The Swedish Red Cross (SRK) plays an important humanitarian role by selling donated clothes in order to collect more money to help people in need. An extended network of 251 second-hand stores is built nationwide, where donors leave their clothes and buyers can buy them at competitive prices. However, an amount of these clothes remain unsold and ends up being shipped to textile recycling centers. The organization plans to build some Regional Sorting Facilities, where a careful sorting will take place and the clothes will be stored, until they will be redistributed to other stores within thecountry.This project aims to find the optimal number and location of these facilities in a way that the transportation cost from stores to facilities is minimized. SRKs Logistics Department operationalizes this aim to the following objective: place a minimum number of facilities such that at least 50% of the stores or 50% of the produced revenues are reached in less than 90 minutes of driving time. Thus, modern GIS software is used in a Location-Allocation analysis to solve the p-median problem. The core of the methodology in this thesis is the well known Vertex Substitution heuristic algorithm (Teitz & Bart).Empirical evaluations of seven (7) scenarios comprised of optimally placing an increasing number of facilities from one (1) to seven (7) reveal that five (5) facilities is sufficient to meet the operational objective with the minimal number of resources/facilities. The solutions for all scenarios are analyzed in terms of statistics (Key Performance Indicators) and are illustrated on maps.

No description available.

The Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a rare member of the seabird family Alcidae that breeds in coastal areas of Alaska and Beringian Russia. The species belongs to the genus Brachyramphus, an unusual seabird taxon in which all three extant species nest non-colonially, situating their nests up to 75 km inland from coastal marine waters. This nesting strategy is different from that of most seabird species, which tend to nest colonially on remote islands or sea cliffs, where terrestrial predators are generally absent or cannot easily access nests. Within the genus Brachyramphus, Kittlitz's murrelet is notable because a majority of the global population appears to nest on the surface of the ground in rocky alpine habitat near inland or tidewater glaciers, foraging in adjacent marine waters influenced by glacial outflows. The unusual nesting habits of Kittlitz's murrelet have made the study of its nesting ecology difficult, and gaps therefore exist in our understanding of the species' breeding biology. Kittlitz's murrelet populations have declined substantially in core areas of its range, causing the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate the species as a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. A better understanding of Kittlitz's murrelet nesting ecology is crucial for determining potential causes of these declines and for future management of the species. To this end, I studied Kittlitz's murrelet breeding ecology and nest site selection during 2008-2011 on Kodiak Island, Alaska, in an unglaciated area that was recently found to have large numbers of accessible nests. I and my colleagues found 53 active Kittlitz's murrelet nests in inland scree-dominated habitats and placed remote, motion-sensing cameras at 33 nests. Adults exchanged incubation duties at the nest every 24 or 48 h, almost exclusively during early morning twilight. Following hatching of eggs, parents provisioned their single nestling with an average of 3.9 to 4.8 fish per day, depending on the year. Parental visits to the nest during chick-rearing occurred primarily after sunrise in the early to mid-morning hours, and during evening twilight. Fish were delivered singly to the chick, and Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus), a high-lipid forage fish, accounted for about 92% of all identifiable chick meal deliveries. Chick growth rates were high relative to confamilial species, consistent with the high quality of chick diets; the logistic growth rate constant (K) was 0.291, greater than that for any other semi-precocial alcid. Chicks fledged an average of 24.8 d after hatching and asymptotic chick body mass averaged about 135.5 g, approximately 58% of adult body mass. Age at fledging, asymptotic chick body mass (% adult mass), and the number of meal deliveries required to fledge a chick were all lower than or as low as any other species of semi-precocial alcid. The average estimated nest survival rate during 2008-2011 was 0.093 (95% CI = 0.01–0.30), which is extremely low compared to other species in the family Alcidae, and is almost certainly insufficient to sustain a stable population. The primary causes of nest failure were depredation (47% of total nest fates), mostly by red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), and unexplained nestling mortality on the nest (21% of nest fates). Saxitoxin and/or pathogenic endoparasite burdens were observed in five of six necropsied chick carcasses, suggesting possible causes for chick mortality not directly attributable to predation. Habitat characteristics of Kittlitz's murrelet nest sites differed significantly from unused sites at several scales. At a small scale (within 5 m of the nest), nest sites had a lower percent coverage of vegetation and higher percent coverage of intermediate-sized rocks (5–30 cm diameter), compared to randomly selected unused sites. Nest sites were also located on steeper, more north-facing slopes compared to randomly selected sites. Nest sites also had a lower percent coverage of vegetation than randomly-selected sites at larger scales (within 25 m and 50 m of the nest site). Nest sites were located significantly farther from the edge of densely-vegetated habitats than random sites. There was no evidence that nest sites were different from randomly-selected sites in terms of elevation, proximity to ridgelines, or proximity to the open ocean, although a low degree of variation within the study area for these habitat characteristics may have precluded detection of potential differences. Nest survival rates did not co-vary with slope, percent vegetation coverage, distance from vegetated edges, or percent cover of intermediate-sized rocks; however, this result may be an artifact of a limited sample size. The results of this thesis will provide managers with a better understanding of the factors that may limit Kittlitz's murrelet nesting success, such as nest predation and forage fish availability, as well as factors that may influence the quality and distribution of Kittlitz’s murrelet nesting habitat in the future, given on-going and progressive climate change. / Graduation date: 2013

Infrastructure—communications, energy, transport, waste, and water networks—is critical for economic activity and social well-being. Practitioners, politicians, and economists advocate high levels of investment in infrastructure under the rubric of 'planning for growth' (or the 'push' paradigm). This paradigm relies on complex public-private arrangements in the name of public interest. These seemingly reasonable arrangements are, however, not delivering their promise. Evidence shows that the needs of infrastructure users in rich and poor countries are not being met, many private providers of infrastructure earn rich returns, assets are rarely built in time or on budget, and there is tremendous waste in the operation of many infrastructure industries. No other sector could survive the profligacy and slack common in infrastructure. I distil the following primary propositions of the accepted wisdom, which is inspired by mainstream economics: First, infrastructure assets necessarily entail high sunk costs and large economies of scale. Consequently, assets last for very long periods of time, and they cannot be readily moved. Second, infrastructure outputs are homogeneous. Third, one network fits all users (large and small). Fourth, infrastructure users, even large ones, are likely to have weak bargaining power in procurement of infrastructure outputs. I challenge these four propositions of the conventional wisdom by putting forward alternative hypotheses. First, instead of being monolithic and costly, infrastructures can be assembled (and disassembled) as flexible modules for specific users in specific places. Drawing on option pricing theory in quantitative finance, I recast infrastructures as 'portfolios of real options'. Second, infrastructure outputs are, in fact, heterogeneous and differentiated services. Third, one infrastructure network cannot fit all users, either today or in the future. Users are remarkably heterogeneous, not only in terms of unique user preferences but also in terms of spatial location. Infrastructure networks need to evolve in tandem with user needs or risk spatial, temporal, and relational obsolescence. Finally, users, large and small, are adept at exerting strong bargaining power in procuring infrastructure both prior to and after rendering durable and immobile investments. Users also strategically deploy intermediaries, e.g. futures and Over-the-Counter (OTC) exchanges, and real estate developers, to negotiate private contracts for infrastructure services. These findings are supported by two case studies. The first case study details the process by which ThyssenKrupp, a large steel company, bargained for its infrastructure by locating to a manufacturing site in the U.S. The second case study focuses on residents of Lavasa, one of the largest property developments in India. Here, small users of infrastructure exert strong bargaining power with the aid of intermediaries—the real estate developer and the property asset manager. New departures in infrastructure provision are urgently needed at a practical level. Poor investments rendered today—particularly if costly, inflexible, and durable—will suffocate tomorrow’s possibilities. The spatial, temporal, and relational approach proposed in this dissertation begins to offer an alternative account of how tomorrow can be modularly shaped.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:29:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5249.pdf: 4090294 bytes, checksum: 3e43d0f22c6895a3bc1866edf5eafc88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-29 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Nesting is a critical step on bird s life cycle, since nest predation is high all over the world. Predation influences the population dynamics, the community structure and the life history of birds. Birds evolved anti-predatory strategies, which include selection of safer places for nesting. Here we intent to: (i) analyze habitat characteristics selected by adults, and (ii) evaluate the influence of these elements on nests success, and fitness consequences to individuals. We studied the Lesser Elaenia (Elaenia chiriquensis), a migratory bird that breeds in Brazilian Savannas. We conducted the study between 2010 e 2011 in a 100 ha area in the Estação Ecológica de Itirapina, a protected area in São Paulo state, were the Lesser Elaenia is abundant along its breeding season (September to December). We analyzed habitat selection comparing characteristics of used and available patches. We made all tests using chi-square tests, analysis of variance, paired t-tests and permutation tests. We used program MARK to evaluate the influence of all of the parameters on nests success. We created a set of models that included temporal and a set of environmental parameters and used Akaike s Information Criterion to evaluate the adjustment of each model to our data. Adults apparently selected anemochoric plants, with larger crowns and more lichen flakes on stalks, but did not show preference for specific plant species. Individuals also preferred patches with high plant density and high density of Aspidosperma tomentosum, the most used plant as nest substrate. Contrary of our expectations, none of these characteristics influenced nests success. However, some parameters not evaluated for selection, influenced the offspring survival. Vegetation density on nest sites was the most important variable, probably because it helps concealing nests and parental activities. Nest age and time along the breeding season were also important elements and both reduced nests success. Nest predation, habitat selection, and their consequences to the fitness are complex and are related to many variables. The present study contributed with the knowledge on this subject in tropical areas. / A nidificação é uma etapa crítica no ciclo de vida das aves, uma vez que a predação de ninhos é alta em todo o globo. Ela exerce influência na dinâmica das populações, estrutura das comunidades e evolução da história de vida do grupo. Diante disso, evoluíram estratégias antipredação, entre elas, a seleção de hábitats seguros para a nidificação pelos adultos. Assim, nesse trabalho tivemos como objetivos principais (i) conhecer os elementos do hábitat de nidificação selecionados pelos adultos e (ii) avaliar a influência desses elementos no sucesso dos ninhos, de forma a conhecer o valor adaptativo das escolhas dos adultos. Trabalhamos com Elaenia chiriquensis, um Passeriforme migratório que nidifica em áreas de Cerrado no Brasil. Conduzimos o estudo entre 2010 e 2011, em uma área de 100 ha na Estação Ecológica de Itirapina, unidade de conservação localizada no interior paulista, em que E. chiriquensis é abundante na estação reprodutiva (setembro a dezembro). Fizemos as análises de seleção do hábitat de nidificação comparando características das manchas de nidificação às manchas nas imediações, disponíveis aos casais. Usamos testes de Qui- Quadrado, análises de variância (ANOVAs), testes de permutação e testes-t pareados para as variáveis amostradas. Para avaliarmos a influência dessas e de outras características, relacionadas aos ninhos, na sobrevivência da prole, usamos o programa MARK. Criamos modelos que incluíam variáveis temporais e nossas variáveis de interesse e avaliamos, usando o critério de informação de Akaike, o ajuste dos modelos ao nosso conjunto de dados. Os adultos aparentemente selecionaram vegetais anemocóricos, com copa de tamanho maior e maior abundância de liquens nos caules como substrato dos ninhos, mas não exibiram preferência pelas espécies usadas como substrato. Elaenia chiriquensis também mostrou preferência por locais com alta densidade de vegetação lenhosa e alta abundância de Aspidosperma tomentosum, a espécie vegetal mais usada como substrato dos ninhos. Contrariando nossas expectativas, nenhuma dessas características teve influência no sucesso dos ninhos. No entanto, características relacionadas aos ninhos, e que não foram avaliadas quanto à seleção, tiveram influência na sobrevivência da prole. A mais importante delas foi a densidade de vegetação nos sítios de nidificação, que provavelmente reduz as chances de encontros com predadores e oculta a atividade dos adultos. A idade dos ninhos e a influência do tempo ao longo das estações também foram variáveis de peso na explicação dos dados e ambos reduziram as chances de sucesso dos ninhos. A predação de ninhos, a seleção do hábitat de nidificação e as consequências para o fitness dos indivíduos são assuntos de grande complexidade biológica e envolvem diversas variáveis. O presente estudo contribui com o conhecimento acerca do assunto em áreas tropicais.

Submitted by Franciele Moreira (francielemoreyra@gmail.com) on 2017-08-17T18:33:27Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertaçao - Lara de Macedo Monteiro - 2017.pdf: 68300760 bytes, checksum: ba7fbce35b9ab3e46180337ae3129580 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-08-18T12:02:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertaçao - Lara de Macedo Monteiro - 2017.pdf: 68300760 bytes, checksum: ba7fbce35b9ab3e46180337ae3129580 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-18T12:02:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertaçao - Lara de Macedo Monteiro - 2017.pdf: 68300760 bytes, checksum: ba7fbce35b9ab3e46180337ae3129580 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Earth is facing the highest species' extinction rates of its history, and humans are the major stressar. Adding up to this biodiversity crisis, species-rich areas, which also coincide with areas highly transformed by humans (e.g. biodiversity hotspots), are poorly covered by protected areas. ln Brazil this reality is not different. Responsible for harbouring a third of all plant species already classified under a threat category (n= 645), the Brazilian Cerrado has only 8.3% of its area legally protected. ln this biorne, the campos rupestres, a mountaintop grassland ecosystem, stands out for its high number of threatened species currently underrepresented in conservation strategies. ln chapter 1, we aimed at indicating priority areas to secure protection of the threatened plant species from the southern Espinhaço mountains, a region that encampasses large areas of campos rupestres. We found that it is possible to protect, on average, more than 25% of the threatened species' ranges, avoiding sites with extensive use for farming and mining and favouring areas with intensive fire frequency by constraining the management to a relatively small area of only 17% of the region. Conservation plans such as these proposed for campos rupestres represent important opportunities to fulfil the gap existent between research and implementation. However, we do not rule out the need for increasing sophisticated tools that account for the consequences of complex processes threatening biodiversity in the near future ( e.g. clima te change and deforestation) and especially the need for predictive and realistic conservation strategies that anticipate and mitigate their negative effects. Unfortunately, until now we have been relying species protection to a residual system of PAs that provide minimal conservation impact. Thus, in chapter 2 we aimed to select spatial conservation priorites that minimize the risk of deforestation while retaining sites with high plant biodiversity value threatened from climate change in the Brazilian Cerrado. We simulated two ways of spacing out priorities for conservation actions ("time-step action" and "acting now''), and two methods of setting priorities: one that minimizes expected habitat conversion and prioritizes high valuable sites to plant biodiversity at risk from climate change (maximum conservation impact) and another that prioritizes sites based only on their value for plant biodiversity at risk from climate change, regardless their vulnerability to land conversion ("usual approach''). We found that although the scenarios that maximize conservation impact avoided higher amounts of vegetation loss, they prevented least species' range loss. Moreover, the acting now scenarios always performed better in terms of range loss avoided compared to the time-step scenarios under the sarne method of prioritization. Finally, we believe that planning for vegetation loss avoidance is a more conservative strategy because vegetation information is less subjective to any source of bias and is a better surrogate for general biodiversity. We also recommend that acting as soon as possible is always the best strategy to guarantee biodiversity conservation in the Cerrado. / A Terra vem enfrentando as maiores taxas de extinção de espécies de sua história, e os humanos são a maior causa disso. Além da crise de biodiversidade, áreas ricas em espécies, que, por sua vez, coincidem com locais sob alta influência de atividades humanas (ex: hotspots de biodiversidade), são pouco representadas por Unidades de Conservação. No Brasil, essa realidade não é diferente. Responsável por abrigar um terço de todas as espécies de plantas já classificadas sob uma das categorias de ameaça (n=645), o Cerrado brasileiro possui somente 8.3% de sua área legalmente protegida. Nesse biorna, o ecossistema de campos rupestres destaca-se pelo seu alto número de espécies ameaçadas atualmente subrepresentadas em estratégias de conservação. No capítulo 1, nosso objetivo foi indicar áreas prioritárias para assegurar a proteção de espécies ameaçadas de plantas da Serra do Espinhaço Meridional, uma região que abrange grandes trechos de campos rupestres. Nós encontramos que é possível proteger, em média, mais de 25% da distribuição das espécies ameaçadas restringindo o manejo a uma área relativamente pequena de apenas 17% da região e evitando locais de uso extensivo do solo para agropecuária e mineração e favorecendo locais com alta ocorrência de queimadas. Planos de conservação como esse proposto para campos rupestres representam importantes oportunidades para preencher a lacuna existente entre pesquisa e implementação. No entanto, nós não descartamos a necessidade de ferramentas mais sofisticadas que considerem as consequências dos complexos processos que ameaçam a biodiversidade em um futuro próximo ( ex: mudanças climáticas e desmatamento) e, especialmente, a necessidade de estratégias de conservação preditivas e realistas que antecipem e mitiguem seus efeitos negativos. Infelizmente, até agora a proteção das espécies tem se restringido a um sistema residual de unidades de conservação de baixo impacto para a conservação. Portanto, no capítulo 2 nosso objetivo foi selecionar espacialmente locais de alto valor para a biodiversidade de plantas ameaçadas em um cenário de mudanças climáticas e ao mesmo tempo minimizar o risco de conversão da vegetação desses locais. Nós simulamos duas formas de particionar as ações de conservação ("ação em intervalos de tempo" e "agir agora") e dois métodos de estabelecer prioridades: um que minimiza a conversão de hábitat esperada e prioriza locais altamente importantes para a biodiversidade de plantas ameaçadas em um cenário de mudanças climáticas ("máximo impacto da conservação") e outro que prioriza locais baseando-se somente no seu valor para a biodiversidade de plantas ameaçadas em um cenário de mudanças climáticas, independentemente de sua vulnerabilidade ao desmatamento ("abordagem habitual''). Nós encontramos que, embora os cenários que maximizem o impacto da conservação tenham evitado maiores perdas de vegetação, eles evitaram uma menor perda no tamanho médio da distribuição das espécies comparado às abordagens habituais. Além disso, constatamos que os cenários "agir agora" tiveram um melhor desempenho em termos de perda de distribuição evitada comparado aos cenários de implementação sequencial de ações considerando um mesmo método de priorização. Finalmente, nós acreditamos que planejar para evitar perda de vegetação é uma estratégia mais segura, porque a informação sobre vegetação é menos sujeita a qualquer viés e é um melhor indicador para biodiversidade em geral. Também recomendamos que agir o quanto antes é sempre a melhor estratégia para garantir a conservação da biodiversidade no Cerrado.

Dumping of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated due to anthropogenic activities in any barren land or out fields causes severe hazards to human populations, ecosystems and the environment. In order to avoid this, it is required to design landfills in an engineered and scientific manner. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the behaviour of landfills over a period of time, to design landfills for site specific conditions. In this thesis such an attempt is made to evaluate performance of conventional landfill system using a large scale anaerobic reactor in the laboratory. The performance of the containment (bottom liner and final cover) systems is evaluated through numerical modelling and reliability based analysis. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is used to develop linear regression models. Influence of various parameters and their uncertainty on the reliability of the containment systems are studied for various scenarios and conditions. Reliability assessment of containment systems play a decisive role in taking remedial measures in order to reduce its adverse affects on the environment and human health in the vicinity of landfill sites. On the other hand, pre-assessment of risk guides the engineers, planners and decision makers in achieving the goal of sustainable solid waste management as well as safe landfills. The thesis also includes assessment of vulnerability of groundwater to contamination, identification and ranking of suitable sites for municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in the Bengaluru district, using remote sensing and Geographic information system (GIS) integrated with analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a multi criteria decision making tool. The study considers various land use, geological, hydrogeological and environmental factors as criteria. As a result, two most suitable locations are identified around the Bengaluru city and their descriptions are provided. Further, reliability analysis of the suitability of sites is evaluated considering criteria as random variables. The proposed reliability based approach helps the decision makers and planners to choose site locations having low probability of environmental pollution. The provided methods in the thesis can be effectively used for engineered design of landfills.

Planning is of vital importance for the development urban areas to facilitate sustainable economic growth and social functions. The traditional, manual ways of planning that depend on biophysical data and use a hierarchical approach are no longer appropriate for site choice since information is rapidly updated today. Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) has been used for about two decades with geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze spatial problems. GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) provides tools for assessing the inherent tradeoffs and mechanisms for incorporating and documenting the value judgments of interest groups and decision makers and is thus a more reasonable and scientific way for site selection to development. Guangzhou, the study area of this paper, is one of the fastest developing and largest cities located in Southern China. This research used the GIS-based MCDA approaches to find the appropriate sites for residential areas in Guangzhou. Satellite images, DEM and several thematic maps of Guangzhou were used in this research. Using different methods and technologies, the data were used to create constraint and factor maps for multi-criteria analysis. After building the MCA model, the weights for multi-criteria analysis were obtained through an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) by comparing the importance of every two factors. Finally, a suitability map for housing development was generated. The result indicates that with the help of GIS and remote sensing technologies, the process of site selection and urban planning can be done in a more effective and scientific way. The limitation and future perspective of GIS based MCDA methods are discussed.

Abstract Anthropogenic climate change and habitat loss and deterioration affect populations worldwide. Climate warming has changed phenologies of many species across trophic levels. Some predator populations now experience temporal mismatches with their prey, as timings of peak prey abundance and of the predator’s highest food demands no longer meet. The temporal mismatch hypothesis suggests that the population’s recruitment rate is related to its degree of synchrony with the food resources needed to feed offspring. However, species’ and populations’ responses to climate warming differ. Human land use alters and destroys habitats of countless species. For example, many boreal forest bird populations have declined, presumably due to intensive forestry. It has decreased the amount of dead wood, causing a threat to saproxylic species. Identification of the key characteristics of high-quality habitats is essential for conservation planning and for developing sustainable forestry. As individuals are suspected to settle in habitats that maximize their fitness, analysis of nest site selection can be used to identify the key habitats. My dissertation concerns the impacts of climate change and habitat deterioration on boreal populations. I use hole-nesting passerines as model species. By utilizing long-term data I show that breeding phenologies of Parus major and Poecile montanus, but not of Cyanistes caeruleus, have shifted earlier. Also, the timing of the food peak has advanced, improving the synchrony between P. montanus and caterpillars. In P. major and C. caeruleus, synchrony has remained good. However, the positive effect of good synchrony on breeding success seems to be conditional, arising only in certain circumstances, such as in years of high caterpillar abundance. I suggest that in boreal populations temperature affects timing of breeding mostly as a proximate factor. The availability of standing decaying trees used for nesting sites was the most important habitat characteristic determining the nest site selection of P. montanus. Remote sensing data alone was insufficient to produce reliable models, as the ecologically important small-scale factor can only be determined by direct field surveys. Omission of forest thinning in selected forest sites would ensure the continuous availability of decaying wood with positive influence on biodiversity in managed forests. / Tiivistelmä Ihmisen aiheuttama habitaattien katoaminen ja huononeminen sekä ilmastonmuutos vaikuttavat populaatioihin kaikkialla maailmassa. Ilmaston lämpeneminen on muuttanut monien lajien fenologioita eri trofiatasoilla. Osalla saalistajalajien populaatioista suurin ravinnontarve ei enää ajoitu samaan aikaan saaliin runsaushuipun kanssa. Ajoituksen eriaikaisuus -hypoteesin mukaan todennäköisyys populaatioon rekrytoitumiselle riippuu synkronian asteesta saaliin kanssa. Ilmaston lämpenemisen vaikutuksissa lajeihin ja populaatioihin on kuitenkin vaihtelua. Ihmisen maankäyttö muuttaa ja tuhoaa lukuisien lajien elinympäristöjä. Esimerkiksi useiden boreaalisten metsien lintupopulaatioiden pienentymistä on selitetty intensiivisellä metsätaloudella. Lahopuun määrä metsissä on vähentynyt, mikä on uhka lahopuusta riippuvaisille lajeille. Korkealaatuisten habitaattien keskeisten piirteiden tunnistaminen on tärkeää luonnonsuojelun ja kestävän metsätalouden suunnittelulle. Koska yksilöiden oletetaan valitsevan niiden kelpoisuutta maksimoivia elinympäristöjä, pesäpaikanvalinta-analyysiä voidaan käyttää tärkeiden habitaattipiirteiden tunnistamiseen. Tarkastelen väitöskirjassani ilmastonmuutoksen ja habitaattien laadun vaikutuksia boreaalisiin populaatioihin. Mallilajeina käytän koloissa pesiviä varpuslintuja. Hyödyntämällä pitkäaikaisaineistoja osoitan, että lisääntymisen ajoittuminen on aikaistunut tali- ja hömötiaisella, mutta ei sinitiaisella. Myös ravintohuippu on aikaistunut, mikä on parantanut synkroniaa hömötiaisen ja sen pääasiallisen ravinnon eli toukkien välillä. Tali- ja sinitiaisella synkronia on pysynyt hyvänä. Hyvän synkronian myönteinen vaikutus lisääntymismenestykseen vaikuttaa kuitenkin ehdolliselta: se tulee esiin vain tietyissä olosuhteissa, kuten vuosina jolloin toukkia on runsaasti. Kevään lämpötilat näyttävät vaikuttavan pesinnän ajoittumiseen erityisesti proksimaattisena tekijänä. Pesäpaikkoina toimivien seisovien lahopuiden määrä on tärkein hömötiaisen pesäpaikanvalintaa määräävä tekijä. Kaukokartoitusaineisto yksinään ei riitä luotettavien mallien tuottamiseen, sillä ekologisesti tärkeät pienen skaalan tekijät voidaan kartoittaa vain suorin maastomittauksin. Metsien harventamatta jättäminen valituilla laikuilla turvaisi lahopuun jatkuvan saatavuuden, mikä vaikuttaisi myönteisesti talousmetsien biodiversiteettiin.

Abstract Animals need information about local conditions to make optimal fitness-enhancing decisions such as where to breed. Information can be acquired by personal sampling of the environment, but it can also be acquired from other individuals. The latter is termed social information use. Social information use has gained a lot of attention in modern ecology because it affects principal ecological phenomena such as animal distribution and resource use. Social information use is not restricted to obviously cognitive mammals and birds but is also found in e.g. reptiles, fish and insects. Social information use studies have thus far been concentrated on situations with one social information user and one (often the same) source species. The community-wide consequences of social information use have almost exclusively been considered in theoretical studies. In this thesis, I studied empirically social information use in the nest site selection within and between species in a cavity-nesting bird community consisting of the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), the great tit (Parus major) and the blue tit (P. caeruleus). I studied social information use on two time scales: social information gathered just before a breeding attempt, and social information gathered already during the previous breeding season for the following year’s breeding attempt. I used experiments in which different white geometric symbols represented nest site choices of earlier settled tutors and empty nest boxes, and I observed the symbol choices of later-breeding individuals. The symbol approach eradicates bias from innate and learned preferences enabling strong inference. My results demonstrate that collared flycatchers use social information from both con- and heterospecific tutors in different situations in a flexible manner. Hence, social information use seems to be context-dependent. Furthermore, I show that great tits avoid choosing nest site characteristics which were associated with either con- or heterospecifics nests the previous year and prefer symbols which depicted an empty nest box the previous year, probably to avoid nest ectoparasites. I also show that in great tits the male has greater influence on nest site selection than previously assumed even though the female builds the nest. My thesis deepens our understanding about the complexity of social information use and highlights its significance in future ecological research. / Tiivistelmä Eläimet tarvitsevat informaatiota paikallisista olosuhteista tehdäkseen edullisia päätöksiä esimerkiksi siitä, missä lisääntyä. Informaatiota voidaan hankkia tutkimalla ympäristöä itse, mutta sitä voidaan hankkia myös muilta yksilöiltä. Jälkimmäistä kutsutaan sosiaaliseksi informaatioksi. Eläinten sosiaalisen informaation käyttö on saavuttanut viime aikoina paljon huomiota ekologisessa tutkimuksessa, koska se vaikuttaa tärkeisiin ekologisiin ilmiöihin, kuten eläinten levinneisyyteen ja resurssien käyttöön. Sosiaalinen informaation käyttö ei rajoitu vain nisäkkäisiin ja lintuihin, vaan sitä on havaittu myös esimerkiksi matelijoilla, kaloilla ja hyönteisillä. Sosiaalisen informaation käyttöä on tutkittu lähes yksinomaan lajien sisällä tai käyttäen ainoastaan yhtä sosiaalisen informaation lähdelajia. Yhteisötason vaikutuksia on pohdittu miltei pelkästään teoreettisissa tutkimuksissa. Tässä väitöskirjatyössä tutkin kokeellisesti sosiaalisen informaation käyttöä pesäpaikan valinnassa lajin sisällä ja lajien välillä kolopesivien lintujen yhteisössä sepelsiepolla (Ficedula albicollis), talitiaisella (Parus major) ja sinitiaisella (P. caeruleus). Otin tutkimuksissani huomioon kaksi aikatasoa: tutkin juuri ennen pesimisyritystä kerätyn sekä jo edellisen lisääntymiskauden aikana seuraavan vuoden pesintää varten hankitun sosiaalisen informaation käyttöä. Kokeissani käytin linnunpönttöihin kiinnitettyjä erilaisia valkoisia geometrisia symboleita, jotka edustivat aiemmin pesinnän aloittaneiden lintujen eli tuutoreiden pesäpaikanvalintoja. Seurasin tämän jälkeen myöhemmin pesimään saapuvien parien symbolivalintoja. Tulosteni perusteella sepelsiepot hankkivat sosiaalista informaatiota sekä lajitovereiltaan että tiaisilta joustavasti eri tilanteissa. Lisäksi osoitan, että talitiaiset välttävät valitsemasta pesäpaikkoja, jotka olivat asuttuina edellisenä vuonna, ja suosivat sellaisia pesäpaikkoja, joissa ei pesitty edellisenä vuonna - todennäköisesti välttääkseen kirppuja ja muita pesäloisia. Osoitan myös, että talitiaiskoirailla on suurempi vaikutus pesäpaikan valintaan kuin aikaisemmin on oletettu, vaikka naaraat rakentavat pesän. Väitöskirjatyöni syventää käsitystämme sosiaalisen informaation käytön monitahoisuudesta eläinkunnassa ja korostaa sen merkitystä ekologisessa tutkimuksessa.