Thesis--University of London. / Bibliography: p. 335-339.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-104) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 20, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-54).

Texte augmenté de: Habilitationsschrift--Philosophische Fakultät für Geschichts- und Kunstwissenschaften--Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München, 1996. / Bibliogr. p. XXIII-LXIX. Glossaire. Index.

For decades, Borneo's once extensive and pristine forests have been increasingly exposed to a suite of anthropogenic disturbance and deforestation processes as a result of selective and illegal logging, hunting, droughts, fires and the conversion to plantations, chiefly oil palm. Such disturbance is likely impacting the Sunda clouded leopard, Neofelis diardi, and other threatened, sympatric Bornean felids, yet few studies have attempted to address these issues. In this thesis, I used data from intensive camera trap surveys throughout Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and high-resolution GPS data from tagged Sunda clouded leopards to examine the influence of forest disturbance on the abundance, distribution, movements and population connectivity of Sunda clouded leopards and other sympatric felids on Borneo, and to provide some of the first data regarding the ecological interactions and patterns of coexistence among this felid assemblage. I showed that Sunda clouded leopard movement was facilitated by forest cover with high canopy closure, and highly resisted by oil palm plantations with low canopy closure. Models of population connectivity across Sabah identified a number of isolated populations of these felids, which may be particularly threatened with extinction. Analysis of camera trap detection data revealed that the Bornean felids exhibit evidence of resource segregation along the temporal, spatial and prey niche axes, and showed that Sunda clouded leopards, bay cats, Catopuma badia, and marbled cats, Pardofelis marmorata exhibited broad scale avoidance of disturbed habitats but varied in their selection of optimal foraging habitat at fine scales. Conversely, leopard cats, Prionailurus bengalensis, were associated with forest disturbance and likely benefit from such changes. I developed some of the first estimates of population density for Sunda clouded leopards and the first such data for marbled cats. The results are discussed in the context of the conservation of these felids on Borneo.

The ancient continent of Sahul, encompassing Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania, contains some of the earliest archaeological evidence for humans outside of Africa, dating back to at least 50 thousand years ago (kya). New Guinea was also one of the sites were humans developed agriculture in the last 10 thousand years. Despite the importance of this part of the world to the history of humanity outside Africa, little is known about the population history of the people living here. In this thesis I present population-genetic studies using whole-genome sequencing and genotype array datasets from more than 500 indigenous individuals from Australia and New Guinea, as well as initial work on large-scale sequencing of other, worldwide, human populations in the Human Genome Diversity Project panel. Other than recent admixture after European colonization of Australia, and Southeast Asian ad- mixture in the lowlands of New Guinea in the last few millennia, the populations of Sahul appear to have been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence ∼50 kya. There is no evidence for South Asian gene flow to Australia, as previously suggested, and the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) have remained unaffected by non-New Guinean gene flow until the present day. Despite Sahul being a single connected landmass until ∼8 kya, different groups across Australia are nearly equally related to Papuans, and vice versa, and the two appear to have separated genetically already ∼30 kya. In PNG, all highlanders strikingly appear to form a clade relative to lowlanders, and population structure seems to have been reshaped, with major population size increases, on the same timescale as the spread of agriculture. However, present- day genetic differentiation between groups is much stronger in PNG than in other parts of the world that have also transitioned to agriculture, demonstrating that such a lifestyle change does not necessarily lead to genetic homogenization. The results presented here provide detailed insights into the population history of Sahul, and sug- gests that its history can serve as an independent source of evidence for understanding human evolutionary trajectories, including the relationships between genetics, lifestyle, languages and culture.

A dissertation ... giving details of problems and methods of obtaining statistics of the more important demographic aspects of the African Negroid populations, that is the size of a population, its sex and age distribution, migration movements, deaths and rates of increase.

Changes in climate shape biological populations. They can alter spatial distributions, the timing of life history events, and even the species themselves. We are now experiencing a period of rapid directional climate change, alongside seasonal fluctuations. This thesis investigates temporal changes in life history events, phenology, as a climate response. I explore the causes and population level consequences of change in breeding phenology of two wild bird populations from Wytham Woods, UK. I test how great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) achieve temporal synchrony between the peak demands of their breeding and the peak abundance of their prey species (winter moth caterpillars - Operophtera brumata) in an inter-annually variable environment. I demonstrate great tit (Parus major) incubation behaviour fine-tunes the timing of hatching in response to ambient temperatures right up until hatching (Chapter two). Temperatures within the nest box, however, appear to play little role in the breeding phenology of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) (Chapter two). I discuss the merits and limitations of statistical approaches for cue identification (Chapter six), finding the method and time period of data used both affect the cue identified and predictive accuracy. The second part of this thesis explores the influence of a directionally changing environment on great tit phenology. I use an integral projection model (IPM) to predict population dynamics over the 21^st century, showing that if the cues used by both interacting species change sufficiently closely, temporal synchrony can be maintained through both phenotypic plasticity and micro-evolution (Chapter 5). However, if the cues diverge mismatch will arise (Chapter 5) causing population declines when certain thresholds are passed (Chapter 4). This work contributes to understanding how phenological synchrony is achieved, how it might change in the future, and its population impacts. In Wytham Woods it appears that great tits have a great deal of flexibility in multiple components of their breeding cycle, allowing them to retain synchrony with their caterpillar prey in a fluctuating environment. These birds are relatively resilient to negative phenological impacts from climate change. Only if the cues used by the predator and prey completely diverge do we predict consistent declines in population size during this century.