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A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree: Master of Science In School of Animal, Plants and Environmental Sciences, University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg 2015 / This study aimed to determine the role and relative importance of predator avoidance and nutrition as processes influencing herbivore utilisation of burnt areas, at Satara, Kruger National Park by using variation in fire size and fire season. The driving factors investigated included forage quality, forage quantity, vegetation structure and predation risk. The effect of fire size and season on the landscape was tested by recording grass height, greenness, grass nutrient sampling and visibility. Results showed that fire size and season had a significant impact on the physical environment by decreasing grass/forage quantity post-fire but increasing grass/forage quality. Over time the plots returned to near pre-fire conditions, with forage quantity increasing (grass height and biomass) and forage quality decreasing (nitrogen availability). Visibility increased immediately post-fire, more significantly in regards to herbivores with their heads in a “head-down/grazing” position than in a “head raised/vigilant” position. As with forage quantity and quality, visibility returned to near pre-fire conditions at the end of the study sampling period. The response of animals to these changes in the environment was recorded through dung counts, camera traps and behavioural observations. I found that there was increased use of burnt plots post-fire through comparing herbivore presence on plots burned in different sizes and seasons, day/night utilisation of plots, and using behaviour data I could determine to what extent forage and predation risk were driving the use of burnt areas. I focused on three herbivore species (Aepyceros melampus, Connochaetes taurinus and Equus quagga) which varied in terms of body size digestive systems, forage type, and social behaviour. As expected, I found that predation risk did appear to be more important in driving the behaviour of the smaller-bodied herbivores but both nutrient requirements and susceptibility to predation were shown to play a role in explaining the use of burnt areas for all three herbivore species. Variation between plots in environmental factors such as tree density, forb percentage and distance to water, were found to be not significant and thus did not confound our results

Orientador: Alexandre Marco da Silva / Banca: Ana Adelina de Oliveira Afonso / Banca: Rosa Antonia Romero Ferreira / Resumo: Ambientes aquáticos são usados de diversas maneiras pelo homem em seu cotidiano. Essa relação, no entando traz alguns tipos de distúrbios e estes ambientes, que se tornam degradados e requerem cuidados. Por incluir não só o curso d'água, mas também o contexto ambiental no qual ele esta incluído, essa recuperação precisa ser feita de modo mais amplo. Porém, ao mesmo tempo necessita canalizar esforços e recursos e pequenos detalhes e características do local. Sendo assim, o objetivo do presente trabalho é a criação de uma chave que contem, de maneira hierarquizada, orientações sobre a obtenção de informações sobre degradação, que possibilita a colaboração de um diagnóstico do meio biofísico e antrópico e orienta o usuário e na tomada decisões para restauração de forma facilitada e precisa. O procedimento para criar a chave constitui em tornar os itens hierarquizados e em casa um deles o usuário terá uma pergunta para ser respondida em termos de diagnóstico. Em função da resposta dada a pergunta o usuário será remetido a uma nova parte da chave com novas perguntas até chegar num ponto onde o diagnóstico estará concluído e as ações a serem tomadas visando à recuperação do local estarão disponíveis. A chave busca adequar seu uso ao maior número de situações possíveis, além de tomar mais precisas, corretas e rápidas as decisões para restauração. Visando exemplificar o uso da chave, o presente projeto ainda apresenta oito estudos de caso de locais situados em diferentes regiões ao longo do estado de São Paulo, com diferentes graus de degradação e de complexidade. Os estudos de caso serviram para verificar a exequibilidade do uso da chave. Dentre os estudos realizados a chave permitiu efetuar um diagnóstico adequado e as ações indicadas pertinentes conforme o contexto de cada local / Abstract: Aquatic environments are used in different ways by man in their daily lives. This relation, however brings some types of these disorders in the environments which become degraded and require care. For including not only the stream, but also the environmental context in which it is included, this recovery needs to be made more broadly. But at the same time need to direct efforts and resources to small details and site characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this study is the creation of a key that contains, in a hierarchical manner, guidelines on the collection of information on degradation, which allows the production of a diagnosis of biophysical and anthropic environment and guides the user in decision taking for easy way to restore and precise. The procedure for creating the key is in making the hierarchical items and each user will have a question to be answered in terms of diagnosis. According to the answer given to question the user will be referred to a new part of the key with new questions until reaching a point where the diagnosis is complete and the actions to be taken for the recovery of the site will be available. The key tries to adapt its use to the greatest number of possible situations, and make more precise, accurate and fast decisions to restore. In order to exemplify the key usage, this study also presents eight case estudies of sites located in different regions throughout the state of São Paulo, with different degree of degradation and complexity. Case studies are used to verify the feasibility of the key usage. Among the studies allowed the key make a proper diagnosis and relevant actions indicated as the context of each site / Mestre

Orientador: Roberto Wagner Lourenço / Resumo: A espacialização de dados ambientais através de técnicas de geoprocessamento e o monitoramento do comportamento espectral da vegetação por meio de imagens orbitais são instrumentos importantes nos estudos ambientais de análise da paisagem, em especial os aplicados a bacias hidrográficas. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi desenvolver uma metodologia de avaliação ambiental aplicada à bacia hidrográfica, através da estimativa de parâmetros biofísicos, gerados por imagens Landsat 8 e determinação de parâmetros físico-químicos dos solos. O estudo foi aplicado na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Una, localizada em Ibiúna, no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Foram estimados o índice de vegetação por diferença normalizada - NDVI; o índice de vegetação ajustado do solo - SAVI; o índice de água por diferença normalizada - NDWI e o índice de ressecamento da vegetação por temperatura - TVDI. O estudo foi desenvolvido utilizando imagens do satélite Landsat 8 datadas de janeiro (período úmido) e agosto (período seco) do ano de 2015. O processamento digital das imagens foi realizado no software ArcGis 10.3. Foram geradas matrizes de correlação com base na combinação pixel a pixel para os índices NDVI, SAVI e NDWI utilizando o software Matlab para a análise espacial e temporal da cobertura vegetal. Além disso, foram coletados amostras de solo para determinação dos teores de matéria orgânica e carbono orgânico total - COT e levantamento in situ, dos teores de umidade e pH da área de estudo. Os result... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / The spatialization of environmental data through geoprocessing techniques and the monitoring of vegetation spectral behavior through orbital images are important tools in environmental studies of landscape analysis, in special those applied to watershad. The objective of the present research was to develop an environmental assessment methodology applied to the watershad, through the estimation of biophysical parameters, generated by Landsat 8 images and determination of chemical-physical parameters of the soils. The study was applied in the Una Watershad, located in Ibiúna, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Were estimated the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI; The Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index - SAVI; Normalized Difference Water Index - NDWI and the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index - TVDI. The study was developed using Landsat 8 satellite images dated January (wet period) and August (dry period) of the year 2015. The digital process of images was performed in ArcGis 10.3 software. Correlation matrices were generated based on the pixel by pixel combination for the NDVI, SAVI and NDWI indexes using the Matlab software for the spatial and temporal analysis of the vegetation cover. In addition, soil samples were collected to determine the organic matter and total organic carbon (TOC) and survey in loco of soil moisture content and pH of the study area. The results obtained were interpolated by the Inverse Distance Weighting - IDW. The estimated indices presented a spatial pattern with strong relation with climatic seasonality, with emphasis on the rainfall regime. The results showed a reduction of the NDVI and SAVI indices, in 87.5% and 92%, respectively, from the wet to the dry period... (Complete abstract electronic access below) / Doutor

This thesis considers varied representations of landscape in Australian narrative film and designed landscape. Landscape is taken as an active concept that combines the associative meanings of place and the dynamism of space. Sixteen film and designed landscapes are examined to derive their landscape sources, forms and ideas, using the methodology of 'contextual poetics', Each of these landscapes is considered under a specific theme: landscape as delight, absence, nation or hope. In addition to detailing specific landscape responses by the designers of the examined landscapes, this project aims to contribute to an enhanced conversation about the effective, just practice of landscape architecture. The topic derives from a question central to landscape architectural practice in a post-colonial context, such as Australia. In a cultural setting where no single, agreed definition of landscape is allowed by the conditions of its history, which versions do practitioners of landscape architecture take up? What should be their limits, where are their inspirations and whose landscape narratives are ignored in these decisions?

In the tropics, widespread deforestation and conversion of primary forests to agricultural and pasture lands has resulted in losses of composition, structure, and functions of forest landscapes. Deforestation in the tropics is typically preformed via slash-and-burn practices; the byproducts from combustion have been identified as the second-highest form of anthropogenically derived 'greenhouse-gases' (such as carbon dioxide) to the atmosphere, and have been linked to the warming of the earth. Landscape-scale measures of species composition and biomass structure of primary forests are important for two reasons: (i) they provide accurate, land-based measures to predict what has been lost due to land-uses, and (ii) they aid in the discovery of key factors which explain patterns in compositional and structural diversity that are useful for defining conservation objectives. In this thesis, I enumerate the landscape-level patterns in species composition and biomass and C structure for 20-0.79 ha primary tropical forest stands within the region of "Los Tuxtlas", Veracruz, Mexico. These 20 sites were selected to capture the variability in composition and structure with respect to an array of environmental variables. These variables included a wide elevational range (15-1280 m.a.s.l.), variable slopes (Range: 3-41% slope), 3 soil-types (ash derived, lava flows, and weathered soils), a gradient of mean annual temperatures (~19.5-25.7��C), a broad precipitation range (2500 - 4000 mm year�����), a rainfall frequency range (i.e. max rainfall in 24 hours; ranged 30->100 mm day�����), and 3 Holdridge Life Zones (Tropical Moist Forest, Subtropical Wet Forest, and Subtropical Lower Montane Rain Forest). Species composition was highly correlated with the environmental variables, particularly elevation. In general for plants ���10 cm dbh, site species richness declined at a rate of ~2 species per 100 m rise in elevation. Forest sites located at similar elevations were most similar in their species compositions as compared with sites separated by large elevational differences. Despite the gradual change in species richness and composition, four sub-regions, or forest environments, within Los Tuxtlas were identified that had different species compositions and distinct combinations of elevation, soil-types, and climates. These four sub-regions were described as community-types according to their geographic location: Lowland-Reserve (LR), La Perla Plateau (LP), Volcanic Upslope (VU), and Cloud Forests (CF). The LR, LP, and VU community-types were coarsely described as Tropical Evergreen Forests (TEF's; INEGI 2001). All community-types corresponded with classifications within the Holdridge Life Zone System; the LR community-type was classified as Tropical (transition to Subtropical) Moist Forest; LP and VU community-types were classified as Subtropical Wet Forest, and the Cloud Forest community-type was classified as Subtropical Lower Montane Rain Forest. These community-types and Life Zones are useful tools for conservation, as they represent unique forests that collectively capture much of the variation in the species richness and compositional diversity of the Los Tuxtlas region. Unlike species composition, the variability in forest structure among the 18 TEF sites was not associated with the environmental variables of the Los Tuxtlas landscape. On average, TEF's had a total aboveground biomass (TAGB) of 422 �� 17 Mg ha����� and 205 �� 8 Mg ha����� total aboveground carbon (C). The TAGB and C pools for Cloud Forests was ~18% lower than TEF's, and averaged 346 �� 1 and 168 �� 1 Mg ha�����, respectively. The majority of this biomass difference was due to large trees within the forest structure. Cloud Forests had generally fewer trees ���70 cm dbh, and a more even distribution of trees 30-70 cm dbh than TEF's. The biomass contribution of large trees (���70 cm dbh) accounted for most, if not all, of the variation in TAGB and C for these tropical forests. The relatively high TAGB and C pools implicates Los Tuxtlas forests as a significant pool of aboveground biomass and C within the Neotropics. / Graduation date: 2002

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-145).

This research investigated human induced land use patterns, land cover change and hydrologic response in mountain watersheds. The hypothesis was that the spatial pattern of land use patches in a watershed influences runoff generating mechanisms, and thus affects peak flows and stream ecosystems. The goal was to increase the understanding of the influence of landscape pattern on environmental process, and thus provide a scientific basis for the design of urban development that maintains the structure and function of biological communities along a stream system. The study was a first attempt to apply the methods of landscape pattern analysis from landscape ecology to hydrology and stream response. Previous analyses in hydrology have not explicitly considered the spatial arrangement of land use/cover patterns in the watershed. Although statistical relationships between landscape pattern and stream discharge were not achieved because of limitations of the hydrological modelling, this study laid the groundwork for the realization of this goal. The geographic information system (GIS) software Maplnfo, and a hydrologic model based on the Rational Method, were used to investigate the relationships between land use patterns and their effect on the hydrology of four steep mountain stream systems in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia. Accepted land use/ cover categories and landscape metrics were used to quantify and characterise landscape change, across time (1946-1995) and between watersheds. Composite runoff coefficients ( Q were calculated for each land use, and a five-year peak stream discharge (Q) that took the changing landscape into consideration was modelled. Stream pattern, total impervious surface (TLA), and road networks were assessed as part of the description of the landscape. This thesis considered relationships between: discharge and percent land use area; discharge and total imperviouss area; discharge and landscape pattern; and percent land use area and landscape pattern. It was found that calculated discharge, percent impervious, and developed area increased across all watersheds across all time periods. The number of road crossings on the creek mainstem and total road length in the watersheds increased with percentage of developed area in the watersheds, and there was a linear relationship between C coefficient and the length of roads in the watershed. Development emerged in discrete patches, generally in the more accessible and flatter regions of the basin. Patch shape metrics followed an increasing trend with development levels between zero and twenty percent. However, between twenty and fifty percent developed the metrics scattered and did not have an apparent trend. This was likely due to a shift in the landscape matrix from forest cover to development. Increased development was associated with fragmentation of the landscape because more land use/cover categories were present in the watershed. This created a situation where average patch size decreased, patch diversity and density increased, and the watersheds had a fragmented appearance. Developed patches generally had a more complex shape than forest patches. The likelihood of finding a forest patch adjacent to a developed patch decreased as development increased.

This thesis explores the use of collective memory in the practice of landscape architecture, specifically the use of 'memory mapping' as an imaging technique. The specific site chosen is Shaniwarwada, a fortified royal complex dating from the eighteenth century, in the city of Pune, India. In order to gain an insider's perspective of the site, written questionnaires were distributed and interviews were given. The findings of these inquiries coupled with an understanding of contemporary theories concerning memory mapping guided the development of programs and physical interventions. It is hoped that these undertakings will enhance the role of Shaniwarwada as an historical site and a community place in the future.

Terms used to discuss the cultural landscape, land use issues, and rural visual elements are used to explore changes in eighteen sections of Randolph County, Indiana. Documented trends of change in the visual elementL, and related issues during the forty year period include field enlargement, the removal or deteriration of fences, and loss of tree lines. Some wooded areas were cleared but most showed regrowth after pasturing ceased. Changing agricultural practices and financial pressures under lie many land use choices.Other changes include increasing farm sizes, parcellation, and the deterioration or removal of settlement structures. (55) As changes proceed, old elements, often those providing variety and cultural linkage with the past are giving way; landscapes are becoming more open and uniform. At the same time new elements such as power lines and subdivisions are creating a new rural look. / Department of Landscape Architecture