Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Entomology / Raymond A. Cloyd / The life history of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria (Kraatz) (Coleoptera:Staphylinidae), predation against the fungus gnat Bradysia sp. nr. coprophila (Lintner) and compatibility with pesticides and plant growth regulators was investigated under laboratory conditions using Sunshine LC1 Professional Growing Mix as a substrate. Duration of life stages was 2.2, 7.1, and 7.8 days for egg, larva and pupa respectively, at 26°C, whereas total development time from egg to adult was 17.0 days. In addition, A. coriaria male and female adult longevity was 60.3 and 47.8 days. Average fecundity was 90.2 eggs per female and the number of adults produced per female was 69.1. There were no significant differences in prey consumption when using second and third instar fungus gnat larvae as prey and starved and non-starved rove beetles. Overall, predation efficacy in Petri dishes was high (70 to 80%) as fungus gnat larval density increased with 3.9, 7.0, 11.1, and 15.3 larvae consumed in 24 hours after exposure of 5, 10, 15 and 20 fungus gnat larvae to one rove beetle adult. However, lower predation rates were found at different predator:prey ratios when using 1 to 5 rove beetles and growing medium as a substrate. The direct and indirect effects of pesticides and plant growth regulators on A. coriaria were investigated under laboratory conditions. Rove beetle survival was consistently higher when adults were released 24 hours after rather than before applying pesticides. Acetamiprid, lambda-cyhalothrin, and cyfluthrin were directly harmful to rove beetle adults, whereas Beauveria bassiana, azadirachtin and organic oils were compatible with A. coriaria. Similarly, the plant growth regulators acymidol, paclobutrazol and uniconazole were not harmful to rove beetle adults. In addition, Beauveria bassiana, azadirachtin, kinoprene, organic oils, and the plant growth regulators did not negatively affect A. coriaria development. However, Beauveria bassiana did negatively affect rove beetle prey consumption. This study demonstrated that A. coriaria is not compatible with the pesticides acetamiprid, lambda-cyhalothrin and cyfluthrin, whereas there is compatibility with organic oils, Beauveria bassiana, azadirachtin, and the plant growth regulators. As such, these compounds may be used in combination with A. coriaria in greenhouse production systems.

Content: Traditional chromium tanning agents cannot conform to the requirement of sustainable and cleaner development under current leather producing. Compared with chromium tanning agents, vegetable tanning agents have been widely used in tanning process by the virtue of its non-toxicity, low pollution, biodegradability and regenerability. In this study, a novel vegetable tanning agent was extracted from the Coriaria nepalensis bark (CNB) by alkali solution. In order to optimize extraction conditions, the response surface Box-Behnken design was used in this experiment. The key factors including alkali concentration, extraction time, extraction temperature, liquid to solid ratio and extraction times. The experimental results showed that under the conditions of 0.22% sodium hydroxide concentration, 63 min extraction time, 83℃ extraction temperature and 24 liquid to solid ratio, the yield of tannins in CNB is 15%, tannins in extractives up to 50%. Afterwards, the composition and molecular mass were evaluated, we discovered that the extractives belong to hydrolyzable tannins and its molecular mass ranged from 599 to 1457 Da. Furthermore, the extractives were used in sheep garment tanning process. The results showed that the shrinking temperature of tanned leather can reach to 75 ℃. Applying the extractives to the retanning process, the shrinking temperature of retanned leather can reach to 130 ℃. Surprisingly, the color of tanned or retanned leather coincide with the requirement of light leather. Take-Away: 1 New vegetable tanning agent from Coriaria nepalensis bark. 2 The vegetable tanning agent belongs to hydrolyzable tannins and its molecular mass ranged from 599 to 1457 Da. 3 The shrinking temperature of tanned leather and retanned leather can reach to 75 ℃ and 130 ℃ respectively.

The research of this thesis will focus on the performance of farm forestry trees in Mubende district, Uganda. In order to this, the research will help to fill the existing knowledge gap on the performance of farm forestry trees of east Africa specially Uganda. The conducted tree species are Markhamia lutea, Ficus natalensis, Mangifera indica, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Anitaris toxicaria, Persea americana, Albizia coriaria and Spathodea campanulata. The selection of the trees was mainly driven through the availability of age information. The trees were measured in height, age, DBH, length of commercial stem, diameter at specific height and visual observations e.g. occurrence and stem quality. To compare the performance of the conducted tree species a regression analysis with eight different functions was carried out for each tree species. The results are reproducible Stand- Height-Curves, height curves, DBH curves and curves for the single tree volume. The decision on the best curve was made on their biological plausibility and their statistical calculations. Additionally, the farmers of the trees were interviewed about their tree species for e.g. purposes of the tree, value of the wood and their own impressions on the growth of the tree species. The recommendation for the best applicable function is the Petterson function for the Stand-Height- Curve and the function of Richards for the height-, DBH- and single tree volume curve. Still these functions shouldn’t be used without comparison to other functions, especially because the used functions were developed for tree stand conditions and not specially for agroforestry conditions were the tree growth is in general higher. Additionally, an upscaling and prediction of the monetary tree values is made on the basis of the single tree volume curves and the interview results. The prediction of the farmers possible income through the cultivation of trees is made for Markhamia lutea, Ficus natalensis, Anitaris toxicaria and Albizia coriaria and assumes that 100 trees are planted on one hectare. Albizia coriaria 3.630 € achieves the highest possible extra income for the farmer followed by Ficus natalensis with 1.300 €, Anitaris toxicaria with 910€ and Markhamia lutea with 880 €. This thesis gives an example on the performance and possible monetary value of tree species in Mubende district, Uganda. Further investigation is needed to fill the knowledge gap in the performance of east African tree species and their values completely. Keywords: performance, tree growth, utilization, Uganda, East-Africa