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The study of aposematic coloration and mimicry has a long and distinguished history, and has stimulated scientific inquiry in areas as diverse as chemistry, evolution, ecology, and behavior. Yet, many questions regarding signal function and ecological dynamics remain unknown. This dissertation attempts to address some of these questions about how a visual warning signal functions and how the environment changes its efficacy. First, I evaluated the role of luminance contrast in aposematic signaling using milkweed bugs as model prey and Chinese mantids as model predators. Predators learned to avoid unpalatable prey sooner and remembered to avoid unpalatable prey for longer when the prey had higher luminance contrast with the background. These results help define what makes a visual signal conspicuous and designate the importance of high luminance contrast in the efficacy of a warning color signal. Another important characteristic of warning coloration is the reason for the advertisement. I was able to identify and quantify the toxic compounds in both the host plant and the viceroy butterfly, a putative aposematic insect. These results provide a chemical mechanism for previous research that demonstrated that the viceroy was unpalatable to avian predators. Next, I was able to test the role of geographic variation in host plant and viceroy chemical defense and how that variation compared with the local abundance of a mimicry co-model of the viceroy, the queen butterfly. The results indicated the viceroy was more chemically defended and more unpalatable in locations where the queen was at low abundances. This result suggests that mimicry evolves in a geographic mosaic of co-evolution. Finally, I used molecular phylogenetic approaches to reconstruct and test the evolution of mimicry in the North American admiral butterflies (Limenitis: Nymphalidae). One species, L. arthemis, evolved the black, pipevine swallowtail mimetic form but later reverted to the white-banded ancestral form. This character reversion is strongly correlated with the geographic absence of the model species and its host plant, not the mimics host plant distribution. These results support the idea that loss of model in a geographic area is not an evolutionary stopping point for a Batesian mimic.

Contingent Valuation (CV) methods are a primary tool in environmental economics to ascertain non-use or other values not observable through existing market mechanisms. Because common CV approaches typically rely on hypothetical answers from surveys in order to generate welfare estimates, these are often labelled stated preferences. Results from stated preference methods often diverge from those obtained when actual preference or behavior are involved. This divergence is commonly known as Hypothetical Bias (HB). This dissertation addresses HB as it applies to environmental applications. To begin, a meta-analysis using a sample of studies many times larger than previous works was performed. Its results identify which study protocols exacerbate HB, and which may mitigate it. Furthermore, the meta-analysis establishes the efficacy of some popular techniques to mitigate HB. The second essay focuses on understanding and addressing two important topics to environmental economics, distance decay and charismatic species conservation. These effects have not been investigated with respect to HB. We implement a field survey of monarch and viceroy butterfly conservation, creating survey treatment conditions involving both real payment and hypothetical scenarios in order to establish the extent of HB. The key finding is that while HB is present for both butterflies, HB in distance decay exists for monarchs. There is also additional HB for monarchs compared to viceroys, which we attribute to the former’s charisma. The final endeavor studies the usefulness of consequentiality, a relatively new tactic to reduce HB. Consequentiality is the degree to which respondents believe their answers may affect policy outcomes. Relying on the monarch field survey, we find that using a technique known as ex ante consequentiality may exacerbate HB. Another approach known as ex post consequentiality is more effective at reducing the extent of HB in the data. Lastly, some elements of the studies’ results showcase that HB is not always present and can also explain some of the mixed results found on the efficacy of HB mitigating methods reported in previous studies.

This dissertation offers a new interpretation of the middle decades of nineteenth-century Egypt, which were decisive in forming Egyptian modernity. This period is usually understood as merely the precursor to the direct colonial rule that followed. Instead, this dissertation argues that the reigns of Sa‘īd (1854-1863) and Ismā‘īl (1863-1879) were defined by Egypt’s unique legal status. During this period, Egypt was neither a sovereign state, nor directly ruled by the Ottoman Empire, nor annexable to any other empire. This peculiar legal status led to the emergence of Egypt as an object of “the universal.” This term is taken from the unusual name of the “Universal Company” that was created to build and operate the Suez Canal. The term denoted a new commercial domain, external to Europe and shaped by, yet equidistant from, the continent’s competing empires.The attempts to develop European capital outside the existing empires necessitated the construction of a new legal and political order. Taking the construction of the Canal as a vantage point through which to explore the consolidation of this new order, the dissertation focuses on three aspects. First, I show how both Ottoman-Islamic and European precedents contributed to the formation of the universal. I outline social and legal changes, spanning the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that allowed the extension of the European company-form to the Ottoman world in the nineteenth century; trace the rise of Egypt as a pivotal link of imperial communications in the first half of the nineteenth century; and investigate the implications of the political tensions between the Ottoman Sultan and his viceroy in Egypt in the 1830s. Second, I explore the consolidation of the universal legal domain in Egypt. I argue that the inter-imperial dispute over the construction of the Suez Canal led to the emergence of the company as the object of the universal, and that, in the following decades, the company’s directors catalyzed the entrenchment of a “universal” commercial domain in Egypt in the period between 1868 and 1876. Finally, I explore the implications of the universality of Egypt on the rise of modern government. I focus on the legal transformations, including the formation of the Mixed Courts, that foreshadowed the establishment of modern courts; changes in the command of labor that gave rise to Egyptianness as a collective identity; and the indebtedness of the government that precipitated the emergence of an independent (non-Ottoman) state apparatus with compromised sovereignty.

L’étude de l’ordre urbain au XVIIIe siècle à Mexico, capitale de la Nouvelle-Espagne, contribue à comprendre comment la police, en tant que technique de gouvernement des hommes et des choses, contribue à améliorer la sécurité, l’approvisionnement et les commodités des habitants. Dans la première moitié du XVIIIe siècle, le bon ordre de la ville repose sur une différenciation socio-ethnique qui se lit aussi bien dans les règlements urbains que dans la séparation de deux Républiques : celle des Espagnols et celle des Indiens. Plusieurs corps, dotés de privilèges et de leurs propres gardes, jouent également tous à des degrés divers un rôle dans la construction de la paix urbaine. A partir des années 1760, sous l’impulsion de la Couronne et de savoirs policiers venus d’Europe, de nouvelles conceptions de l’ordre se font jour, portées par le vice-roi, le corregidor et les magistrats de l’Audience royale qui cherchent à réformer l’ordre corporatif traditionnel. A ce titre, la réforme de 1782 qui divise Mexico en cuarteles et barrios fait écho à la réforme madrilène de 1768. Elle débouche sur la création de nouveaux agents territorialisés, les alcaldes de barrio, figures de l’ordre qui s’imposent dans l’ensemble des grandes villes des Indes à la fin du XVIIIe siècle. Le mandat du vice-roi Revillagigedo (1789-1794) constitue assurément une nouvelle étape dans ces transformations des conceptions et des pratiques de l’ordre. En s’appuyant sur la troupe, qui s’implante durablement dans la capitale à partir de 1765, et sur un personnel policier nouveau, Revillagigedo fait de l’espace urbain un banc d’essai pour mettre en pratique des mesures novatrices, à l’image du système de l’éclairage public. Au terme d’un siècle de mutations qui ne sont ni linéaires, ni univoques, le paysage de l’ordre n’est plus exactement le même qu’un siècle auparavant. Les distinctions socio-ethniques se sont progressivement effacées, la séparation entre les deux Républiques a été gommée par le nouveau quadrillage policier et de nouvelles forces de l’ordre ainsi que de nouveaux auxiliaires de police concourent à faire appliquer une législation urbaine alors florissante. / The study of the urban order in the 18th century in Mexico, the capital of New Spain, helps to understand how the police, used as a technique of government for the people and for things, contribute to improve the inhabitants’ security, means of supply and facilities of life. In the first half of the 18th century, the right order of the town is based on a socio-ethnic differentiation found in both the city rules and the two separated Republics: the Spanish Republic and the Indian Republic. Several jurisdictions, using their privileges and own guards, all take a part, in different ways and degrees, to the peace process of the town. From 1760, thanks to the Crown impetus and the influence of new know-how police techniques imported from Europe, new concepts about order appear encouraged by the viceroy, the corregidor and the judges of the Real Audiencia, all wanting a reform of the traditional corporations. Hence, the 1782 reform dividing Mexico into cuarteles and barrios, is a copy of the 1765 reform in Madrid. Then, a new urban police are created, the alcaldes de barrio, who embody this new order. They can be found in most big towns in India at the end of the 18th century. The viceroy Revillagigedo’s mandate (1789-1794) is most certainly a new step in the evolution of the new order concept and practice. Thanks to the army support established in town since 1765, and to a new police, Revillagigedo used the city as a laboratory to test new changes such as the street-lighting. At the end of a century of urban changes, neither regular nor unequivocal, the townscape order is not exactly the same as a century before. The socio-ethnic differences have regularly faded, the separation between the two Republics has been eliminated by the new police coverage, and the creation of new order forces as well as new guards participate to enforce the new, then prosperous urban laws. / Un estudio del orden urbano durante el siglo XVIII en México, capital de la Nueva España nos permite entender mejor la manera en que la policía, entendida como técnica de gobierno de los hombres y de las cosas, contribuye a mejorar la seguridad, el abasto y las comodidades de los habitantes. Durante la primera mitad del siglo, el buen orden de la ciudad se apoya en diferenciaciones socio-étnicas que se pueden observar tanto en los reglamentos como en la separación entre dos Repúblicas: la de los españoles y la de los indios. Varios cuerpos, con privilegios, jurisdicción y guardas propios desempeñan un papel en la construcción de una paz urbana. A partir de los años 1760, bajo el impulso de la Corona y bajo la influencia de conocimientos policiales importados de Europa, nuevas concepciones del orden se vislumbran, llevadas por el virrey, el corregidor y los jueces de la Real Audiencia que buscan reformar el viejo orden corporativo. En este sentido, la reforma de 1782 que dividió la ciudad de México en cuarteles y barrios suena como a eco de la reforma madrileña de 1768. Desemboca en la creación de nuevos agentes de la policía urbana, los alcaldes de barrio, figuras del orden que se establecen en la mayoría de las ciudades de las Indias al final del siglo XVIII. El mandato del virrey secundo conde de Revillagigedo constituye sin duda una nueva etapa en el proceso de transformación de las concepciones y las practicas del orden. Con el apoyo de la tropa que se implanta de manera duradera en la capital a partir de 1765 y con el respaldo de un nuevo personal policial, Revillagigedo usa del espacio urbano como si fuera un laboratorio para poner en práctica medidas innovadoras como el sistema de alumbrado público. Tras un siglo de mutaciones que no son lineales tampoco unívocas, el paisaje del orden no es el mismo que un siglo por atrás. Las distinciones socio-étnicas se borraron paulinamente, la separación entre las dos Repúblicas desaparece a favor de una nueva red administrativa y nuevas fuerzas del orden como nuevos agentes participan a cumplir con una legislación urbana cada vez más abundante.