Lantana camara L. (Verbenaceae) remains a highly invasive and ecologically damaging weed in South Africa, despite some 50 years of biological control efforts. Lack of success has been ascribed to varietal differences, climate and predation of agents but these have not been tested. In this study, the effects of ant predation were tested on populations of three biological control agents for L. camara. Colonies of two species, Crematogaster sp. 1 and 2 were investigated. Crematogaster sp. 1 colonies were offered no choice between immature stages of the agents Hypena laceratalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Falconia intermedia Distant (Hemiptera: Miridae) or Teleonemia scrupulosa Stål (Hemiptera: Tingidae) on lantana shoots. Density-dependent predation on F. intermedia and T. scrupulosa nymphs on lantana shoots was tested using Crematogaster sp. 2 colonies. In choice experiments Crematogaster sp. 2 colonies were offered F. intermedia or T. scrupulosa nymphs on potted lantana plants. Preliminary food trials confirmed that colonies foraged for protein, thereby validating results of no-choice experiments. Crematogaster sp.1 foragers removed 50% of F. intermedia nymphs, followed by 45% of H. laceratalis larvae and only 9% of T. scrupulosa nymphs. Foragers recruited most actively to H. laceratalis larvae and significantly more H. laceratalis biomass was removed than either F. intermedia or T. scrupulosa. A trade-off existed in prey size selection because larger larvae provided considerably more biomass but required forager cooperation and a longer time to subdue than did smaller prey. This increases both forager energy expense and mortality risk by other predators. This study showed that all Crematogaster sp. 1 colonies removed small (≤10mm) H. laceratalis larvae more frequently than larvae larger than 10mm. Thus, of these biological control agents, predators probably prefer small H. laceratalis larvae. Significantly more F. intermedia than T. scrupulosa nymphs were removed by Crematogaster sp. 1, while Crematogaster sp. 2 colonies removed comparable numbers of both agent species. Falconia intermedia nymphs' fast movement triggered a predatory response by these ant species. In contrast, the relatively immobile behaviour of T. scrupulosa nymphs was identified as a highly effective predator avoidance strategy. Since T. scrupulosa nymphs are unable to escape predators by moving, they appear to depend on the presence of alternative prey attracting predator attention. At high agent and/or forager density, T. scrupulosa nymphs attempted escape, but foragers identified them as prey once they moved and caught them. Predation on F. intermedia was also density dependent in that at high nymph and/or forager densities, escape routes were congested and nymphs were more easily caught. Survival of F. intermedia and T. scrupulosa nymphs in particular was low on ant-accessed shrubs in choice experiments and high on ant-excluded shrubs. It is likely that ants significantly depress F. intermedia populations in the field since besides predation, ant foragers probably interrupt F. intermedia feeding and ovipositioning. The combination of parasitism and predation on early instar larvae may explain why H. laceratalis occurs across lantana's range in South Africa but populations remain low. It is unlikely that T. scrupulosa nymphs are habitually preyed on by ant species unless they attract attention by being mobile. Although biological control of L. camara is influenced by climate and physiological defence mechanisms, this study has shown that predation by two ant species severely impacts leaf-feeding agents for L. camara. Thus, it is recommended that future selection of additional agents to control lantana should exclude leaf-feeding .

This thesis explores the American view of the Brazilian Catholic Church through the critical examination of cables produced by the U.S. diplomatic mission in Brazil during the period 1964-1972. This thesis maintains that the United States regarded the progressive catholic movement, and eventually the Church as a whole, as a threat to its security interests. Nonetheless, by the end of 1960s, the American approach changed from suspicion to collaboration as the historical circumstances required so. This thesis sheds light on the significance of the U.S. as a major player in the political conflict that affected Brazil in the 1964-1972 years in which the Brazilian Catholic Church, and particularly its progressive segments, played a fundamental role.

Orientador: Bruno Wilheilm Speck / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T08:20:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Coelho_RonyGleisondaSilva_M.pdf: 5271912 bytes, checksum: 2875209e55dcdd1392a076176af55d9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa trata dos atores, iniciativas e processos envolvidos na concepção de legislação participativa implícita no referencial empírico trabalhado nesta dissertação, a Comissão Permanente de Legislação Participativa da Câmara dos Deputados (CLP). Comissões permanentes são órgãos colegiados, compostos por deputados, integrantes do processo legislativo, que têm por finalidade apreciar os assuntos ou proposições submetidos ao seu exame e sobre eles deliberar. Com efeito, foi atribuída à CLP, como principal competência, a capacidade de i) receber diversos tipos de sugestões legislativas - leia-se, de iniciativas - oriundas de associações civis legalmente constituídas; ii) deliberar sobre as sugestões acatadas, manifestando-se por meio de parecer; iii) encaminhar as sugestões de iniciativas de leis aprovadas para iniciarem a tramitação no processo legislativo. A investigação procurou responder, por um lado, qual a capacidade do mecanismo de incluir iniciativas de lei no processo legislativo. Por outro lado, elaboramos uma discussão, sem pretender uma análise exaustiva, sobre um dos possíveis efeitos do modelo institucional do mecanismo em ter credenciado organizações civis para proporem iniciativas de lei no âmbito federal. Os resultados em relação ao primeiro ponto sinalizam para uma real e alta capacidade de inclusão de iniciativas no processo legislativo. Porém, ao iniciarem a tramitação, essas iniciativas encontram uma série de entraves que escapam à alçada da comissão e que se inserem em um problema maior, da relação entre legislativo e executivo mesmo no que diz respeito à produção legislativa no Congresso. Em relação ao segundo ponto, a discussão levantada sugere que organizações civis estão a exercer função de representação no lócus que, por excelência, é o da representação política tradicional. Ademais, e anterior a essas discussões, intentamos fornecer interpretações analíticas sobre o surgimento de um mecanismo como a CLP no interior do processo legislativo. Para tanto, observou-se, em meio a uma recente onda de reformas institucionais, possíveis processos de abertura das instituições tradicionais mundo afora; além de um contexto nacional de crescente proliferação das chamadas instituições participativas / Abstract: This research deals with the actors, initiatives and processes involved in the concept of participatory legislation implicit in empirical referential used in this dissertation, the Standing Committee of Participatory Legislation the House of Representatives. Standing committees are collegiate bodies, composed of deputies, members of the legislative process, which aim to analyses the issues or proposals submitted for its examination and deliberate on them. Indeed, it was attributed to CLP, as major competence, the ability to i) receive various types of legislative suggestions, in other words, initiatives, deriving from civil associations legally constituted ii) deliberate on the suggestions accepted, manifesting by through sight iii) submit the initiatives of laws suggestions approved to started the conduct in the legislative process. The research sought to answer the one hand, which include the ability of the mechanism of law initiatives in the legislative process. Moreover, we intended discuss, without attempting an exhaustive analysis about the possible effects on a model institutional of mechanism having allowed civil organizations to propose initiatives under federal law. The results from the first topic point to a real and high capacity inclusion initiatives in the legislative process. However, as they start the conduct in the legislative process a great number of obstacles are found, that cannot be misled by CLP and part of a bigger problem, of relationship between the legislative an executive powers even as regards the legislative production in Congress. Regarding the second topic, the raised discussion suggests that civil organizations seem to be exerting the function of representation that locus par excellence is the one of traditional political representation. Moreover, prior to those discussions, we seek analytic interpretations about the emergence of a mechanism like the CLP within the legislative process, noting, amid a recent wave of institutional reforms, opening processes of traditional institutions, worldwide, plus a national context of growing proliferation of so-called participatory institutions / Mestrado / Ciencia Politica / Mestre em Ciência Política