso, revelando uma estruturação mais influenciada pela segregação entre as espécies. Os fragmentos apresentaram diferenças significativas quanto à riqueza, ao contrário dos conjuntos de fragmentos, indicando relativa homogeneidade na estrutura da paisagem. As diferenças entre os tamanhos e a distância entre os fragmentos influenciaram significativamente os padrões de organização da assembleia de aves florestais na paisagem e os padrões de diversidades α e β, indicando que quanto maiores os fragmentos e menores as distâncias entre eles, mais o padrão de coocorrência entre as espécies é diferente do esperado ao acaso. A partir dos resultados encontrados foi possível inferir que a paisagem fragmentada de remanescentes de Floresta Atlântica do norte do Paraná ainda apresenta disponibilidade de recursos ambientais e características físicas que permitem a persistência de uma estrutura de organização da assembleia de aves florestais no espaço ao longo do tempo. / Brazil is home to one of the richest avifaunas the world, which is subject to high levels of environmental degradation, in particular forest fragmentation. The Atlantic Forest biome depicts this history of devastation and today remains as small isolated fragments on highly degraded landscapes. This project aimed to evaluate the effects of forest fragmentation in an area with Atlantic Forest remnants in northern Paraná (Brazil) on the distribution and the organization of assemblage of forest birds and tested the hypothesis that the structure of the assembly in the fragments is different than expected by chance. We did four qualitative samplings of birds in three sets of forest fragments in the landscape, each with three fragments: large, medium and small. The method applied in the sampling was point counts along transects, traveled randomly for four hours in each fragment. Samples were taken in two periods: from September to November / 2013, and between March and May / 2014. The structure of the meeting was assessed by rates of co-occurring species (Checkerboard and CScore) and α diversity patterns (wealth) and β (turnover of species), while the landscape structure was analyzed from the parameters: area, distance between fragments, fractal dimension, edge density, fragment shape index and nuclear area index. The null hypothesis of no structure in the assembly of birds in the landscape was tested with null models from the co-occurrence indexes. The effects of landscape structure on the assembly of the structure were analyzed by the Mantel test and principal component analysis (PCA). The assembly of the structure in the landscape showed a pattern of spatiotemporal organization significantly different from that expected by chance, revealing a structure most influenced by segregation of the species. The fragments showed significant differences in richness, unlike sets of fragments, indicating relative homogeneity in the landscape structure. The differences between the size and the distance between the fragments significantly influenced the patterns of organization of the meeting of forest birds in the landscape and patterns of α and β diversity, indicating that the higher the fragment and smaller distances between them, more the standard of species cooccurrence is different than expected by chance. Thus, the fragmented landscape of remnants of the northern Paraná Atlantic Forest still has availability of environmental resources and physical characteristics that allow a persistent organizational structure of the assembly of forest birds in space over time.

Orientador: Márcia Rita Fernandes Machado / Coorientador: Bruno Watanabe Minto / Banca: Paola Castro Moraes / Banca: Tais Harumi de Castro Sasahara / Banca: Sheila Canevese Rahal / Banca: Maria Angélica Miglino / Resumo: Objetivou-se descrever a morfologia da coxa e do braço da paca (Cuniculus paca, Linaeus 1766), por meio de metodologia anatômica e imagenológica para determinação do acesso cirúrgico dos ossos dessas regiões. Foram utilizados 15 Cuniculus paca adultas, machos e fêmeas, pesando entre cinco e 10kg do plantel de pacas do setor de Animais Silvestres da FCAV, Unesp, Jaboticabal-SP. Cinco animais foram fixados em solução de formaldeído a 10% e armazenados em solução salina de NaCl a 30% para dissecação anatômica da região do braço e da coxa, cinco foram injetados com látex corado para identificação do suprimento arterial dos membros e os outros cinco animais foram congelados para as análises radiografias, tomográficas e de ressonância magnética para fazer a comparação com as peças anatômicas. Os resultados foram fotodocumentados e determinou-se o melhor acesso cirúrgico para o fêmur e úmero da paca. A anatomia dos membros torácicos e pélvicos da paca é semelhante aos quadrupedes domésticos, especialmente o cão, e aos roedores utilizados em experimentação como rato e cobaia, o que reforça a possível utilização da paca como modelo experimental animal. Pôde-se concluir também que o estudo imagenológico por meio de radiografia, tomografia computadorizada e ressonância magnética é método confiável para descrição anatômica dos membros de animais silvestres que possuem morfologia pouco conhecida. Por fim, pôde-se determinar o melhor acesso cirúrgico para o úmero e fêmur da paca, sendo medialmente no úmero e craniolateralmente no fêmur / Abstract: The objective was to describe the morphology of the thigh and arm of paca (Cuniculus paca, Linanaeus 1766), by anatomical and imaging methodology for determining the surgical diaphyseal approach of the bones of those regions. We used 15 adult Cuniculus paca, males and females, weighing between five and 10kg of the Wild Animal sector FCAV, Unesp, Jaboticabal-SP. Five animals were fixed in formaldehyde solution 10% and stored in saline solution NaCl 30% for anatomic dissection of the arm and the thigh regions, five pacas were injected with colored latex to identify the arterial supply of the limbs and the other five animals were frozen for rays-X, CT and MRI analysis to perform the comparison with the anatomical parts. The results were photodocumented and it was determined the best surgical approach to the femur and humerus of paca. The anatomy of the thoracic and pelvic limbs of paca is similar to domestic quadrupeds, especially the dog and rodents used in experimentation as mouse and guinea pig, which enhances the possible use of paca as experimental animal. It might also conclude that the imaging study by means of radiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging is reliable method for anatomical description of the wild animal limbs which have little known morphology. Finally, it was possible to determine the best surgical approach to the humerus and femur of paca, being medially to the humerus and craniolaterally to the femur / Doutor