The male gametes (sperms) are under strong sexual selection and are therefore very diverse in their morphology and often differ even amongst closely related species. Sperms are thus assumed to play very important role in reproductive isolation between species, due to their fast evolution in morphology. In my master thesis, I have studied the possible role of sperm morphology divergence in reproductive isolation in two sister species of passerine birds, the common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) and the thrush nightingale (L. luscinia). The areas of these species overlap in secondary contact zone running across central and Eastern Europe, where they occasionally hybridize. I have compared sperm morphology of males of both species originating in allopatric and sympatric localities as well as interspecies hybrids. The results showed significant differences in total sperm length which is approximately 20 % longer in the common nightingale. That is caused by great interspecies divergence in midpiece (containing mitochondria) length. Interspecific hybrids showed sperms with intermediate length but despite expectations completely morphologically normal. This outcome corresponds with observed fertility in F1 hybrid males. What I consider to be an essential finding is a significant divergence in head...

People are growing older than they ever have before. My architectural proposal is a home for the elderly in a rural environment close to Stockholm.I think there is a large group of people, including me, who loves animals and recognizes their positive effect on wellbeing.  I wanted to test the limits, how close the elderly and animals can live together in a functional and species-appropriate environment and to the benefit of both. Every individual on the site, Human or Non-Human, is providing care to some extent, the built environment supports these meetings and tasks in a subtle and natural way.

The ability to extrapolate nutritional intervention data from experimental rodent models to humans requires standardization of dietary design. The inability to translate the level of nutrients from animal models to humans has contributed to contradictory findings between species. It is hypothesized that dietary linoleic acid (LA) promotes chronic and acute diseases by enriching tissues with arachidonic acid (AA), its downstream metabolite. However, levels of LA in rodent diets are notoriously erratic making interspecies comparisons unreliable. Therefore, the ability to extrapolate the biological effects of dietary LA from experimental rodents to humans necessitates an allometric scaling model that is rooted within a human equivalent context. To determine the physiological effect of dietary LA on tissue AA, a mathematical model for extrapolating nutrients based on energy was designed to mimic human equivalent doses. C57BL/6J mice were divided into 9 groups fed a background diet equivalent to that of the US diet (including LA, ALA, AA, EPA, DHA) with supplemental doses of LA (up to 2.3x) or AA (up to 5x). Changes in the phospholipid fatty acid compositions were monitored in plasma and erythrocytes and compared to data from humans supplemented with equivalent doses of LA or AA. Increasing dietary LA had little effect on tissue AA, while supplementing diets with AA significantly increased tissue AA levels, recapitulating results from human trials. Thus, interspecies comparisons for dietary LA between rodents and humans can be achieved when rodents are provided human equivalent doses based on differences in metabolic activity as defined by energy consumption.

The question of animals and performance defines the crossroads of the academic fields of Critical Animals Studies and Performance Studies, giving rise to the proposition of inter-species performance. But are all performances that integrate animals into the production inter-species? Or are there different manners of collaboration? In 2008 and my horse, Katrina, and I rode across Canada. Though this event was not undertaken as a performance endeavour, the production that emerged can be understood as a uniquely collaborative human/equine performance – The Ride. The Ride presented a meeting through the middle of an inter-species partnership that was performance in its foundation of physical communication and learned cooperation between a human and a horse. The Ride was an event that “became” a performance due to its active, reciprocal human/equine exchange, and the experiential interaction of a host of audience/participators throughout the course of the journey. Through embracing the positive, expansive qualities of equine alterity, and recognizing both the human and equine perspectives at play within the event, The Ride presented a performance that was fundamentally inter-species.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 DissAVZ.pdf: 5521409 bytes, checksum: e62a510e1bd9f4e618086a9f9ceb407c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-11 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / The goal on this dissertation performs both a description and an analysis on human and nonhuman relation based on Floresta's countryside, a town located in Pernambuco State. I have described this relation from some different point of view, yet their particular way of breeding (criação na solta) has been the main focus on my analysis. The intensive field research gave rise to the sketching of interspecies relations in that area. It had occurred in the period of three months when took place conversations and interviews with local husbandman who breeds both in the countryside (no mato) and the streets (na rua). In particular, the issue draws upon a description about how five families from the riparian zone (Cachoeira, Pocinhos, Quebra-Unha, Capim e Riacho do Meio) deal with and understand their relations with goats. At first, my analysis looks forward to the contrast between laboro as a husbandman daily activity and both the concept of work and and the extensive production method. The laboro is a set of very specific procedure and skill – a part of what is called criação na solta – and they are a condition of possibility for what I intend to describe and understand. Signs belong to the set of skills: they are a knife cutting made at the goat's ear which concurrently symbolize and identify the animal's owner and its family. The laboro and the signs are ways of realization and accomplishment of family affiliation. The laboro relies upon the animal's intense acquaintance with the caatinga which brings together a particular husbandry expertise; just a few men knows the terrain and how to breed goats. The concept of domestication can be drawn from the nexus relating breeder, livestock and caatinga in the manner of their mutual relation. Hence, from the standpoint of breeders and their families I describe how this practical way of breeding give rise to an understanding on interspecies relation in a given region. Those who knows the veredas, the goat-tracks traced as daily over the years, knows as well the ground pattern and footprint which deliver a way of being which is proper to husbandman, caatinga and the goat. / O propósito desta dissertação é descrever e analisar relações tramadas entre humanos e não humanos na zona rural de Floresta, município localizado no sertão de Pernambuco. Essas relações são caracterizadas por mim a partir de distintas perspectivas, mas admitem como eixo condutor da análise a prática da criação na solta. A pesquisa de campo intensiva, com duração de três meses, somada aos diálogos e entrevistas com moradores da região, criadores do mato e da rua, permitiram que relações interespecíficas daquele local pudessem ser delineadas. Mais especificamente, trata-se de descrever como famílias residentes em cinco ribeiras (Cachoeira, Pocinhos, Quebra-Unha, Capim e Riacho do Meio) lidam e compreendem suas relações com cabras e bodes. A princípio, por meio de uma análise contrastiva demonstro como o laboro, atividade diária dos criadores, pode ser pensada em contraposição à noção de trabalho e a um modo de produção extensivo. O laboro é um conjunto de técnicas e procedimentos muito específicos que fazem parte desse modo de criação na solta, ambos condição de possibilidade para a compreensão das relações que pretendo descrever. Parte dessas técnicas são os sinais, recortes feitos a faca nas orelhas da criação, que, ao mesmo tempo, simbolizam e identificam o proprietário do animal e a família a que pertence. O laboro e os sinais são meios de efetivação e visualização de relações de parentesco. O laboro, que pressupõe um convívio intenso entre animais e caatinga, permite que os criadores produzam e conservem um conhecimento particular, uma expertise. Apenas alguns conhecem o mato e sabem criar cabras e bodes. É por meio do nexo constituído entre criadores, criação e caatingas, dos seus afetos e das afecções de seus corpos que foi possível pensar a ambivalência da noção de domesticação. Portanto, partindo do ponto de vista dos criadores e de suas famílias, descrevo como um modo de criação e suas práticas, possibilitam compreender as relações interespecíficas em uma determinada região. Aqueles que conhecem as veredas, traçadas diariamente e ao longo de anos por cabras e bodes, conhecem as impressões e marcas na terra de um modo de existência de sertanejos, caatinga e bodes.

Dans un contexte de remise en cause de la présence animale au sein des sociétés humaines, cette thèse propose une analyse des conditions et des implications du vivre-ensemble entre les éléphants et les Khamti dans le Nord-Est indien. L’approche retenue se situe à la croisée de l’anthropologie des humains et des non-humains, de l’anthropologie de la nature, de l’anthropologie de la conservation, ainsi que de la sociologie et de la clinique du travail. L’enquête se base sur un travail ethnographique qui a pris en compte la participation et l’engagement intersubjectif des Khamti et des pachydermes. Elle traite des différents aspects du vivre-ensemble avec les éléphants : depuis la naissance, qui passe par la capture et la socialisation d’un éléphant de forêt, jusqu’à la manière dont évoluent et perdurent les liens initialement noués au travail. Élargissant l’objet d’étude à l’échelle nationale indienne et au sort des éléphants vivant à l’état de liberté naturelle, une réflexion est menée sur le devenir du vivre-ensemble. Les conclusions soulignent la centralité du travail dans les liens entre les Khamti et les éléphants. De manière plus générale, la thèse ouvre un questionnement sur la place des animaux dans les sociétés humaines. Concernant l’éléphant d’Asie, face aux effets pervers des projets de conservation engagés en faveur de l’espèce (menacée d’extinction) et contre les campagnes menées pour « libérer » les éléphants vivant parmi les hommes, les Khamti, en travaillant avec ces animaux, pérennisent leurs relations avec eux et apparaissent comme étant les meilleurs protecteurs des éléphants et, potentiellement, les meilleurs conservateurs de l’espèce aujourd’hui. / In a context of called into question the presence of animals within human societies, this thesis proposes an analysis of the conditions and implications of living together between elephants and the Khamtis in Northeast India. The approach adopted is at the crossroads of the anthropology of humans and non-humans, the anthropology of nature, the anthropology of conservation, as well as the sociology and clinic of work. The survey is based on an ethnographic work that took into account the participation and the intersubjective engagement of the Khamtis and the pachyderms. It deals with various aspects of living together with elephants: since the birth, which involves the capture and socialization of a forest elephant, to the way in which links initially tied evolve and persist in their work. Expanding the scope of the study on the Indian national level and on the fate of elephants living in a state of natural liberty, a reflection on the future of living together is made. The conclusions stress the centrality of work in the relationships between elephants and the Khamtis. More generally, this thesis opens a questioning of animal's place in human societies. Regarding the Asian elephant, against the side effects of conservation projects committed to the species (endangered) and against the campaigns to "liberate" the animals living among men, the Khamtis, by working with those animals, perpetuate their relationships with them and appear to be the best protectionists of elephants and, potentially, the best conservationists of the species nowadays.

The interface between protected and communal lands presents certain challenges for wildlife conservation and the sustainability of local livelihoods. This is a particular case in South Africa, where foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), mainly carried by African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is transmitted to cattle despite a fence surrounding the protected areas.The ultimate objective of this thesis was to improve knowledge of FMD transmission risk by analyzing behavioral patterns of African buffalo and cattle near the Kruger National Park, and by modelling at fine spatial scale the seasonal risk of contact between them. Since vegetation is considered as a primary bottom-up regulator of grazers distribution, I developed fine-scale seasonal mapping of vegetation. With that purpose, I explored the utility of WorldView-2 (WV-2) sensor, comparing object- (OBIA) and pixel-based image classification methods, and various traditional and advanced classification algorithms. All tested methods produced relatively high accuracy results (>77%), however OBIA with random forest and support vector machines performed significantly better, particularly for wet season imagery (93%).In order to investigate the buffalo and cattle seasonal home ranges and resource utilization distributions I combined the telemetry data with fine-scale maps on forage (vegetation components, and forage quality and quantity). I found that buffalo behaved more like bulk feeders at the scale of home ranges but were more selective within their home range, preferring quality forage over quantity. In contrast, cattle selected forage with higher quantity and quality during the dry season but behaved like bulk grazers in the wet season.Based on the resource utilization models, I generated seasonal cost (resistance) surfaces of buffalo and cattle movement through the landscape considering various scenarios. These surfaces were used to predict buffalo and cattle dispersal routes by applying a cumulative resistant kernels method. The final seasonal contact risks maps were developed by intersecting the cumulative resistant kernels layers of both species and by averaging all scenarios. The maps revealed important seasonal differences in the contact risk, with higher risk in the dry season and hotspots along a main river and the weakest parts of the fence. Results of this study can guide local decision makers in the allocation of resources for FMD mitigation efforts and provide guidelines to minimize overgrazing. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

[pt] Esta pesquisa aposta nas relações de aliança e contaminação interespécies (humano-animal) como forma de sobreviver criativamente neste mundo em crise. Diante da urgência de encontrar outras formas de viver a vida e habitar a Terra, o objeto escolhido para a pesquisa é o tecido social, poético e sensorial do Santuário animal Vale da Rainha, refúgio dedicado ao resgate e acolhimento de animais de produção vítimas de maus-tratos e descartes. Por atenção às práticas em curso no Santuário, busca-se multiplicar versões para as histórias dos animais que ali se encontram, sob a hipótese de que as histórias normalmente contadas a seu respeito são desatentas às suas formas criativas de ser. Parte-se do conceito de version da filósofa e psicóloga belga Vinciane Despret, explorando-se em especial, nas práticas que ele recobre, exercícios de tradução experimental interespécie. Sob o ponto de vista implicado no conceito de version, a tradução é entendida como forma de produzir sentidos a partir de diferenças nascidas no encontro entre humano-animal, opondo-se assim às práticas tradutórias que operam sob a lógica da sinonímia intermundos e que tendem, muitas vezes, à igualação do não igual segundo parâmetros antropocêntricos. A pesquisa pergunta: como as traduções interespécies conduzidas como versions podem transverter histórias frigorificadas (animais de corte) em histórias vivas e abertas (espécies companheiras)? Como através dessas traduções é possível reviver relações emaranhadas – e nada óbvias – antes apagadas, silenciadas, dessensibilizadas? Como essas histórias podem criar, nos termos de Donna Haraway, response-ability, isto é, tornar-nos mais hábeis para responder de modo responsável e inventivo às vidas não humanas que nos cercam? Ao lado das proposições de Vinciane Despret, têm importância especial aqui os conceitos de espécies companheiras e fabulação especulativa, de Donna Haraway. O trabalho se origina dos encontros com os animais do santuário, três em especial: a vaca Gaia, a búfala Chacrona e o bezerro Nandi. A escrita da tese busca materializar em sua própria trama o trânsito não hierárquico entre saberes preconizado por Despret e por Haraway - saberes práticos, científicos, filosóficos, poéticos. Nos experimentos de tradução interespécies propostos, mostra-se como uma ecologia da atenção e do cuidado subverte a lógica binária dos discursos apocalípticos e salvacionistas – e se revela em um ativismo sensível. / [en] This research bets on the interspecies relationships of alliance and contamination (human-animal) as a way to survive creatively in this world in crisis. In face of the urgency to find new ways to live life and inhabit Earth, the chosen object of study is the social, poetic and sensorial fabric of the Vale da Rainha Animal, a refuge dedicated to rescuing and caring for livestock animals victims of mistreatment and disposal. In attention to the current practices at the Sanctuary, this work aims to multiply versions for the stories heard about these animals under a hypothesis that the stories traditionally told usually neglect their creative ways of being. The starting point is the Belgian philosopher and psychologist Vinciane Desprets concept of version and this work explores specially its practices: exercises of interspecies experimental translation. From the perspective implied in the version s concept, translation is understood as a way to produce meanings for the differences risen from the human-animal encounter, and it opposes translation practices based on the logic of interworlds synonymy that frequently tend to the levelling of non-equals based on anthropocentric parameters. This research asks: How can interspecies translations, performed as versions, convert frozen stories (livestock animals) into live and open ones (companion species)? How can these translations make it possible to relive relationships that are entangled – and not at all obvious – and previously erased, silenced, desensitized? How can these stories create what Donna Haraway called response-ability, that is, make us more able to be responsible and inventive in the response to the non-human lives around us? Alongside Vinciane Despret s propositions, Donna Haraway s concepts of companion species and speculative fabulation have special importance. This work originates from the meetings with the sanctuary s animals, three in particular: the cow Gaia, the buffalo Chacrona and the calf Nandi. The writing of this thesis aims to materialize, in its own plot, the non-hierarchical flow among the knowledges advocated by Despret and Haraway – the practical, scientific, philosophical and poetic knowledge. The interspecies translation experiments proposed show how an ecology of attention and care subverts the binary logic of apocalyptic and salvationist speeches– and reveals itself as sensitive activism.

Families are conceptualized and accomplished in increasingly diverse ways in the 21st century. A constructionist framework was utilized to examine a widespread contemporary family form, the interspecies family. This mixed-method approach relied on both quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data. First, survey data from the 2006 Constructing the Family Survey were analyzed to understand who in America counts pets as family. Many social demographics were associated and predicted counting pets as family but gender was one of the strongest associations. However, marital status moderated the relationship between gender and counting pets as family at a statically significant level. Men who are currently or have ever been married are less likely to count pets as family than never married men. Second, I conducted 32 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 39 people during 2014-2015 in Central Florida to understand how people who count their cats and dogs as family members narrate this process. Narrative strategies documenting exactly how cats and dogs become family members within interspecies family narratives include: time-related narratives, timeless narratives, and patchwork narratives. Additionally, all participants considered their cats and dogs family but only some of them felt like pet-parents. Narratives of childless participants are compared with narratives of parents to examine the impact of family form on the construction of pet parenting narratives. Implications for the family change literature are discussed.

This thesis focuses on the interspecies relationships of care in the Hambach Forest, Germany. It covers the caring relations between the human activists protecting the Forest by occupying it and the trees growing there. The text covers the affectionate dimension of the activists’ caring relation towards the trees as well as how the caring manifested in their attentiveness and actions. Apart from the traditional ethnographic methods, the research is rooted in multispecies methodology, particularly plant ethnography. As primary theoretical frameworks, the concepts of more-than human sociality and world-making by Anna Tsing were used, as well as the understanding of the interspecies ethics of care by Puig de la Bellacasa. The analysis shows that the caring relationship of the activists was often rooted in the situated relationality that emerges from particular relations with particular trees or other nonhumans. As a navigating tool, activists sometimes used also the nature-culture dichotomy, and sometimes they, on the contrary, contested it. I show that relationships of care were mutual and occurred in the direction from activists to the trees but also that the trees and Forest took care of many activists’ needs. I also demonstrate how the trees and other nonhumans actively participated in the processes of co-creating the more-than-human sociality in the Forest. The analysis shows that the activists’ behaviour was not always coherent or determined by the same values but was often ambivalent and changing depending on the situation.