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The objective of this thesis was to understand the spatial patterns and processes responsible for canopy and understorey spider (Arachnida: Araneae) diversity at multiple spatial scales in north-temperate hardwood forests. I sampled tree trunks (sticky traps) and foliage (beating) of sugar maple and American beech tree canopies and their understorey saplings in old growth forests near Montreal, Quebec. Results show the composition of canopy and understorey assemblages differed significantly, and so did sugar maple and American beech canopy assemblages. Each stratum was also dominated by different species. The rank-abundance distribution of species from each habitat wsa also verticaly stratified because it fit different distribution models. Different factors likely structure assemblages in both habitats, particularly since the canopy is a less stable environment. Spiders from canopy and understorey foliage were tested in a laboratory for their propensity to balloon. General linear models indicated that small sized web-building spiders of the RTA and Orbicularia clades have the highest propensity to balloon. Small bodied species initiated ballooning regardless of the habitat they were collected in or their developmental stage. My results support the mixed evolutionarily stable strategy theory and indicate the absence of risk-spreading in the dispersal strategy of canopy spiders. My last chapter focused on dispersal capacity and diversity patterns of spiders at multiple spatial scales. Analyses of the species diversity of limited and high dispersal capacity species subsets through nested-multivariate ANOVA, additive diversity partitioning, and species-abundance distribution curves all point towards species-sorting processes as the main driver of local community spider diversity at the tree and stand spatial scales. Mass-effects and patch-dynamic processes drive site and regional scale diversity patterns. This thesis demonstrates that spiders provide good models to test many biological hypotheses. The research chapters of this thesis test hypotheses on the vertical stratification of forest spider diversity, the evolution of local dispersal adaptations, and the importance of dispersal capacity on species diversity patterns through a metacommunity framework.

The dynamics in Fagus-Acer forest have been frequently investigated, a particular interest being the replacement patterns and coexistence of the two dominant species, Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. and Acer saccharum Marsh. This thesis examines whether the community pattern and dynamics in a Fagus-Acer forest at Mont. St. Hilaire, Quebec, are consistent with predictions made by the disturbance hypothesis. This conceptual model explains the mechanisms underlying the coexistence and replacement patterns of the two dominant species. While the hypothesis suggests disturbance frequency and interspecific differences in growth under variable light conditions to be the key factors that determine the dynamics in Fagus-Acer forests, I demonstrate that edaphic factors and regeneration of Fagus by root sprouts can also play a significant role. Based on the findings, I propose an alternative model for the coexistence and replacement patterns in Fagus-Acer forest to better account for the influence of edaphic factors and of Fagus root sprouts.

One of the more recent and alluring phrases used by development and resource management practitioners and theorists is "traditional ecological knowledge." Although there is a substantial amount of the literature on this subject, these studies have unfortunately an inadequate characterization of the way in which indigenous people view, order, internalize, and manipulate environmental information. This deficiency indicates a need to (a) improve our understanding and use of indigenous knowledge as an instrument for sustainable development and resource management and (b) revise some of our present conceptual, theoretical, and methodological understandings. / This dissertation examines these issues by investigating the ecological knowledge of the Barriere Lake Algonquins, living largely within Park La Verendrye in northwestern Quebec. The scope of this study concentrates on three aspects of this indigenous knowledge, namely, the (1) cyclicality within, the (2) utilization of, and the (3) terminology for the Algonquin forest environment. Theoretically, I draw to some extent on an approach taken from cognitive science called "connectionism" which helps integrate ecology and cognition. Within this theoretical framework I examine the experiences and understandings that different individuals and groups bring to common every-day situations involving environmental resources. / Three principles are put forward from the empirical findings of this thesis. First, indigenous knowledge formation is a contextual and experientially driven process rather than a static and timeless content. This process involves the natural-material and socio-cultural environment, expanding the typical cognitive unit of analysis beyond the individual person to include his or her entire natural and social surroundings. Second, this contextual and experientially driven process gives rise to heterogeneous, fluid, and contested knowledges. The knowledge-formation process goes beyond the mere generation and transmission of knowledge to how knowledge is articulated and used in particular everyday situations. Third, this process-approach has important implications which, if ignored, will prevent researchers from developing an adequate understanding and appreciation of the contextual nature of IK because the research will fail to consider the everyday experiences which become internalized, shared, and later put to use. The process-approach has important practical, theoretical, and methodological implications for IK and its use in development, resource management, and resource conservation.

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I examined saproxylic beetle responses in two silvicultural systems of the eastern mixedwood boreal forest of Quebec. I first investigated habitat-use and aspen-host use of saproxylic and bark and wood-boring beetles in remnant forest patches (cut-bock separators and small patches) left after harvest, theorized to resemble natural post-fire residual trees and snags. A second study focused on effects of partial cutting, a method that may serve to imitate natural succession dynamics. / Remnant forest patches had the highest saproxylic and bark and woodboring beetle species richness and relative abundance. Although non-significant, higher larval densities were also collected from remnant forest patches. In the second study, partial cut patches had an intermediate saproxylic beetle assemblage compared to uncut forest and clearcuts. / This research has brought new information on the effects of alternative harvesting practices on saproxylic beetles, supporting the hypothesis that biodiversity is best preserved based on forest management that is diversified and based on natural disturbance dynamics.