Traditionally cultural landscape of the past involved a dialogue between natural system, human modifications and the value given by humans to the landscape, ultimately nurturing a healthy interaction between human and natural systems. Development pressures on remnants of these past harmonious cultural landscapes threatens the memory and therewith the future possibility of this healthy interaction. With looming exponential urban growth in African cities in the near future, it is important to learn from and protect the few past remnants that are left. The main question that was explored in the dissertation is how a degraded cultural landscape can be regenerated to establish social and ecological health. The hypothesis proposed that degraded cultural landscapes can be regenerated using principles of past cultural landscapes that can reconnect fragmented human and natural systems. A degraded cultural landscape settled against the backdrop of the Witwatersberg Ridge served as the location for the testing of the hypothesis. This site, situated near Danville and Lotus Gardens in Pretoria West is a former leprosy colony called Fort West. The aim of the dissertation was to find methods for the regeneration of the degraded cultural landscape.It was proposed that an integrated methodology be followed that brings together a site’s cultural, natural and economic ‘capital’ or latent potential. The integration of these three capitals was proposed in two ways: through applying five principles of ecological design as set out by Van der Ryn and Cowan (1996); and by raising awareness and educating society and the community as proposed by Farina (2000). This process delivered a set of design guidelines for degraded cultural landscapes. The approach matches biological diversity with cultural diversity, ensuring that that the ecological relevance of a cultural landscape and its capacity to inform and guide other human activities are met. The design intervention was applied at three different scales: framework, master plan and sketch plan. Interventions are proposed at each scale that can improve the natural and social health of Fort West. The cultural, natural and economic capital of the site is harnessed by reconnecting past and existing potential in these three fields and integrating proposed natural and cultural systems in this way. Education and awareness is at the forefront of all proposed interventions. In this way a public space that facilitates the reintroduction of biodiversity and also assists in the regeneration of the Fort West community can be established. / Dissertation ML(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Architecture / ML(Prof) / Unrestricted

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Yes / The subject area of the Europe's Lost Frontiers project, the submerged landscape of Doggerland, is inaccessible and the data by which we can understand it is complex and hard for the non-specialist to understand. In order to be able to present the project at public events, an Augmented Reality sandbox was constructed, which records the shape of sand in a box, interprets it as a landscape inhabited by humans, animals and plants, and projects this simulated land back on to the sand. Different software packages can be used to highlight the effects of climate change or provide examples of the different types of evidence available to archaeologists researching submerged landscapes. The end result is an interactive, accessible display which attracts all ages and can be used as a starting point to conversation regarding the project's archaeological, scientific and technological aspects.

The evolution of metabolism regulation is an intertwined process, where different strategies are constantly being developed towards a cognitive ability to perceive and respond to an environment. Organisms depend on an orchestration of a complex set of chemical reactions: maintaining homeostasis with a changing environment, while simultaneously sending material and energetic resources to where they are needed. The success of an organism requires efficient metabolic regulation, highlighting the connection between evolution, population dynamics and the underlying biochemistry. In this work, I represent organisms as coupled information-processing networks, that is, gene-regulatory networks receiving signals from the environment and acting on chemical reactions, eventually affecting material flows. I discuss the mechanisms through which metabolism control is improved during evolution and how the nonlinearities of competition influence this solution-searching process. The propagation of the populations through the resulting landscapes generally point to the role of the rhythm of cell division as an essential phenotypic feature driving evolution. Subsequently, as it naturally follows, different representations of organisms as oscillators are constructed to indicate more precisely how the interplay between competition, maturation timing and cell-division synchronisation affects the expected evolutionary outcomes, not always leading to the \"survival of the fastest\".

The gardens of early Mormon pioneers are a unique cultural resource in the western United States, but little guidance has been provided for understanding or providing landscape treatments for Mormon landscapes. Mormon pioneers came to Utah and the Great Basin to escape religious persecution and build their own holy kingdom. In relative geographical isolation, they built towns that have a distinctive character delineating a Mormon cultural region in the West. Self-sufficiency was an important feature of these towns and of the religious culture of early Mormons, both because of their geographical isolation and their desire to be independent of the world, which they viewed as wicked. This emphasis on self-sufficiency made gardens and gardening an important part of every household, encouraged by religious leaders and individual need. The cultural and personal preferences of individuals did influence the style and contents of Mormon pioneer gardens, but perhaps not to the extent that the religious culture of self-sufficiency did. When managing or treating Mormon pioneer landscapes or gardens, it is helpful to start by assessing any historic features that still exist. Then, the property owner or manager can choose one of the standard landscape treatments of preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, or reconstruction, or opt for some combination of these treatments. Because Mormon pioneers brought plants from all over the world, a large selection of heirloom plants may be suitable for historic Mormon landscapes. A few historic plants are no longer appropriate in Western landscapes because of ecological concerns such as invasiveness or water efficiency, but substitutions for these plants can be found by considering the plant's form, function, and meaning in the historic landscape.

Fauna conservation outside protected areas can make an important complementary contribution to conservation within reserves. This thesis aimed to contribute new information and analytical frameworks to the science of fauna conservation in human-modified landscapes. Two approaches were used: (1) empirical data collection and analysis, and (2) the discussion and development of conceptual landscape models. ¶ Empirical work focused on lizard distribution patterns in two production landscapes in southeastern Australia. Lizards were targeted because ectotherms are frequently neglected by conservation biologists. The “Nanangroe grazing landscape” was used for sheep and cattle grazing. In this landscape, approximately 85% of pre-European woodland cover had been cleared, and understorey vegetation was sparse. Lizards were surveyed at 16 landscape units, which were stratified by aspect, topographic position and amount of tree cover. Each landscape unit contained three sites, and each site contained three plots. Regression modelling showed that different species responded differently to their environment. For example, the four-fingered skink (Carlia tetradactyla) and Boulenger’s skink (Morethia boulengeri) were more likely to occur at woodland sites with northerly aspects, whereas the striped skink (Ctenotus robustus) and olive legless lizard (Delma inornata) were more likely to inhabit sites with a simple microhabitat structure. Statistical analysis further showed that the habitat attributes that lizards were related to varied continuously through space, and over different spatial scales. For example, invertebrate abundance (a proxy for food availability) varied most strongly over tens of metres, whereas the amount of grass cover varied most strongly over hundreds to thousands of metres. Thus, work at Nanangroe revealed spatially complex patterns of lizard occurrence and habitat variables. ¶ The “Tumut plantation landscape” was a spatial mosaic of native eucalypt (Eucalyptus) forest patches embedded within a plantation of the introduced radiata pine (Pinus radiata). In this landscape, thirty sites were surveyed for lizards. Sites were stratified by forest type and patch size, and included eucalypt patches, pine sites, and extensive areas of eucalypt forest adjacent to the plantation. Regression modelling showed that lizard species responded to various habitat attributes, including elevation, the amount of eucalypt forest within 1 km of a site, invertebrate abundance and ground cover. Variables related to habitat fragmentation often were significant predictors of lizard occurrence. However, work at Tumut suggested that important additional insights into lizard distribution patterns could be obtained by considering variables related to food and shelter resources, and climatic conditions. ¶ The Nanangroe and Tumut landscapes were in close proximity, but together spanned an altitudinal gradient of 900 m. An investigation of changes in lizard community composition with altitude showed that (1) only one species was common to Nanangroe and Tumut, (2) different species had different altitudinal preferences, and (3) ecologically similar species replaced one another with increasing altitude. These results highlighted that even in highly modified landscapes, natural gradients (such as climate) can play an important role in shaping animal assemblage composition and species distribution patterns. ¶ Empirical work suggested that, in some landscapes, the frequently used “fragmentation model” is a relatively weak conceptual basis for the study of animal distribution patterns. The fragmentation model implicitly assumes that “habitat patches” can be defined unequivocally across many species, and that patches are located within a relatively inhospitable matrix. Where these assumptions are breached, conservation guidelines arising from the fragmentation model may be too simplified. In spatially complex production landscapes, it may be more appropriate to maintain habitat heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales than to focus solely on the management of large, pre-defined patches. ¶ Given the potential limitations of the fragmentation model, a new, more holistic landscape model was developed. The “continuum model” was derived from continuum theory as developed for plant ecology. The continuum model recognises (1) spatial continua of environmental variables, and (2) species’ individualistic responses to these variables. For animals, key environmental variables may be related to the availability of food, shelter, sufficient space, and suitable climatic conditions. Unlike the fragmentation model, the continuum model is inherently process-based and thus may help to link the perceived gap between patterns and processes in landscape ecology. ¶ Three general conclusions arise from this thesis: 1. Some heterogeneous production landscapes support many native species, and therefore represent important conservation opportunities. 2. In some modified landscapes, the fragmentation model does not capture the complexity of animal distribution patterns. In those landscapes, conservation recommendations derived from the fragmentation model may be overly simplistic. 3. The continuum model may be a useful extension of the fragmentation model. It provides a process-based conceptual basis for empirical work on animal distribution patterns.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / Temporary landscapes are an emerging project type with in the field of landscape architecture. Pop-up parks, parklets, and temporary art installations have been gaining media attention and changing notions of open space. Landscape architects need to take a more active role in the planning, design, and execution of these temporary landscapes. Peter Bishop describes temporary land use as “an intentional phase” where the “time-limited nature of the use is generally explicit” (Bishop, 2012, p. 5). This research refines Bishop’s definition by stating temporary landscapes must be intentionally time limited designs of open space. Currently the unorganized variety of projects has impeded landscape architects’ ability to evaluate and learn from these spaces. This research project seeks to understand and synthesize different characteristics of temporary landscapes. A typology was developed by identifying key themes in literature, composing a carefully curated series of precedent studies, participating in the development of a temporary pop-up park in Wichita, Kansas, and developing a matrix that identifies the relationships between temporal types. The products of this research will help planners and designers develop more successful and intentional temporally limited designs.

Contemporary media research highlights the importance of empirically analysing the relationships between media and age, changing user patterns over the life course, and generational experiences within media discourse beyond the widely hyped buzz terms such as the ‘digital natives’, ‘Google generation’, and other digitally and technologically capable generation groups. This doctoral thesis seeks to define the ‘repertoires’ of news media that different generations use to obtain topical information and create their ‘media space’. It contributes to the development of a framework within which to analyse generational features in news audiences by putting the main focus on the cultural view of generations. This perspective was first introduced by Karl Mannheim in 1928. Departing from his legacy, generations can be better conceived as social formations that are built on self-identification, rather than equally distributed cohorts. With the purpose of discussing the emergence of various ‘audiencing’ patterns from the perspectives of age, life course and generational identity, the thesis presents Estonia – a post-Soviet Baltic state – as an empirical example of a transforming society with a dynamic media landscape which is witnessing the expanding impact of new media and a shift to digitisation.The thesis is based on data from two nationally representative cross-section surveys on media use and media attitudes (conducted during the 2002-2012 period) and focus group discussions, that are used to map similarities and differences among five generation cohorts born between 1932 and 1997 with regard to the access and use of the established news media, thematic preferences and spatial orientations of media use, and discursive approach to news formats. The findings demonstrate remarkable differences between the cohorts, suggesting that they could be merged into three main groups that represent the prevailing types of relations with the news media. Yet, the study also reveals that attitudes and behaviour (including media behaviour), are not necessarily divided by year of birth, but are more and more dispersed along individualised interests and preferences. / Audiences in the Age of media Convergence: Media Generations in Estonia and Sweden

Fragmentation can drive local populations to become smaller and more isolated, and consequently more susceptible to extinction. Movement between patches, however, can interconnect such populations so that they effectively behave as larger and more stable metapopulations. Over the past two decades metapopulations have been used to shed light on the complex interactions that occur between hosts and parasites. Effectively every host can be considered as a discrete habitat patch from the perspective of a parasite. As such, host-parasite interactions naturally lend themselves to being examined within the metapopulation paradigm. In this thesis I examine empirically how various aspects of metapopulation structure, such as local host population size and landscape isolation/connectivity, combine to determine the extinction and recolonization dynamics of parasites in the landscape. Using a naturally fragmented water vole (Arvicola amphibious) metapopulation, I describe the spatial and temporal variation in parasite infection prevalence or burden in a Scottish landscape. I specifically address the spatial and temporal dynamics of both ectoparasites, and vectortransmitted microparasites, since these are two groups of parasites commonly found in natural systems yet often overlooked in the host-parasite metapopulation literature. In addition, I attempt to understand how specific parasite characteristics, such as transmission mode and infectious period, can influence how parasites respond to host population structure. In the final chapter, I bring together a number of parasite groups to examine the impact of metapopulation dynamics on parasite communities as a whole by investigating its impact of parasite community richness. Overall the findings of my study indicate that host spatial structure and the level of connectivity between patches are important factors that affect parasite dynamics and community richness. However, the exact level of connectivity required to sustain a parasite population locally depended on specific parasite characteristics. In contrast, local effects host/vector population size and patch infection history) had no discernible impact on most parasite groups.

Relying upon two common trends in modern castle studies, this exploratory study works to combine the landscape context and the spatial interaction of the main building to create an assessment of the spatial and social interaction between the main residential structure of a noble’s estate and the landscape features attached to surrounding property features. To explore questions about this kind of interaction this project has taken the sheriffdom of Angus, Scotland, between the year 1450 and 1542, to examine non-royal residences in an area that offered a diverse topography. This project aims to gain a better understanding of the surroundings of late fifteenth and early sixteenth century noble residences in Angus while contributing to the growing discussion of castles and their landscapes, and testing methods for addressing the spatial and social interaction between the main structure and the landscape features. Section A discusses the three source types used for compiling the dataset for this project within the context of three key categories needed to create a GIS dataset: location, object, and attributes. From the landscape features the mills and fishings were the most commonly mentioned and further details regarding the contents of the lordly landscapes were rare. Section B explores three methods of examining the relationships between the main residence and the landscape features: a modified RA and RRA values assessment, which measured levels of segregation within the noble residence site as a whole; a version of the gravity model, which helped identify the draw for interaction within the arrangement of the noble’s landscape; and network analysis questions, which facilitated a clear assessment of any connections between the use of structural terms and landscape features mentioned over both temporal and social contexts. This exploration of spatial and social interaction opens up a discussion about Scottish noble landscape creation and new methods for studying the relationship between the main structure and the wider complex of a noble residence.