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A survey of the localised distribution of Culicoides obsoletus and Culicoides pulicaris was performed on a dairy and sheep farm in south-west England. Culicoides obsoletus and C. pulicaris have both been confirmed as vector species for the transmission of bluetongue virus in Europe. Sampling was done using motorised black-light suction insect traps. Seventeen traps were set around the farmyard and animal housing and five traps were set in varying pasture locations. Sampling was carried out on eight occasions between mid-September and mid-October 2008. The trapped Culicoides were counted, speciated, sexed and the reproductive stages of the females were recorded. Culicoides obsoletus, C. chiopterus, C. scoticus, C. dewulfi and C. pulicaris (group) were identified during the study. The trap sites were selected to examine the Culicoides populations associated with a wide range of microclimates. The selected sites included manure stores; forage feed stores; yard areas and sites surrounding as well as inside the animal housing. Comparisons were made between Culicoides numbers trapped from different directional sides of the animal buildings and the numbers found inside compared to numbers found outside the buildings. Culicoides numbers collected from the animal areas were compared to the non-animal areas and to the manure and forage sites. The field sites consisted of a marsh area; stream; water trough; open field site and a group of trees in a hedge field boundary. Culiccompared catch sizes from the field trap sites were compared to each other and to the farm holding sites. The highest number of Culicoides trapped were at the farm holding sites, apart from one catch on one occasion from a single field site. Weather changes, particularly high wind speeds with direction changes appeared to reduce the catch sizes during some of the trapping occasions. A greater number of C. obsoletus were collected from both the farm and field sites although a higher relative proportion of C. pulicaris was collected from the field sites. Of the C. obsoletus group, C. dewulfi was only found in farm holding catches, not at any of the field sites. The remaining three sibling species were found in both the farm and field catches. Relatively high numbers of Culicoides were found within the animal housing, with external numbers apparently influencing those found within the housing. An increase in numbers of Culicoides trapped inside the buildings may have been associated with a small shed size and possibly with straw bedding. A relative shift in the Culicoides population into the buildings appeared associated with prolonged high wind speeds. Widely varying female life stages found at all of the farm trap sites suggested possible dispersal of the Culicoides populations between these sites. Populations appeared to remain localised around the farm holding, but possibly dispersed over greater distances from the pasture locations. A wide distribution of breeding sites was suspected around the farm holding. A ranking system was used to identify specific areas associated with increased numbers of female Culicoides collected from these sites. Three sites surrounding a straw bedded cow shed were highlighted as higher risk Culicoides exposure sites; two sites adjacent to a cubicle shed; inside the calf housing; the manure store area and the silage store area. A field site with trees in a hedge boundary was the only high-risk field site identified. Multilevel modelling was used to examine for possible factors influencing Culicoides numbers. Factors examined included wind, temperature and humidity variables; distance from manure, forage, water and trees and livestock variables such as: time of contact, time since contact and distance from sheep and cattle. The model suggested wind speed at light trap setting and an increased time since contact with cattle both appeared significantly associated with reduced Culicoides numbers. Culicoides obsoletus numbers also appeared significantly reduced with increasing distance from manure. From an on-farm risk assessment point of view the farm holding area of a dairy farm as a whole should generally be considered a high-risk site for Culicoides exposure and specific pasture sites can periodically become high exposure sites. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Veterinary Tropical Diseases / unrestricted

Purpose-built off-road cycling infrastructure represents a relatively new form of tourism and recreation product. Over the last decade, widespread development of these facilities has taken place in the UK, primarily within forest and woodland areas. The justification for developing these sites has largely centred on their ability to generate positive economic benefits for the tourism and leisure economy. In contrast to the focus on growth and investment, relatively little attention has been paid to understanding the extent to which off-road cycling benefits the tourism and leisure economy. Furthermore, even less is known about the visitor dimension. Developing a better understanding of these interrelated aspects forms the basis of this research. This study presents a dedicated method for critically examining the nexus between off-road cycling and the tourism and leisure economy. This relationship was investigated through the lens of the 1 South West Project, which has the purpose of developing the South West into a premier off-road cycling region. The research focuses on Haldon Forest Park located on the outskirts of Exeter, in Devon. The findings from the large scale questionnaire survey (n = 486) reveal that the off-road cycling facilities are valued highly by users and are regarded as an important regional asset for tourism and recreation. Furthermore, the site was found to attract a broad range of off-road cycling visitors, and have a significant interaction with the regional economy. Interviews conducted with off-road cyclists also identified an emotional connection between off-road cycling and the forest environment. Respondents also emphasised the importance of the informal and social aspects of the activity. The approach taken by this study has enabled the intersection between visitor expenditure and consumer behaviour at purpose-built off-road cycling sites to be explored in detail. This aspect has been largely ignored within the off-road cycling literature, which has failed to look beyond basic economic transactions and acknowledge the presence of visitor sub-groups. Using Cluster Analysis to address these limitations, this study was able to identify behavioural and economic variations among visitors, and from this produce a detailed typology of users at Haldon Forest Park. This information provides important baseline data for the 1 South West Project, and has important practical implications for the future management of the off-road cycling infrastructure and onsite facilities. Furthermore, this study makes a methodological contribution to the literature through its innovative use of Cluster Analysis, as part of a dual approach to examining the economic contribution of off-road cycling.

Achieving a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions has become a key challenge facing global society and its economies. Despite this, tourism policy and strategic planning rarely acknowledge carbon mitigation as a strategic objective and tourism as a sector is rarely recognised in low-carbon plans. This situation represents a substantial challenge, as tourism and travel have a high-carbon impact and carbon mitigation is hindered by lack of carbon data, and a continued drive for economic growth. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the effectiveness of carbon footprinting and scenario modelling to help examine the opportunities and challenges for implementing low-carbon tourism pathways in destinations, and to consider how the opportunities could be enabled. The 'REAP Tourism' footprint tool was used to investigate the carbon impact of visitors to destinations across South West England. The purpose was to estimate emissions, suggest a baseline footprint and offer alternative growth and mitigation scenarios of how tourism could more effectively reduce emissions. Through participatory workshops, evaluation questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, stakeholders identified the limitations and benefits of carbon modelling and the challenges and opportunities for a transition towards low-carbon tourism in destinations. The results demonstrated that the carbon footprint was a useful and informative indicator. The baseline data and scenarios provided a basis for constructive low-carbon dialogue with tourism stakeholders, which helped to challenge current thinking and facilitate the co-creation of ideas and potential interventions. A range of low-carbon opportunities and challenges were identified relating to the cultural, political and structural components of tourism governance. A conceptual low-carbon transition framework is proposed, to illustrate the opportunities. Stakeholder dialogue and debate, informed by quantitative and qualitative data, is central to the framework. Cultural, political and structural opportunities for change are also identified. Further investigation is needed to test the framework and examine the levels of influence and capabilities of different types of tourism stakeholders. The use of integrated environmental-economic indicators to inform national and local tourism policy and strategy, also require application. This thesis contributes to an emerging body of knowledge on the governance of low-carbon destinations, from a practical, methodological and conceptual basis.

It is now widely assumed that many artefacts found in the prehistoric archaeological record were not casually discarded as unwanted material but were deposited in features and contexts with structure and meaning. This appears to include saddle and rotary querns for they are often found whole and apparently still usable or, conversely, deliberately broken. Analysis of the structured deposition of querns in the south-west of England shows that they were deposited in features on both domestic and non-domestic sites. Furthermore, the location and state of the querns, together with the artefacts found in association with them, indicates that they were deposited with different levels and layers of meaning, even within the same type of feature. The deposition of querns appears to have pervaded all aspects of prehistoric life and death suggesting that they played a role above, but nevertheless related to, their prime task of milling. An exploration of the object biography of querns demonstrates the importance of what are often considered to be mundane tools to subsistence communities. Each quern has its own unique life history, its meaning and value determined by the reasons that gave cause for its manufacture, the material from which it was made, the use(s) to which it was put and who used it. However, all querns share points of commonality, related to their function as milling tools, their role as transformers of raw material(s) into usable products (s), their association with women and the production of food, and the movement of the upper stone. Through these, symbolical links can be made between querns and agricultural, human and building life cycles, gender relations and the turning of the heavens. The reason for a quern’s deposition in the archaeological record may have drawn upon one or more unique or common values.

Recent events such as the New Orleans floods and the Japanese tsunami of 2011 have highlighted the uncertainty in the quantification of the magnitude of natural hazards. The research undertaken here has focussed on the uncertainty in evaluating storm surge magnitudes based on a range of statistical techniques including the Generalised Extreme Value distribution, Joint Probability and Monte Carlo simulations. To support the evaluation of storm surge frequency magnitude relationships a unique hard copy observed sea level data set, recording hourly observations, was acquired and digitised for Devonport, Plymouth, creating a 40 year data set. In conjunction with Devonport data, Newlyn (1915-2012) tide gauge records were analysed, creating a data set of 2 million data points. The different statistical techniques analysed led to an uncertainty range of 0.4 m for a 1 in 250 year storm surge event, and 0.7 m for a 1 in 1000 storm surge event. This compares to a 0.5 m uncertainty range between the low and high prediction for sea level rise by 2100. The Geographical Information system modelling of the uncertainty indicated that for a 1 in 1000 year event the level uncertainty (0.7 m) led to an increase of 100% of buildings and 50% of total land affect. Within the study area of south-west England there are several critical structures including a nuclear licensed site. Incorporating the uncertainty in storm surge and wave height predictions indicated that the site would be potentially affected today with the combination of a 1 in 1000 year storm surge event coincident with a 1 in 1000 wave. In addition to the evaluation of frequency magnitude relations this study has identified several trends in the data set. Over the data period sea level rise is modelled as an exponential growth (0.0001mm/yr2), indicating the modelled sea level rise of 1.9 mm/yr and 2.2 mm/yr for Newlyn and Devonport, will potentially increase over the next century by a minimum of 0.2 m by 2100.The increase in storm frequency identified as part of this analysis has been equated to the rise in sea level, rather than an increase in the severity of storms, with decadal variations in the observed frequency, potentially linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation. The identification as part of this study of a significant uncertainty in the evaluation of storm surge frequency magnitude relationships has global significance in the evaluation of natural hazards. Guidance on the evaluation of external hazards currently does not adequately consider the effect of uncertainty; an uncertainty of 0.7 m identified within this study could potentially affect in the region of 500 million people worldwide living close to the coast.