Background: The tobacco industry has globalized and tobacco use continues to increase in low- and middle-income countries. Yet, the data and research to inform policy initiatives for addressing this phenomenon is sparse. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of adult tobacco use in 17 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, and to identify key factors associated with adult tobacco consumption choices (smoked, smokeless tobacco and dual use) in Madagascar. Methods. We used Demographic Health Survey for estimating tobacco use prevalence among adults in SSA. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to identify key determinants of adult tobacco consumption choices in Madagascar. Results: While differences in tobacco use exist in SSA, Madagascar has exceptionally higher prevalence rates (48.9% of males; 10.3% of females). The regression analyses showed complexity of tobacco use in Madagascar and identified age, education, wealth, employment, marriage, religion and place of residence as factors significantly associated with the choice of tobacco use among males, while age, wealth, and employment were significantly associated with that of females. The effects, however, differ across the three choices of tobacco use compared to non-use. Conclusions: Tobacco use in Madagascar was higher than the other 16 SSA countries. Although the government continues to enact policies to address the problem, there is a need for effective implementation and enforcement. There is also the need for health education to modify social norms and denormalize tobacco use.

Cette thèse se penche sur les contributions de la formation enseignante partiellement à distance et à l’aide du mobile, comment celles-ci évoluent et quels facteurs l’influencent. Les deux premiers chapitres discutent le contexte de recherche de cette thèse. Ils montrent le lien étroit entre l'évolution des politiques éducatives, les stratégies de recrutement des enseignants et la nécessité d'une formation à la fois réaliste et qualitative des enseignants. Après un rappel de la croissance exceptionnelle du secteur des infrastructures mobiles, la revue de littérature expose les résultats de recherches récentes de l’utilisation du mobile pour la formation des maitres à distance. Le contexte de la recherche montre qu'il y a un manque de recherche sur les contributions à moyen terme de la formation assistée par mobile et que cela est étroitement lié à l'approche ‘court-termiste’ des projets pilotes. C’est pour cela que quatre études (chapitres 5 à 7) cherchent à analyser les contributions dans une perspective à la fois multidimensionnelle et longitudinale. La première étude (chapitre 5) analyse d'un point de vue exploratoire les contributions rapportées et observées de la formation IFADEM chez les anciens participants. Il révèle entre autres que les contributions de soutien sont principalement reposent sur le mobile et sont intégrées dans la sphère professionnelle et privée. Ces usages durables sont motivés par une motivation intrinsèque et perdurent grâce à une forte expérience d'appropriation collective qui a servi de « coup d'envoi» aux nouvelles pratiques. Compte tenu de la domination des usages mobiles, la deuxième étude (chapitre 6) se concentre sur les communications mobiles. Elle confirme la pérennité des communications téléphoniques malgré la fin des stimuli organisationnels ou financiers externes, et montre également comment ces communications durables par téléphone reflètent l'appropriation permanente du mobile pour le travail et le privé. Ce chapitre permet en outre d'identifier les facteurs clés qui permettent ce processus d'appropriation en premier lieu. En plus de cette identification de ce que l'on peut appeler des « facteurs de risque et de réussite» pour des contributions mobiles de formation continue des enseignants, elle révèle également l'importance de la communication continue entre pairs parmi les anciens participants. Par la suite, la troisième étude (chapitre 7) analyse les structures et les processus de ces connexions mobiles prises en charge. Comme l'ont indiqué les répondants interrogés pour la première étude, la présence d'un réseau d'enseignants collaboratif stable pourrait être confirmée. Son analyse permet de qualifier les liens entre les anciens participants, qui sont à la fois de nature instrumentale et expressive. Les motivations multiples pour faire partie de ce réseau contribuent à sa durabilité et à son autonomie plus de deux ans après la fin de la formation, durabilité qui est renforcées par la présence de leaders qui assurent la circulation de l'information interne et externe. Globalement, il fournit une perspective supplémentaire sur l'importance et les résultats d'un processus d'appropriation collective. Enfin, la quatrième étude (chapitre 8) change de perspective, abordant la question des contributions à moyen terme et des facteurs pertinents pour la durabilité à travers l'organisation des parties prenantes, à savoir ceux qui financent, organisent, conçoivent et évaluent la formation mobile des enseignants. Cette étude indique non seulement que les acteurs se perçoivent comme faisant partie d'un système soumis à une pression politique considérable et exigent que leurs activités soient fortement limitées, ce qui conduit à une perspective à court terme sur les facteurs de succès. / This dissertation analyzes the contributions of mobile supported teacher training, how these evolve and which factors take influence on this evolution. The first two chapters expose the close link between the evolution of education policies, teacher recruitment strategies and the need for a both realistic and qualitative teacher training. After a recall of the exceptional growth of mobile infrastructure sector, the use of distance and notably mobile supported teacher training is discussed. The research context shows that there is lack of research on the medium-term contributions of mobile supported teacher training and provides strong indicators that this issue is closely related to the overall short-term approach of pilot projects. Therefore, four studies (chapter 5 to 7) seek to analyze contributions through a both multidimensional and longitudinal perspective. The first study (Chapter 5), analyzes from an exploratory perspective the reported and observed contributions of the IFADEM training among former participants. It reveals amongst others that the sustaining contributions are mostly mobile phone supported and well embedded in the professional and private sphere of former individuals. These sustainable usages are driven by intrinsic motivation, and sustain because of a strong collective appropriation experience that acted as ‘kick off’ phase for new practices. Given the domination of mobile usages, the second study (chapter 6) focuses on mobile communications, one of the reported key contributions of the IFADEM training. It confirms the sustainability of phone communications despite the end of external organizational or financial stimuli, and shows also how phone these sustainable communications reflect the ongoing appropriation of mobile for work and private matters. This chapter allows further to identify those key factors that allow for this appropriation process to happen in the first place. Besides this identification of what can be called ‘risk and success factors’ for sustainable mobile teacher training contributions, it reveals also the importance of ongoing peer to peer communication among former participants. Subsequently, the third study (Chapter 7) analyzes structures and processes of these mobile supported connections. As indicated by respondents interviewed for the first study, the presence of a stable, collaborative teacher network could be confirmed. Its analysis allows qualifying the ties among former participants, which are both of instrumental and expressive nature. Multiple motivations to be part of this network contribute to its sustainability and autonomy over two years after the end of the training, strengthened by the presence of leaders who ensure internal and external information flow. Overall, it provides an additional perspective on the importance and outcomes of a collective appropriation process. Finally, the fourth study (Chapter 8) shifts perspectives, approaching the question of medium-term contributions and pertaining factors for sustainability through the lens of organizing stakeholders, i.e. those who fund, organize, design and evaluate mobile teacher training. This study indicates not only that actors perceive themselves as part of a system with considerable political pressure and demands that constraint significantly their activities, leading to a short term perspective on success factors.It reveals also that projects partners are considered simultaneously as goal and obstacle. Their descriptions indicate an often difficult and sometimes patronizing relationship, which occupy a central place in projects preoccupations’. Actors depict also pilot projects as organizational and political instrument. The collision of a normative discourse of high moral value with a technical and organization oriented discourse is one of the striking results of this study.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

We present a continuous high-resolution precisely dated multiproxy record of hydroclimate variability at Anjohibe in northwestern Madagascar using speleothem AB13. The record spanned ~4,484 to ~2,863 years BP and showed general agreement with previously published speleothem records from the same approximate location. However, a speleothem record from Rodrigues Island, located ~1,600 km to the east of Madagascar, did not align, suggesting that paleoclimate records from Rodrigues Island may not serve as accurate proxies for northwestern Madagascar, as has been previously suggested. Stalagmite AB13 also provides a detailed record of rainfall variability during the 4.2 ka event, the abrupt climate disturbance associated with the collapse of several early human civilizations. Between ~3,900 – 4,300 years BP, Anjohibe experienced two periods of moderate drying. The most significant climate perturbation in the record was a drought that lasted ~300 years with peak dryness at ~3,000 years BP. This extended drought may have contributed to the reduction of the local perennial wetland environments and thus may have implications for the extirpation of Malagasy pygmy hippopotamuses in this part of the dry deciduous forest.

No description available.

No description available.

The anthropogenic use of natural resources has become a major cause of biodiversity loss and habitat degradation throughout the world. Deforestation - the conversion of forests to alternative land covers - has led to a decrease in local biodiversity directly through a decrease in habitat, and indirectly through habitat fragmentation. Likewise, defaunation – the loss of animals both directly through hunting and indirectly through deforestation – has led to the empty forest syndrome and subsequent deterioration of forest ecosystems. In many cases, areas where anthropogenic use of natural resources is high overlap with areas of high biodiversity value. Therefore, the present series of studies aims to better understand the impacts that different types of natural resources use and habitat degradation have on biodiversity. This dissertation details the results of five studies, which aimed to: 1) examine the effects of habitat degradation on plant-frugivore networks; 2), understand the live capture and extent of ownership of lemurs in Madagascar; 3) understand the micro- and macro-level drivers of wild meat consumption in Madagascar; 4) describe the capture, movement, and trade of wild meat in Madagascar; and 5) the impacts of habitat changes on the diets and vertical stratification of frugivorous bats. For the first study, our objectives were to understand the effects of habitat degradation on (1) community structure, (2) network structure, and (3) seed dispersal services. We focused on fruit-bearing trees and frugivores (two lemur and five bird species) across a three-point gradient of habitat degradation in a tropical dry forest in Madagascar. Our objectives were to understand the effects of habitat degradation on (1) community structure, (2) network structure, and (3) seed dispersal services. We focused on fruit-bearing trees and frugivores (two lemur and five bird species) across a three-point gradient of habitat degradation in a tropical dry forest in Madagascar. Data on fruit consumption by frugivores were collected over 592 hours of observations at 13 fruiting tree species. We found that as habitat became more degraded: (1) the community structure of both frugivores and fruiting tree communities changed; (2) the mutualistic network structure became less complex and less connected; (3) the interaction strengths of pair-wise interactions changed and the asymmetries of these interactions shifted; and (4) seed dispersal decreased by 91% in the secondary forest, compared to the primary forest. In addition, we show that frugivores: (1) sometimes stopped eating fruit in the degraded forest, even when they had consumed it in other forests; and (2) appeared to avoid some fruiting tree species while showing preference for others. The mutualistic network studied in this paper appeared sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance and a novel measure of effectiveness helped quantify these changes. For the second study, our objectives were to provide the first quantitative estimates of the prevalence, spatial extent, correlates and timing of lemur ownership, procurement methods, within-country movements, and numbers and duration of ownership. Using semi-structured interviews of 1,093 households and 61 transporters, across 17 study sites, we found that lemur ownership was widespread and affected a variety of taxa. We estimate that 28,253 lemurs have been affected since 2010. Most lemurs were caught by owners and kept for either short (≤1 week) or long (≥3 years) periods. The live capture of lemurs in Madagascar is not highly organized but may threaten several endangered species. For the third study, we investigated the role of wild meat in food security in Madagascar, a country where wild meat consumption is poorly understood in urban areas and at regional scales. Using semi-structured interviews (n = 1339 heads-of-households, 21 towns), we aimed to: 1) quantify the amount and purpose of; 2) understand the drivers behind; and, 3) examine recent changes in wild meat consumption in Madagascar. Few respondents preferred wild meat (8 ± 3%) but most had eaten it at least once (78 ± 7%), and consumption occurred across ethnic groups, in urban and rural settings. More food insecure areas reported higher rates of recent consumption of wild meat. However, consumption was best explained by individual preferences and taboos. Few respondents (<1 ± <1%) had increased rates of consumption during their lifetimes, and wild meat prices showed no change from 2005-2013. Most consumption involved wild pigs and small-bodied animals, though these animal groups and lemurs were consumed less in recent years. Given these data, wild meat is unlikely to enhance food security for most Malagasy people in urban and well-connected rural areas. For the fourth study, and to improve understanding of the wild meat trade in Madagascar, our objectives were to: (1) quantify the volume of consumption, transport, and sale for different animal groups, compared to domestic meat; (2) describe the methods of capture and hunting for different animal groups; (3) analyze the patterns of movement of wild meat from the capture location to the final consumer, compared to domestic meat; and (4) examine how the prices of wild meat change depending on the venue through which the consumer purchases it. Data was collected in May-August 2013 using semi-structured interviews of consumers (n = 1343 households, 21 towns), meatsellers (n = 520 restaurants, open-air markets stalls, and supermarkets, 9 towns), and drivers of inter-city transit vehicles (n = 61, 5 towns). We found that: (1) a wide range of hunting methods were used, though their prevalence of use differed by animal group; (2) wild meat traveled distances of up to 166 km to reach consumers, though some animal groups were hunted locally (<10 km) in rural areas; (3) most wild meat was procured from free sources (hunting and receiving meat as a gift), though urban respondents who consumed bats and wild pigs were more likely to purchase those meats; and (4) wild meat was consumed at lower rates than domestic meat, though urban respondents consumed twice as much wild meat as rural respondents. We conclude that urban and rural respondents differ in how they interact with the wild meat commodity chain. We also believe that the consumption and trade of wild meat in Madagascar is likely more formalized that previously thought. Finally, for our fifth study, we used stable isotope analysis to examine how foraging by three fruit bat species in Madagascar, Pteropus rufus, Eidolon dupreanum, and Rousettus madagascariensis, are impacted by habitat change across a large spatial scale. Our results indicated that the three species had broadly overlapping diets. Differences in diet were nonetheless detectable and consistent between P. rufus and E. dupreanum, and these diets shifted when they co-occurred, suggesting resource partitioning across habitats and vertical strata within the canopy to avoid competition. Changes in diet were also correlated with a decrease in forest cover, though at a larger spatial scale in P. rufus than in E. dupreanum. These results suggest fruit bat species exhibit differing foraging strategies in response to habitat change. They also highlight the key threats that fruit bats face from habitat change, and clarify the spatial scales at which conservation efforts should be implemented to mitigate threats for these bat species in Madagascar. / Biology

Habitat degradation and hunting pose the most proximate threats to many primate species, while climate change is expected to exacerbate these threats (habitat and climate change combined henceforth as "global change") and present new challenges. Madagascar's lemurs are earth's most endangered primates, placing added urgency to their conservation in the face of global change. My dissertation focused on the critically endangered golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli; hereafter, "sifaka") which is endemic to fragmented forests across a gradient of dry, moderate, and wet forest types in northeastern Madagascar. I surveyed sifakas across their global range and investigated factors affecting their densities. I explored sifaka diets across different forest types and evaluated if nutritional factors influenced sifaka densities. Lastly, I investigated sifaka range-wide genetic diversity and conducted a connectivity analysis to prioritize corridor-restoration and other potential conservation efforts. Sifaka densities varied widely across forest fragments (6.8 (SE = 2.0-22.8) to 78.1 (SE = 53.1-114.8) sifakas/km²) and populations have declined by as much as 30-43% in 10 years, from ~18,000 to 10,222-12,631 individuals (95% CI: 8,230-15,966). Tree cutting, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) during the wet season, and Simpson's diversity index (1-D) predicted sifaka densities range-wide. Sifakas consumed over 101 plant species and spent 27.1% of their active time feeding on buds, flowers, fruits, seeds, and young and mature leaves. Feeding effort and plant part consumption varied by season, forest type, and sex. Minerals in sifaka food items (Mg (β = 0.62, SE = 0.19) and K (β = 0.58, SE = 0.20)) and wet season NDVI (β = 0.43, SE = 0.20) predicted sifaka densities. Genetic measures across forest fragments indicated that sifaka populations are becoming more isolated (moderate FIS values: mean = 0.27, range = 0.11-0.60; high M-ratios: mean = 0.59, range = 0.49-0.82; low overall effective population size: Ne = 139.8-144 sifakas). FST comparisons between fragments (mean = 0.12, range = 0.01-0.30) supported previous findings that sifakas still moved across the fragmented landscape. Further validation of these genetic results is needed. I identified critical corridors that conservation managers could protect and/or expand via active reforestation to ensure the continued existence of this critically-endangered lemur. / Doctor of Philosophy / Worldwide, many species of primates are threatened with extinction due to habitat degradation, hunting, and climate change (habitat and climate combined threats, henceforth, "global change"). These threats work at different time scales, with hunting being the most immediate and climate change likely to have its fullest impact experienced from the present to a longer time frame. Lemurs are a type of primate found only on Madagascar, an island experiencing rapid global change, which puts lemurs at a heightened risk of extinction. My dissertation research focused on the critically endangered golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli; hereafter, "sifaka"), a species of lemur found only in a few isolated forests across a dry to wet gradient in northeastern Madagascar. To better understand their extinction risk, I conducted surveys to estimate the number of sifakas remaining and investigated several factors that might determine how many sifakas can live in one place. I then explored how sifaka diets varied depending on the forest type that they inhabit and tested whether nutrients in their food might determine sifaka numbers. Lastly, I calculated sifaka genetic diversity to assess their ability to adapt to new environmental conditions and to determine whether sifakas can move across the landscape to find new mates and to potentially colonize new areas of habitat. Sifaka densities varied widely across their range (6.8-78.1 sifakas/km² ). Only 10,222-12,631 sifakas remain, which is 30-43% less than the range of estimates obtained 10 years ago (~18,000 sifakas). Tree cutting, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; a measure of plant health or "greenness" obtained from satellite data), and a tree species diversity index were useful measures to predict sifaka densities. Sifakas ate different plant parts (buds, flowers, fruits, seeds, and leaves) from over 101 plant species. The amount of time they spent eating each day varied by the time of year, forest type, and sex. On average, they spent a quarter of their day eating. Magnesium and potassium concentrations in sifaka food items also were useful nutrition-related measures to predict sifaka densities. Genetic analyses suggested that sifaka populations are becoming more isolated and inbred, meaning sifakas are breeding with other sifakas to which they are closely related. However, it appears that sifakas still can move between forest patches to find new mates and to potentially colonize new areas, if such areas are created. Further validation of these genetic results is needed. I also identified critical areas that will be important to protect and reforest to ensure that movements between populations can continue.