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Understanding cage aquaculture adoption decisions and factors affecting adoption is necessary to ensure that fish production from cage aquaculture in Ghana is both significant and sustainable. The goal of this study was to provide a framework for understanding cage aquaculture adoption decisions and to identify factors affecting adoption, to inform decision makers as they formulate policies aimed at promoting cage aquaculture adoption in Ghana. I surveyed 122 respondents comprising current cage fish farmers, farmers who have abandoned cage aquaculture, and potential adopters of cage aquaculture such as, fish traders, fishermen and land-based fish farmers. Respondents answered questions related to knowledge, interest, constraints in cage aquaculture, and demographics. I used non-metric multidimensional scaling and discriminant function analysis to identify unique groups within the respondents, classify respondents according to their position in the innovation-decision continuum, and identify factors affecting cage aquaculture adoption. Based on their differences in knowledge and interests, I placed respondents into one of three stages of the cage aquaculture innovation-decision process model I developed: (1) Unawareness, (2) Knowledge, Persuasion, and Decision (KPD), and (3) Implementation (Confirmation and Abandonment). Respondents in the KPD and Implementation stages had knowledge, were more interested in cage aquaculture, and were aware of constraints in cage aquaculture, whereas respondents in the Unawareness stage lacked knowledge and interest in cage aquaculture, and did not clearly understand the constraints. Respondents who were males, belonged to the tribes Ewe and Akan, and who had fishing experience tended to be more interested in cage aquaculture. The lack of capital, high input costs, inability to adequately market fish, theft, lack of information sources, conflict over water use, and cage destruction by storms, were identified as the main constraints to cage aquaculture adoption in Ghana. The results of the study suggest that programs aimed at encouraging new entrants into cage aquaculture should focus on demographic characteristics such as gender, and tribe. However, demographic characteristics may affect adoption decisions and it may be important to consider them as such. Some recommendation to address the major constraints in cage aquaculture include: the Fisheries Directorate should (1) develop an efficient extension program that farmers can access regularly, especially, for farmers with no other information sources, (2) provide feed subsidy to enable farmers produce fish at competitive prices, (3) facilitate the formation of fish farmers' cooperative groups that would purchase large quantities of feed, (4) encourage local production of high quality fish feed, and (5) develop credit facilities that can be accessed by individuals interested in cage aquaculture to assist potential farmers who would, otherwise, not be able to adopt cage aquaculture . In addition, fish farmers should (6) be proactive in marketing their fish by identifying potential niche markets prior to production, and (7) join cooperative groups to ease the burden of accessing loans to increase production. / Master of Science

Ophidiidae are major benthopelagic fishes with wide distribution and depth range. Three types of sonic structural patterns have been described in some studied ophidiid fishes, however, the significance of the different types of the sonic apparatus, and the distribution in the subfamilies remain unclear. In addition, although the sonic apparatus and the sonic mechanisms of the high frequency sounds produced by cusk-eels has been explained, the characteristics of extrinsic swimbladder sonic muscle is still unknown. In this study, I investigated three ophidiid subfamilies from Taiwan and reviewed the published data to study the morphological traits of their sonic apparatus. Inaddition, Hoplobrotula armata were related to study the proteomic characterization of the extrinsic swimbladder sonic muscle. Results indicate that the 13 ophidiid species in this study could be grouped into five sonic structural patterns, and three subfamilies could be separated accordingly. Furthermore, because the sister group of the family Ophidiidae-carapidae is soniferous, I suggest that the common ancestor of the three ophidiid subfamilies should also be soniferous. Comparisons made in regarded to environmental factors indicate that diversity of sonic apparatus in three ophidiids subfamiliesis depth dependent. The extrinsic swimbladder sonic muscles could be separated into ventral sonic muscle and intermediate sonic muscle. The histological cross-sections of the ventral sonic muscle fibers show peripheral ring myofibrillar region and central core and they are similar with the sonic muscle. Ventral muscle weights were higher in males than females, but the muscle fibers are smaller in males. Protein values of ventral sonic muscles showed high expression in fast and long duration constructional proteins, and males were higher in protein expression than females. Intermediate sonic muscles, on the other hand, were larger in females than males. The cross-sections of muscle fibers were similar to the white muscle. Expression in the fast constructional related protein in the intermediate sonic muscle was higher than ventral sonic muscles, and the metabolically related protein was lower than ventral sonic muscles. The phylogeny of ophidiiform fishes is not clear at present; the sonic-apparatus diversity in ophidiid fishes observed in this study becomes useful to reveal the relationship phylogenetic of ophidiids fishes. Regard the physiology of sound production, I suggest that the larger ventral sonic muscle in males are be provides a better constructional ability, and their smaller fibers are adaptative for energy metabolism regarded for continuous fast constraction and fatigue resistance. The longer intermediate sonic muscle in females is a better constructional ability than male. In intermediate sonic muscle were be fast constructional related protein, higher in expression than the ventral sonic muscles, the metabolic related protein was lower than the ventral sonic muscles. These results suggest that the intermediate sonic muscle has a hight constructional ability but has a disventage of being easily fatigue.

Spiranthes parksii Correll is an endemic terrestrial orchid to the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas and is currently listed as federally endangered. The construction of Twin Oaks landfill, approximately 20 km east of College Station, TX, will destroy an estimated 379 S. parksii individuals and 44.7 ha of its habitat. Research has been funded to mitigate for this loss and includes documenting demographics, life cycle, local and landscape habitat, and on-site transplantation of S. parksii. Results found that S. parksii was highly variable between years at Twin Oaks and might be due to seasonal rainfall in rosette and early flowering growth. It was also found variable in its production of a rosette and influorescence from year to year. Individual plants were found to occur farther from drainages in higher count years, probably due to soil moisture, although further research should be conducted to confirm this hypothesis. A significant difference (p = 0.026) was found for percent canopy cover > 2 m above 1 m x 1 m quadrats with and without S. parksii, with a mean of 55 percent with S. parksii and 97 percent without S. parksii. A Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination revealed three different combinations of herbaceous species that occur with S. parksii, which were driven by the presence of three dominant bunch grasses of the Post Oak Savannah: Schizachyrium scoparium, Chasmanthium laxum var. sessiliflorum, and Andropogon ternarius. A close to significant difference (p = 0.07) was found for the leaf litter depth between quadrats with and without S. parksii, with a fewer number of stacked leaves with S. parksii. Analysis of aerial images indicated woody encroachment on Twin Oaks from 1958 to 2004 in areas that have not been mechanically cleared. Additionally, S. parksii was found to persist in an open savannah landscape and likely occurred in the same locations and more widespread in 1958 than are currently found. Transplantation of S. parksii was documented to be successful by a soil-intact method. While a bare-root method showed success with S. cernua, no conclusions can be made of its success for S. parksii due to a low sample size (n = 10).

The Gray Fossil Site, northeastern Tennessee, is formed by multiple karst sub-basins filled with lacustrine sediments. The oldest sediments found were recently dated as Paleo-Eocene by palynological means, whereas the youngest sediments are considered Mio-Pliocene based on their faunal assemblage. In this study, we examined the Mio-Pliocene lacustrine sediments from the Gray Fossil Site to determine the Late Neogene floral characteristics of a site within the southern Appalachian Mountains. The Mio-Pliocene lacustrine sinkhole fill preserves a unique fossil assemblage, which includes invertebrate, vertebrate, and floral remains. Floral remains are represented by wood, seeds, leaves, and pollen grains. Forty-seven palynological samples from six different test-pits were analyzed. All pits exhibit a low pollen yield, a result of basic pH levels, drought, and fire events that occurred during deposition. The palynofloral assemblage has a low to moderate diversity and is largely dominated by a Quercus-Carya-Pinus assemblage (~ 90% of the palynoflora). The presence of Pterocarya grains supports a Late Neogene age for these lacustrine sediments. Comparison with modern pollen-based floras from North America suggests that: (1) examined pits can be discriminated into two separate groups based on their palynofloral signatures, (2) the Mio-Pliocene vegetation at the site ranged between a closed to open woodland setting, depending on the intensity and frequency of drought and fire events, and (3) the fossil palynofloral assemblage is comparable to what would be expected in the modern North American Mesophytic Forest region.

Submitted by Katiane Souza (katyane.souza@gmail.com) on 2016-06-05T13:21:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivogeral.pdf: 2116290 bytes, checksum: 06e1c61195711fc54f91cf9dd76556c0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-05T13:21:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivogeral.pdf: 2116290 bytes, checksum: 06e1c61195711fc54f91cf9dd76556c0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-03 / Capsicum genus presents wide genetic variability and the most used way to determine this variability is through morphological descriptors, essential to obtain information on available diversity, making it possible to better use in breeding programs. Knowledge of this diversity is critical for breeding program of the species one wants to improve, which could be, in the case of pepper plant, cultivar development that are intended for fruit production, for fresh consumption, industries: food of condiments, canned and dyes; pharmaceutical; cosmetics; for use as a rootstock, or more recently as ornamental plant. So the first chapter of this doctoral thesis aimed to characterize and evaluate genetic divergence and heritability of morphoagronomic characteristics in thirteen populations of ornamental pepper plant, being eight populations F3: F21 (P-1), F24 (P-2), F25 (P-3), F27 (P-4), F29 (P-5), F210 (P-6), F211 (P-7) and F231 (P-8), of crossing between the accesses 134 (P-9) and 77.2 (P10), and five additional witnesses: accesses 134 (P9), 77.2 (P10), 10.1 (P11), 10.2 (P-12), and 10.3 (P-13). The P-9 access presents small size, green leaves, white flowers, and cream to red small fruits. The P-10 access is composed of high-sized plants with vein-like leaves, purple flowers and small fruits and lilac to red fruits. P-11, P-12, and P-13 accesses show plants with very similar size characteristics, large and showy fruits, only differing in the color of ripe fruit P-11 (yellow), P-12 (red), and P-13 (orange). The work was conducted in a greenhouse. Fifty plants of each F3 population and ten of each additional witnesses were distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with two factors: Population and Years. Sixteen morphological descriptors were evaluated, being six of plant and ten of fruit. Variance analysis was performed with the data of the five witnesses and used residual mean squared error to conduct the means comparison test. Genotypes were grouped according to Scott-Knott criteria (p ≤ 0.05). The interaction was significant for all traits, except for the height of the first fork and number of seeds per fruit. The heritability ranged from 91.18% (stem diameter) to 99.97% (greater fruit diameter), for the first year of evaluation, and 85.75% (dry matter content) to 99.65% (higher fruit diameter), for the second year. The relation between genetic variation coefficient and environmental variation coefficient presented values higher than 1 for all traits, except for stem diameter, fruit length / diameter ratio and dry matter content. P3 population was the one with the lowest average for plant height and canopy diameter, thus, being the most recommended for selection of ornamental size. In the second chapter, the objective was to evaluate the genetic divergence between thirteen populations of ornamental pepper plants, using multivariate techniques and determine which morphological characteristics contributed more for genetic divergence. Genetic divergence between populations of ornamental pepper plants was determined by clustering analysis and canonical variables. Multivariate analysis revealed that there is interaction between the studied factors (p <0.01). There was agreement between the multivariate techniques used. Fruit characteristics were those that most contributed for genetic divergence, separating the populations P11, P12 and P13 from other populations. These results were repeated in the two years of evaluation. The third chapter aimed to characterize and estimate genetic divergence within pre-established groups of populations F3 of ornamental pepper plants. Eight F3 populations were evaluated in a completely randomized design with two factors (Populations and Years). Quantitative and qualitative descriptors were used. Dissimilarity matrices were estimated between genotypes within the populations, using Gower dissimilarity coefficient. Ggenotypic divergence explained by dissimilarity matrices were analyzed via non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS). Internal consistency presented by populations P4, P6, P7, P5, and P8, indicates that the genotypes of these populations present capability for use in future ornamental pepper plant breeding programs. On the other hand, populations P1, P2, and P3 presented the highest visual dispersion, allowing selection, aiming advancement of future generations. / O gênero Capsicum apresenta ampla variabilidade genética e a maneira mais utilizada de determinar essa variabilidade é através dos descritores morfológicos, essenciais para se obter informações sobre a diversidade disponível, possibilitando sua melhor utilização em programas de melhoramento. O conhecimento dessa diversidade é fundamental para o programa de melhoramento genético da espécie que se deseja melhorar, a qual poderá ser, no caso de pimenteiras, o desenvolvimento de cultivares que se destinem a produção de frutos, para consumo in natura, indústrias: alimentícias de condimentos, conservas e corantes; farmacêutica; cosmética; para serem utilizadas como porta-enxerto ou, mais recentemente, como planta ornamental. Assim, o primeiro capítulo desta tese de doutoramento, teve como objetivo caracterizar e avaliar a divergência genética e a herdabilidade das características morfoagronômicas em treze populações de pimenteiras ornamentais, sendo oito populações F3: F21 (P-1), F24 (P-2), F25 (P-3), F27 (P-4), F29 (P-5), F210 (P-6), F211 (P-7) e F231 (P-8), originárias do cruzamento entre os acessos 134 (P-9) e 77.2 (P10), e cinco testemunhas adicionais os acessos 134 (P9), 77.2 (P10), 10.1 (P11), 10.2 (P-12) e 10.3 (P-13). O acesso P-9 apresenta porte baixo, folhas verdes, flores brancas frutos pequenos de coloração creme para vermelho. O acesso P-10 são plantas de porte alto com folhas jaspeadas, flores lilás e frutos pequenos e coloração de lilás para vermelho. Já os acessos P-11, P-12 e P-13 plantas com características de porte muito similares, frutos grandes e vistosos diferindo apenas na coloração do fruto maduro P-11(amarelo), P-12 (vermelho) e P-13 (laranja). O trabalho foi conduzido em casa de vegetação. Cinquenta plantas de cada população F3 e dez de cada testemunha adicional foram distribuídas em delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado com dois fatores: Populações e Anos. Foram avaliados 16 descritores morfológicos, sendo seis referentes a planta e dez ao fruto. A análise de variância foi realizada com os dados das cinco testemunhas e utilizou-se o quadrado médio do resíduo para se realizar o teste de comparação de médias. Os genótipos foram agrupados de acordo com os critérios de Scott-Knott (P≤0,05). A interação foi significativa para todas as características, exceto para a altura da primeira bifurcação e número de sementes por fruto. A herdabilidade variou de 91,18% (diâmetro do caule) a 99,97% (maior diâmetro do fruto), para o primeiro ano de avaliação, e 85,75% (teor de matéria seca) a 99,65% (maior diâmetro do fruto), para o segundo ano. A relação entre o coeficiente de variação genética e o coeficiente de variação ambiental apresentou valores superiores a 1 para todas as características, com exceção para diâmetro do caule, relação comprimento /diâmetro do fruto e teor de matéria seca. A população P3 foi a que apresentou as menores médias para a altura da planta e diâmetro da copa, sendo consequentemente a mais recomendada para seleção dentro visando porte ornamental. No segundo capítulo, o objetivo foi avaliar a divergência genética entre treze populações de pimenteiras ornamentais, usando técnicas multivariadas, e determinar quais as características morfológicas que contribuíram mais para a divergência genética. A divergência genética entre as populações de pimenteiras ornamentais foi determinada por análise de agrupamento e de variáveis canônicas. A análise multivariada revelou que existe interação entre os fatores estudados (p < 0,01). Observou-se concordância entre as técnicas multivariadas utilizadas. As características de fruto foram as que mais contribuíram para a divergência genética, separando as populações P11, P12 e P13 das demais populações. Esses resultados se repetiram nos dois anos de avaliação. O terceiro capítulo, teve como objetivos caracterizar e estimar a divergência genética dentro de grupos pré-estabelecidos de populações F3 de pimenteiras ornamentais. Oito populações F3 foram avaliadas, em delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com dois fatores (Populações e Anos). Foram utilizados descritores quantitativos e qualitativos. Foram estimadas matrizes de dissimilaridade entre genótipos dentro das populações utilizando o coeficiente de dissimilaridade de Gower. A divergência genotípica, explicada pelas matrizes de dissimilaridade, foram analisadas via escalonamento multidimensional não-métrico (nMDS). A uniformidade interna apresentada pelas populações P4, P6, P7, P5 e P8, é indicativo de que os genótipos destas populações apresentam aptidão para serem utilizados em futuros programas de melhoramento de pimenteiras ornamentais. Por outro lado, as populações P1, P2 e P3 apresentaram a maior dispersão visual, possibilitando seleção, visando avanço de gerações futuras.

In order to understand Mio-Pliocene floristic characteristics of the southern Appalachian Mountains, 47 palynological samples from six different testing-pits across the Gray Fossil Site (GFS) were analyzed. The site exhibits a low pollen yield resulting from basic pH levels, drought, and fire events occurring during deposition. The palynofloral assemblage has a low to moderate diversity, and it is largely dominated by Quercus-Carya-Pinus (~90% of the palynoflora). The reported presence of Pterocarya grains supports a Late Neogene age for the lacustrine sediments. Comparison with modern pollen-based floras suggests that: (1) the Mio-Pliocene Oak-Hickory-Pine association varied in structure between a woodland to woodland/savanna, depending on the intensity and frequency of drought, fire events and herbivory, (2) pits show different structure of the co-dominant genera, which indicate alternating composition of the vegetation, and (3) in term of modern vegetation, the GFS flora corresponds well with the Mesophytic Forest region.

No description available.