As protected spaces for nature are becoming a key global policy for preserving biodiversity for the future, this thesis uses a novel theoretical approach to propose a multispecies history of conservation that re-evaluates their origins. I selected the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s reserve at Slimbridge, in Gloucester, England as my case study to demonstrate this. Slimbridge is well suited because of its early origins (1946 – present day) and strong archival record. The trust published annual reports every year from 1946 and these large documents containscientific reports, anecdotal observations, and administrative decision-making processes that are an untapped resource for writing histories of the development of conservation spaces. Looking for moments of tension between known and unknown nature, charismatic and mundane animal experiences, and the construction of multispecies political orderings within the reports drew my analysis towards a narrative around these zones that blends environmental history writing with theoretical analysis. Slimbridge is re-situated through this work as a complex process of creating, sustaining, and reproducing new relationships between the trust, semi-tame animals, and wild birds that came to constitute what I describe as a conservation space. Crucially, it is the relationships that conservation builds that it reproduces and protects, so we should think of conservation as a way to build new, more resilient, and just ecologies.

Pet humanization leads to false analogies between animal and human needs. The animals are distorted into something they are not and treated accordingly, which leads to misunderstandings and mismanagement of animals. Compensating one's cat with cat toys as a result of guilt over insufficient interactive play is a case example. Compensation does not take into account the cat's attitude and perception of play as interactive play is irreplaceable for the cat's well-being. The study posed the question How can design create critical reflection of human relationships with cats in regard to feelings of guilt over cat ownership and compensation? With the aim of freeing consumption from the idea of the cat's welfare. The research question was answered with a design proposal consisting of an artifact that depicts a future alternative human-cat relationship. The artifact was produced through a design process based on speculative and multispecies design theory and method. Horizon scanning together with a literature search was used to create a credible future alternative human-cat relationship that highlights and reconciles species differences by emphasizing the cat as an animal. Somatic research and a survey was used to make interactions less rigid as a way to facilitate and support interactive play. Prototyping with a cat was used to ensure satisfactory interactive play was facilitated

This dissertation utilizes three independent research projects to examine one overarching theoretical question: How do people understand, contest, negotiate, and / or rationalize the ways in which bodies-human, animal, and microbial - are socially constructed as commensurate, or not, in science? Using three unique projects focusing on either the human, animal, or microbial body, this dissertation broadly explores the social processes inherent in the construction of "bodies" for scientific research. This dissertation explores the complexity of how bodies are used in science, how this is understood by individuals, and the impacts this has not only on science but also the intertwined lives of animals, humans, and their microbes. Each paper explores a key set of questions drawing from a shared set of theoretical lenses, including local biology and biolooping, commensuration, the biovalue of bodies, and the microbiome. Specifically this dissertation presentation will explore these questions: 1) How are Japanese bodies socially constructed as different from other bodies in ethnobridging clinical trials?; 2) How is local biology employed as a technique of commensuration at the site of the Japanese body, by the government, and the global pharmaceutical industry and what does this mean for scientific studies utilizing it in this way?; 3) How do scientists construct nonhuman primates as appropriate proxies for humans in biomedical research experiments?; 4) How do individuals understand themselves and their health in relation to pet dogs and microbes?; and 5) How do humans understand the ways in which humans, animals, and microbes co-create their biological and social worlds? This dissertation shows how the construction of the body as an object of scientific study is negotiated, contested, and taken up in daily life, and how this is flexible, malleable, and not at all uniform. It explores the ways in which biomedical knowledge of the body is socially constructed and how it co-creates the animal, microbial, environmental, and cultural worlds in which it circulates. Through doing so and using techniques and lenses grounded in biosocial anthropology, this dissertation adds to the literature on the body in both medical and multispecies anthropology.

Entre as temporalidades de diferentes processos locais, este estudo etnográfico aprofunda-se em entender como esses diferentes ritmos relacionam-se e modulam as atividades de pescadores e de outros habitantes (humanos e não-humanos) na vila do Pontal do Leste - Ilha do Cardoso, Cananeia - SP. Relações essas sempre em processo de co-constituição, co-respondencia, co-evolução entre humanos e não-humanos, nunca formados e preexistentes de antemão. As percepções desses processos são fundamentais para o entendimento do comportamento de alguns animais não-humanos e plantas, das condições de tempo, da geomorfologia insular e da ecologia eólico-hídrica local, resultando em caracterizações sensíveis, que serão desdobradas nessa etnografia. Portanto, nessa malha de relações composta por paisagens multiespécies, onde diversas linhas de movimentos são traçadas por seres e processos, o intuito deste estudo foi descrever como essas linhas encontram-se e contaminam-se. E, acima de tudo, como esses encontros são traduzidos pelos habitantes e visitantes da vila. / Among the temporalities of different local processes, this ethnographic study deepens in understanding how these different rhythms relate and modulate the activities of fishermen and other inhabitants (human and non-human) in the village of Pontal do Leste - Cardoso Island, Cananeia - SP. These relations are always in the process of co-constitution, coresponse, co-evolution between humans and nonhumans never formed and preexisting inadvance. The perceptions of these processes are fundamental to the understanding of the behavior of some non-human animals and plants, of the weather conditions, insular geomorphology and local wind-hydric ecology, resulting in sensitive characterizations that will be unfolded in this ethnography. Therefore, in this meshwork of relationships composed of multispecies landscapes, where several lines of movement are traced by beings and processes, the purpose of this study was to describe how these lines meet and become contaminated. And, above all, how these meetings are translated by the inhabitants and visitors of the village.

Este trabalho objetivou estudar e descrever as relações multiespécies que contribuem para que se mantenha a existência da mandioca junto aos Pataxó no entorno do Monte Pascoal, no Sul da Bahia, num contexto de transformação e \"modernização\" da agricultura local. Ele foi inspirado na ideia de que a diversificação e manutenção da mandioca se dá dentro de contextos históricos de seu envolvimento contínuo com diversos seres e coisas, ou seja, mediante suas ações ambientalmente situadas. A hipótese central levantada é que a diversidade de mandiocas existentes ocorre através de um conjunto de relações sócio-ecológicas no qual os humanos são parte importante. Através da metodologia proposta pela etnografia multiespécie foram apresentadas primeiramente cinco histórias no intuito de mostrar como a mandioca está envolvida em relações múltiplas com os Pataxó e outros seres, que envolvem afetos, memórias, conhecimentos, práticas, política, nas quais ela se destaca como uma espécie companheira com a qual se tem coevoluido. A partir dessas histórias, foram indicadas e descritas as temporalidade de seu modo de vida e as práticas que se destacaram como importantes na existência e permanência dessa planta na região, evidenciando as assembleias que se formaram e suas consequências na vida da mandioca e de seus companheiros Pataxó. O estudo aponta para a resiliência na diversidade de mandioca ao longo do tempo na região, porém em menor quantidade e qualidade, evidenciando uma precarização de determinadas relações, as quais passam a demandar atenção ao se pensar na elaboração de estratégias de conservação da agrobiodiversidade junto com os Pataxó no Monte Pascoal. / This work aimed to study and describe the multi-species relationships that contribute to maintain the existence of cassava with the Pataxó surrounding the Monte Pascoal, in Southern Bahia, in a context of transformation and \"upgrading\" of local agriculture. It was inspired by the idea that diversification and maintenance of cassava takes place within historical contexts of their continuing involvement with various beings and things, that is, through its environmentally situated actions. The central hypothesis is that the diversity of cassava can not be seen only as genetic resources (which suffer natural selection) not only as the result of human management (artificial selection and the symbolic constructions), but as a set of relationships socio- ecological in which humans are an important part. Through the methodology proposed by the multispecies ethnography were presented five stories in order to show how cassava is involved in multiple relationships with the Pataxó and other beings, involving emotions, memories, knowledge, practices, politics, in which it stands as a specie partner with who it has co-evolved. From these stories was demonstrated and described the temporality of their way of life and practices that stood out as important in the existence and permanence of this plant in the region, highlighting the meetings that formed and its consequences in cassava life and his companions Pataxó. The study points to the resilience in cassava diversity over time in the region, but in smaller quantities and quality, showing a precariousness of certain relationships, which begin to demand attention when thinking about the development of the agro-biodiversity conservation strategies with Pataxó in Monte Pascoal.

Esta tese tem como objetivo contar as histórias de peregrinações (Ingold, 2011) vividas ao acompanhar as cabritas que partem da comunidade quilombola de Palmas, localizada na zona rural do município de Bagé, fronteira sul e oeste do Rio Grande do Sul, e vão de caminhão até um aviário em Alvorada, região metropolitana de Porto Alegre, onde são vendidas para casas de religiões de matriz africana para participarem de rituais de abate sacralizado. Nesse trajeto, são consideradas as cabritas, os humanos que com elas se relacionam e as condições ambientais de movimentação e de convívio com as mesmas durante a pesquisa etnográfica (Despret, 2011). As relações entre humanos e animais serão abordadas a partir da noção de etnografia multiespécies (Kirksey e Helmreich, 2010), tensionando o antropocentrismo ao dar ênfase na transespecificidade (Sá, 2013) das implicações mútuas entre as definições de humanos e não-humanos. A pesquisa foi impulsionada pelas controvérsias surgidas a partir da discussão do Projeto de Lei 21/2015, proposto na Assembleia Legislativa do rio Grande do Sul pela deputada evangélica e ativista da proteção animal Regina Becker Fortunatti, que visava proibir o abate sacralizado de animais nas casas de religiões de matriz africana do Rio Grande do Sul O que era para ser um estudo sobre os rituais de iniciação no Batuque (Dos Anjos, 2001) e a necessidade de os animais sacralizados nesses eventos terem uma “vida boa”, “imaculada”, em contrapartida com as acusações de “barbárie” e “assassinos” contra o pessoal de religião, acabou por se ampliar em uma descrição de como terreiros urbanos e quilombos rurais compartilham mundos na resistência ao racismo, às forças de aniquilação da diferença do Estado brasileiro e seus tentáculos capitalistas. No rastro das cabras, nas relações entre o quilombo de Palmas e os terreiros da região de Porto Alegre, eclode um cosmo de seres vivendo vidas em aliança, apontando para possibilidades profícuas de multiplicação dos agentes e vozes nos estudos de Etnologia Afro-brasileira. O intercâmbio de animais, ervas, mel, grãos e os cuidados mútuos com essas culturas esboçam coexistências compartilhadas por meio de trilhas que surgem de experiências negras corporificadas nos movimentos constantes de suas epistemes peregrinas. / This PhD thesis aims to tell the stories of peregrinations (Ingold, 2011) lived by accompanying the goats that depart from the quilombola community of Palmas, located in the rural area of the municipality of Bagé, south and west border of Rio Grande do Sul, as they go by truck to an aviary in Alvorada, metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, where they are sold to houses of afro-brazilian religions to participate in rituals of sacred slaughter. In this path, the goats are considered, as well as the humans that relate to them and the environmental conditions of movement and conviviality during the ethnographic research (Despret, 2011). Relationships between humans and animals will be approached from the notion of multispecies ethnography (Kirksey and Helmreich, 2010), stressing anthropocentrism by emphasizing the transespecificity (Sá, 2013) of the mutual implications between definitions of humans and nonhumans. The research was fueled by controversies arising from the discussion of the Bill Project 21/2015, by evangelical and animal rights activist Regina Becker Fortunatti, which aimed to prohibit the sacrificial slaughter of animals in the houses of afro-brazilian religions in Rio Grande do Sul What was meant to be a study of initiation rituals in Batuque (Dos Anjos, 2001) and the need for sacred animals in these events to have a “good”, "immaculate life", in contrast to the accusations of "barbarism" and "murderers" against religion personnel, has been expanded in a description of how urban terreiros and rural quilombos share worlds in resistance to racism, to the annihilation forces of the difference managed by the Brazilian state and its capitalist tentacles. In the trail of the goats, in the relationship between the Palmas quilombo and the terreiros located in the Porto Alegre region, emerges a cosmos of beings living lives in alliance, pointing to proficuous possibilities for the multiplicity of agents and voices in the studies of Afro-Brazilian Ethnology. The interchange of animals, herbs, honey, grains and mutual care with these cultures sketches coexistences that are shared by the trails, which arise from black experiences embodied in the constant movement of their peregrine epistemes.

Herbivory can have many effects on plant fitness, including altering plant-pollinator interactions and sexual reproduction in angiosperms. Pollinator-mediated interactions may be impacted when herbivores alter plant traits, such as floral display size, that can influence pollinator visitation rates, and, ultimately, the reproductive component of plant fitness. Here I describe an investigation into the indirect effects of feeding by beetles released as a biological control agent, Galerucella calmariensis and G. pusilla, on plant-pollinator interactions and reproductive output in the invasive plant Lythrum salicaria L. (purple loosestrife). During the summer of 2011, three treatments (low, ambient and mechanical herbivory) were applied to 105 plants during the pre-flowering period of growth. At the onset of flowering, a series of pollinator observations were conducted over the course of approximately 1.5 weeks. Several aspects of floral display were affected by the herbivory treatments, including increased inflorescence and flower production in the ambient and mechanical herbivory treatments, relative to the low herbivory treatment. Treatment type did not have a significant effect on the number of pollinator foraging bouts, but had marginally significant effects on the number of flowers probed per pollinator foraging bout and per 30-minutes. Moreover, treatment had a significant effect on the number of switches among the inflorescences on a single plant. I discuss the possibility that the differences in pollinator visitation were mediated by differences in the architecture and the size of floral display. There were no detectable differences in fruit or seed production (i.e., female fitness) among treatments. However, as I discuss, differences in pollinator visitation may affect other unmeasured aspects of fitness, such as the level of inbreeding or the number of seeds sired through male function.

At many sites it has become apparent that most chemicals of concern (COCs) in groundwater are persistent and not effectively treated by conventional remediation methods. In recent years, the permeable reactive barrier (PRB) technology has proven to be more cost-efficient in the long-run and capable of rapidly reducing COC concentrations by up to several orders of magnitude. In its simplest form, the PRB is a vertically emplaced rectangular porous medium in which impacted groundwater passively enters a narrow treatment zone. In the treatment zone dissolved COCs are rapidly degraded as they come in contact with the reactive material. As a result, the effluent groundwater contains significantly lower solute concentrations as it re-enters the aquifer and flows towards the plane of compliance (POC). Effective implementation of the PRB relies on accurate site characterization to identify the existing COCs, their interactions, and their required residence time in the PRB and aquifer. Ensuring adequate residence time in the PRB-aquifer system allows COCs to react longer, hence improving the probability that regulatory concentrations are achieved at the POC. In this study, the Park and Zhan solution technique is used to derive steady-state analytical and transient semi-analytical solutions to multispecies reactive transport in a permeable reactive barrier-aquifer (dual domain) system. The advantage of the dual domain model is that it can account for the potential existence of natural degradation in the aquifer, when designing the required PRB thickness. Also, like the single-species Park and Zhan solution, the solutions presented here were derived using the total mass flux (third-type) boundary condition in PRB-aquifer system. The study focuses primarily on the steady-state analytical solutions of the tetrachloroethylene (PCE) serial degradation pathway and secondly on the analytical solutions of the parallel degradation pathway. Lastly, the solutions in this study are not restricted solely to the PRB-aquifer model. They can also be applied to other types of dual domain systems with distinct flow and transport properties, and up to four other species reacting in serial or parallel degradation pathways. Although the solutions are long, the results of this study are novel in that the solutions provide improved modeling flexibility. For example: 1) every species can have unique first-order reaction rates and unique retardation factors, 2) higher order daughter species can be modeled solely as byproducts by neglecting their input concentrations, 3) entire segments of the parallel degradation pathway can be neglected depending on the desired degradation pathway model, and 4) converging multi-parent reactions can be modeled. As part of the study, separate Excel spreadsheet programs were created to facilitate prompt application of the steady-state analytical solutions, for both the serial and parallel degradation pathways. The spreadsheet programs are included as supplementary material.

The concept of cosmopolitics identifies a multispecies political practice within the framework of multinaturalism. The dissertation, "Multispecies Thinking from Alexander von Humboldt to Leslie Marmon Silko: Intercultural Communication Toward Cosmopolitics," is concerned with understandings of multispecies relationships, with the human intercultural communication that could prepare for a cosmopolitical practice, and with the ways Native American fiction supports this endeavor. This research draws from Native American literary studies and ecocritical scholarship to illustrate the potential of transdisciplinary thinking about multispecies ethnography, cosmopolitics, and Indigenous paradigms as providing a promising communication zone against the grain of scientific imperialism. It thus traces the development of pluralist and multispecies-oriented thought and its points of connection to Indigenous paradigms from Alexander von Humboldt's Cosmos Studies of the early 19th century to 21st century Indigenous cosmopolitics. First, this study discusses the insights and obstructions to Western pluralist and multispecies thinking in relation to Native American paradigms from Humboldt via 19th century nature writers-Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and John Muir-to contemporary interdisciplinary research. Opening to wide potential with Humboldt's holistic Cosmos Studies, intercultural communication was tempered by the colonial enterprise in the 19th century United States, including a nature-culture dualism and the notion of degenerated, vanishing Indigenous peoples. The resulting conceptual understandings, terms, and attitudes have been influential until today and are what contemporary Native American authors and activists are confronted with when engaged in their work. Detailed textual analysis of exemplary Native American literature outlines how contemporary authors criticize, counter-narrate, and/or integrate Western intellectual traditions. Furthermore, this study outlines 20th and 21st century scientific concepts that refine much earlier ideas, provide helpful terminology regarding Western approaches to Indigenous ontologies and multispecies thinking, and facilitate a new, insightful reading of contemporary Native American fiction as cosmopolitical texts. The analyses of works by Louise Erdrich, Linda Hogan, Louis Owens, and Leslie Marmon Silko demonstrate the value of these works to enhance multispecies thinking and respective political practices. Therefore, Native American literature plays a major role worldwide as an educational and critical tool for an intercultural communication toward cosmopolitics.

Herbivory can have many effects on plant fitness, including altering plant-pollinator interactions and sexual reproduction in angiosperms. Pollinator-mediated interactions may be impacted when herbivores alter plant traits, such as floral display size, that can influence pollinator visitation rates, and, ultimately, the reproductive component of plant fitness. Here I describe an investigation into the indirect effects of feeding by beetles released as a biological control agent, Galerucella calmariensis and G. pusilla, on plant-pollinator interactions and reproductive output in the invasive plant Lythrum salicaria L. (purple loosestrife). During the summer of 2011, three treatments (low, ambient and mechanical herbivory) were applied to 105 plants during the pre-flowering period of growth. At the onset of flowering, a series of pollinator observations were conducted over the course of approximately 1.5 weeks. Several aspects of floral display were affected by the herbivory treatments, including increased inflorescence and flower production in the ambient and mechanical herbivory treatments, relative to the low herbivory treatment. Treatment type did not have a significant effect on the number of pollinator foraging bouts, but had marginally significant effects on the number of flowers probed per pollinator foraging bout and per 30-minutes. Moreover, treatment had a significant effect on the number of switches among the inflorescences on a single plant. I discuss the possibility that the differences in pollinator visitation were mediated by differences in the architecture and the size of floral display. There were no detectable differences in fruit or seed production (i.e., female fitness) among treatments. However, as I discuss, differences in pollinator visitation may affect other unmeasured aspects of fitness, such as the level of inbreeding or the number of seeds sired through male function.