Recent comparative studies have shown that bird brains, although small, have a high processing capacity. The brains of parrots and songbirds have higher neuronal densities than brains of mammals; especially large parrots and corvids compete with or even outnumber primates by the number of telencephalic neurons. However, the processing capacity of the avian brain appears to differ significantly between various phylogenetic lineages. Basal groups such as galliform birds have much lower absolute numbers of neurons and lower neuronal densities than songbirds and parrots. In this Master thesis, I used the isotropic fractionator to determine numbers of neurons and non-neural cells in specific brain regions in 19 species of hornbills (Bucerotiformes), woodpeckers (Piciformes) and coraciiform birds (Coraciiformes). The brains of hornbills and woodpeckers (but not coraciiform birds) have numbers of neurons comparable to that of songbirds and parrots and significantly more neurons than equivalently sized brains of pigeons (Columbiformes) and galliform birds (Galliformes). In the crown groups, we can observe similar trends such as a higher degree of encephalization, a proportionally larger telencephalon and increasing percentage of telencephalic neurons. On the contrary, in pigeons and galliform birds, we can...

Changing environmental conditions often impose stressful growing conditions in plant communities. Until now, morphological plasticity, i.e. polymorphic growth physiognomies of plants, has not been sufficiently studied as a pivotal strategy for the whole ecosystem adaptation to environmental stress. We consider mangrove ecosystems as suitable models to provide insights on this subject. In the thesis, I investigate the ecological significance of tree morphological plasticity in the structural development and the dynamics of mangrove forests. I conducted field experiments in two regions located on both sides of the Amazon River mouths i.e. in French Guiana and North Brazil. Forest inventories were carried out in contrasting mangrove stands in both regions. The thesis combines empirical analysis of field data, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and mechanistic, individual-based computer simulations. We published results that proved the TLS-based analysis of individual tree structure useful for a better knowledge on biomass allocation between trunk and branches in tall and large Avicennia germinans mangrove trees reaching 45 m high and 125 cm of trunk diameter. Combining structural descriptions of A. germinans trees found in both sites, I highlighted the site-specific differences in tree allometries. The study suggests that regional differences in mangrove tree structure and function could be captured through better description of crown metrics, and that selected indicators of local morphological plasticity and consequent stand structure could generate a plus-value in the understanding of mangrove stand dynamics across contrasting coastal environments. Beyond the extension of allometric models to large Avicennia trees, we proposed new biomass equations with improved predictive power when crown metrics is taken into account. Additionally, we developed a novel software tool, named Lollymangrove, based on the AMAPStudio suite of software, with the objective of maximizing the potential of further field descriptions and modeling works. Lollymangrove allows standardized forest data capture, 3D visualization of structural data, aboveground biomass computations from a configurable module and export formats for forest dynamics and remote sensing models. Simulation experiments were conducted by means of the spatially explicit, individual-based stand model BETTINA_IBM. This model describes the important mechanism of water uptake limited by salt stress, and revealed insights into the relation between environmental conditions, allometric variations and biomass partitioning of mangrove trees, and stand characteristics. The simulation results suggest close matches with observed ecological patterns (e.g., tree allometries, mortality distributions, and self-thinning trajectories) under higher salinity. In low salinity conditions, however, the current parameterization underestimates the maximum tree height and diameter, and consequently, aboveground biomass and self-thinning trajectories of forest stands. This suggests that the morphology of trees under low levels of salinity are explained by further regulation mechanism(s) that still need to be addressed in a subsequent model improvement. Overall, this work has essentially pointed out the need to elucidate how morphological plasticity relates with structural development of forest stands. It establishes that TLS measurements and structural data analysis associated to efforts for integrative software and mechanistic modelling works could link mangrove dynamics to fast-changing coastal processes.

No description available.

This research endeavors to address the following key objectives: A) Investigating the response of young oak seedlings, specifically Q. petraea and Q. robur plants, to controlled drought treatments within a greenhouse environment. This study encompasses detailed observations to elucidate the impact of these treatments on specific morphological and phenotypical characteristics, including plant growth increment and biomass performance, over an entire annual cycle. B) Evaluating the adaptability of young oak seedlings sourced from naturally dry sites to drought stress conditions. This investigation aims to explore the interaction between seed development, seed and seedling behavior, and the growth performance of the seedlings in response to diverse treatments. By addressing these research objectives, this study aims to provide invaluable insights into comprehending the responses of oak seedlings to environmental stimuli and their potential for adaptation under challenging conditions.:1. Introduction 1 2. Literature Review 6 2.1 Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. and Quercus robur L. 6 2.1.1 Taxonomy 6 2.1.2 Distribution 8 2.1.3 Habitat and ecology, insects and diseases 10 2.2 Investigation of drought stress reaction on Q. petraea and Q. robur and adaptive responses to drought stress in oak species 13 2.2.1 Drought stress of Q. petraea and Q. robur 13 2.2.2 Adaptive responses to drought in oak species 21 2.2.3 Sustainable conservation and usage of oak species 23 3. Aims and Objectives 25 3.1 Specific Objectives 25 3.2 Publication of Results 26 4. Publications 27 4.1 Reaction of oak seedlings (Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) to water limitation 27 4.2 Adaptability responses to drought stress in the oak species Quercus petraea growing on dry sites 47 5. Discussion 69 5.1 Drought stress of oak seedlings 69 5.2 Adaptability responses to drought stress in the oak species Quercus petraea growing on dry sites 75 6. Conclusion 82 7. References 83

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第25328号 / 農博第2594号 / 新制||農||1105(附属図書館) / 学位論文||R6||N5500 / DFAM / 京都大学大学院農学研究科森林科学専攻 / (主査)准教授 檀浦 正子, 教授 北島 薫, 教授 Daniel Epron / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

The Greening Soweto Tree Planting project in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa, was a greening initiative aimed at ensuring that benefits of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, presented that year in the country, extended beyond the event. In assessing the trees of this project, it was confirmed that the target number of trees consisting mainly of indigenous tree species were planted predominantly as street and park trees in previously disadvantaged areas, traditionally known to have the least trees in the city. The survival rate of the project is estimated to be 43.46%, implying inadequacies in tree planting and management of the project and necessitating guidelines with recommendations to improve tree planting practices in the city. Growth relationship equations for Olea europaea subsp. africana and Searsia lancea were developed and the growth parameter analysis reveals that all trees grow better in parks but C. africana trees should rather be planted on sidewalks than on medians, S. lancea trees should preferably be planted on medians and C. erythrophyllum may be planted on sidewalks or medians as they would grow well in both locations. It is estimated that this project contributed 30 390.11 tCO2 of standing carbon stocks valued at R3 646 812,87 or US$303,901.07 (assuming a CO2 price of US$10.00) in 2017 and could potentially contribute 387 170.93 tCO2 of sequestered carbon stocks valued at R46 460 511,82 or US$3,871,709.32 by 2031 as mitigation action against climate change. A positive connection impacting the growth of the trees has been identified between land use, land cover and maintenance, indicating that the best locations for trees are maintained parks and formal residential areas as well as paved areas where irrigation is provided. The presence of pests and diseases, conflict with overhead structures and roads and a lack of pruning negatively impacted the growth of the trees. Guidelines for new tree planting projects have been developed with recommendations to maintain the canopy cover percentage in the established urban forest, enhance tree planting in the previously disadvantaged regions, improve the survival rate of new tree planting projects and establish community engagement forums to inform future tree planting of the city. / Environmental Sciences / Ph. D. (Environmental Management)

Les écologistes reconnaissent depuis longtemps que les organismes sont soutenus par le flux, l’emmagasinage et le renouvellement d’énergie et de matériel de l’écosystème, puisqu’ils sont nécessaires au métabolisme biologique et à la construction de biomasse. L’importance des organismes dans la régularisation des processus écosystémiques est maintenant de plus en plus considérée. Situé au centre des chaînes trophiques aquatiques, le zooplancton influence les flux d’énergie et de matériel dans les écosystèmes. Plusieurs de leurs caractéristiques sont connues comme étant de bons indicateurs de leur effet sur l’environnement, notamment leur taille, contenu corporel et taux métabolique. La plupart de ces caractéristiques peuvent être appelées « traits fonctionnels ». Alors que l’emploi des traits devient de plus en plus populaire en écologie des communautés aquatiques, peu ont su utiliser cette approche afin de concrètement lier la structure des communautés zooplanctoniques aux processus écosystémiques. Dans cette étude, nous avons colligé les données provenant d’une grande variété de littérature afin de construire une base de données sur les traits du zooplancton crustacé contribuant directement ou indirectement aux flux de C, N et P dans les écosystèmes. Notre méta-analyse a permis d’assembler plus de 9000 observations sur 287 espèces et d’identifier par le fait même ce qu’il manque à nos connaissances. Nous avons examiné une série de corrélations croisées entre 16 traits, dont 35 étaient significatives, et avons exploré les relations entre les unités taxonomiques de même qu’entre les espèces marines et d’eaux douces. Notre synthèse a entre autres révélé des patrons significativement différents entre le zooplancton marin et dulcicole quant à leur taux de respiration et leur allométrie (masse vs. longueur corporelle). Nous proposons de plus une nouvelle classification de traits liant les fonctions des organismes à celles de l’écosystème. Notre but est d’offrir une base de données sur les traits du zooplancton, des outils afin de mieux lier les organismes aux processus écosystémiques et de stimuler la recherche de patrons généraux et de compromis entre les traits. / Ecologists have long recognized that organisms are sustained by the flux, storage and turnover of ecosystem energy, which fuels biological metabolism, and material, used to construct biomass. Over the past three decades, the importance of individual organisms in regulating ecosystem processes, such as consumer-driven nutrient cycling, has been increasingly recognized. Occupying a central position in aquatic food webs, zooplankton are known to influence other trophic levels and exert a strong influence on energy fluxes or material processing in ecosystems. Several species’ characteristics have been pointed out as being good indicators, or predictors, of the effect of zooplankton on their environment, including individual body size, corporal stoichiometry and specific physiological rates. Most of these characteristics can also be termed “functional traits”. While the use of traits has recently gained popularity amongst aquatic community ecologists, few have applied this approach to concretely link zooplankton community structure to ecosystem processes. In the present study, we compiled data from a wide variety of literature to construct a database of crustacean zooplankton species and their traits contributing directly or indirectly to C, N or P ecosystem fluxes. Our literature search yielded over 9000 empirical observations on 287 different species and thereby allowed identification of knowledge gaps in the literature. We explored trait relationships amongst taxonomic units and between marine and freshwater habitats. Of all cross-correlations tested among 16 zooplankton traits, 35 were significant, with most traits being related to body mass. Our synthesis revealed significantly different patterns between freshwater and marine zooplankton respiration and allometry (body mass vs. length). We propose a novel trait classification scheme according to both organismal and ecosystem functions. Our goal is to provide a database for zooplankton functional traits, tools to link organisms to ecosystem processes, and to promote a search for general patterns and trade-offs amongst traits.

No description available.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-08-28T17:15:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 32e.pdf: 2782096 bytes, checksum: 5928fd17fc9df8b5902bae55c6c45acf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-28T17:15:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 32e.pdf: 2782096 bytes, checksum: 5928fd17fc9df8b5902bae55c6c45acf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-27 / CMPC - Celulose Riograndense / A vegetação do sul do Brasil é composta pelos biomas Pampa e Mata Atlântica. Nossas áreas de estudo situam-se próximo aos limites destes dois biomas, formando um mosaico campo-floresta. A pecuária e a silvicultura de eucalipto são atividades largamente difundidas ao longo destas formações. A mudança de manejo da matriz, da pecuária para a silvicultura de eucalipto, pode levar a alterações nas características autoecológicas de espécies arbóreas florestais. O estudo das características autoecológicas em ambientes com diferentes históricos de uso da terra pode ajudar a compreender como as espécies arbóreas respondem às alterações de habitat ou das condições ambientais. Este estudo objetiva analisar como atributos autoecológicos entre espécies arbóreas florestais variam segundo uma mudança de manejo da matriz no extremo sul da Mata Atlântica, de campos nativos com pecuária extensiva para plantações de eucaliptos sobre essas pastagens. De forma específica, pretende-se (i) determinar o efeito da mudança de manejo sobre atributos autoecológicos entre espécies, e havendo este efeito, (ii) que padrões de alteração autoecológica podem ser identificados entre espécies. De acordo com nossos resultados, a mudança de manejo da matriz da paisagem causou alterações nos padrões autoecológicos das espécies arbóreas. A amplitude destas variações foi diferente para cada espécie e dependeu de sua plasticidade fenotípica e das condições ambientais locais. A longo prazo, os padrões de alterações autoecológicas encontrados podem refletir uma mudança na composição de espécies em decorrência da mudança de manejo. / The vegetation of southern Brazil is composed of Pampa and Atlantic Rain Forest biomes. Our study areas are located near the boundaries of these two biomes, forming a 24 grassland-forest mosaic. The livestock and eucalyptus plantations are widely diffused throughout these formations. The change of matrix management, of livestock for eucalyptus plantations, can lead to changes in the autoecological attributes of forest tree species. The study of the autoecological attributes in environments with different historical of land use can help to understand how tree species respond to changes in habitat or environmental conditions. This study aims to analyze how autoecological attributes between forest tree species varies as a consequence of change in management matrix at the southern Atlantic Rain Forest, of grasslands with extensive livestock for eucalyptus plantations on these pastures. Specifically, we intend to (i) determine the effect of changing management on autoecological attributes among species, and having this effect, (ii) what patterns of autoecological change can be identified between species. According to our results, the change in management of landscape matrix caused changes in autoecological patterns of tree species. The extent of these variations was different for each species and depended on their phenotypic plasticity and local environmental conditions. Long-term, patterns of autoecological change found may reflect a change in species composition due to the change in management of landscape matrix.

La sénescence de survie est un processus défini comme le déclin progressif des probabilités de survivre en fonction de l'âge, et caractérisé par deux paramètres clés : l'âge de début de sénescence et le taux de sénescence. En dépit de son caractère délétère sur la fitness, la sénescence est observée chez la plupart des êtres vivants et plusieurs théories évolutives de la sénescence ont été proposées pour expliquer ce paradoxe. Chez les mammifères, il existe une grande diversité de patrons de sénescence de survie entre les espèces, mais aussi entre les sexes. En général, les males sénescent plus tôt et plus vite que les femelles, et vivent donc moins longtemps. Un des objectifs de ma thèse fut d'identifier un (des) facteur(s), qui pourraient expliquer cette diversité aussi bien au niveau inter- que intra-spécifique chez les mammifères. Pour ce faire, j'ai utilisé une approche comparative qui corrige pour la phylogénie, et des données démographiques issues de populations captives (base de données Species360). Ma thèse confirme tout d'abord l'idée commune que les mammifères vivent généralement plus longtemps en captivité qu'en milieu sauvage, mais ce bénéfice est plus important pour les espèces ayant un cycle de vie rapide que pour celles ayant un cycle de vie très lent. De plus, l'intensité de la sélection sexuelle explique en partie les différences de patron de sénescence avec, chez les ruminants, les mâles des espèces polygynes commençant leur sénescence plus tôt et vivant moins longtemps que les mâles des espèces monogames. Cette thèse démontre également l'importance de définir précisément la forme et la force des relations allométriques pour éviter toute erreur d'interprétation. Enfin, mes résultats montrent que les pratiques managériales en zoo, plus que l'allocation à la reproduction, influencent le patron de sénescence de deux espèces de Varis. En conclusion, ma thèse a permis de mettre en évidence l'importance d'inclure les concepts de la sélection sexuelle dans le contexte des théories évolutives actuelles. Enfin, l'étude des facteurs ayant une influence sur le patron de sénescence de survie des espèces menacées, que cela soit en captivité ou dans leur milieu naturel, devrait permettre d'obtenir des informations clés pour aider à la conservation de ces espèces / The process of actuarial senescence is defined as the progressive decline of survival per time unit with increasing age and can be characterized by two keys metrics corresponding to the age at the onset of senescence and the rate of senescence. Despite its detrimental effect in terms of fitness, senescence is a nearly ubiquitous process across the tree of life and several evolutionary theories of senescence have been proposed to solve this apparent paradox. Across mammals, a large diversity of actuarial senescence patterns is observed among species, but also between sexes, with males often living shorter than females. One objective of my Ph.D. was to identify factor(s) influencing survival and actuarial senescence at inter- and intra-specific levels using a phylogenetic comparative approach based on demographic data obtained from captive populations (Species360 database). My thesis first confirms the common belief that mammals in zoos generally outlive their wild counterparts, but fast-living species benefit more of captive condition than slow-living species. In addition, I found that sexual selection intensity partly account for the diversity of actuarial senescence patterns with males of polygynous ruminant senescing earlier and living shorter than males of monogamous ruminants. Moreover, I highlight that evolutionary allometry of sexually selected traits need to be determined accurately to avoid any misinterpretation. Finally, my results confirm that management practices in zoos influence actuarial senescence pattern at intra-specific level in two species of Varecia but not the allocation in reproduction. In conclusion, my Ph.D. highlights the importance to include the concept of sexual selection within the evolutionary framework of current theories of senescence. Finally, the study of factors influencing the actuarial senescence patterns of threatened species is likely to provide key information in conservation projects of these species