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Around two hundred years ago Goethe made the statement: ‘Let us not seek for something behind the phenomena – they themselves are the theory’. This would appear to be the antithesis of the claim of certain contemporary schools of epistemological thought, that a ‘theory’ is a construction of the human mind. Yet Goethe’s scientific aims are resonant with a present day ecological need: to find a form of ‘nature study’ which springs from a desire to care for things rather than merely to explain them, which can help to create a harmony between human and non-human nature. Goethe’s approach is phenomenological in that it seeks to uncover things ‘on their own terms’; it is integral in that it embraces both art and science. A Goethean methodology is used to study four Australian native plants: Grevillea buxifolia, Scaevola remosissima, Banksia integrifolia and Kunzea ambigua. It is suggested that Goethe’s way of ‘nature study’ fulfils the contemporary need for a participatory knowing which is responsible for the thing being researched, and various possibilities are indicated for further research and application – in the biological sciences and in disciplines such as architecture, landscape design and environmental education. / Master of Science (Hons)

[Various reprints] / Lacks title page and contents / 3 v. : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (D.Sc.)--University of Adelaide, 1948

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, August 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

<p>Avec un résumé en français</p>

Published also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois, 1929. / Cover title. "Contribution from the Zoological laboratory of the University of Illinois no. 365." Reprinted from Ecology, vol. XI, no. 2, April, 1930. "Literature cited": p. 426-431.

Inaug.-diss.--Basel. / Vita. "Separatabdruck von dem "Recueil des travaux botaniques neérlandais", volume XVI, livraison I, 1919." "Literatur-verzeichnia": p. [58]-59.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Botany))--Rhodes University, 2003. / Title in graduation programme: The ecology of honey plants in the Eastern Cape.

The structural organisation of species-rich plant-pollinator networks is important to understanding their ecology and evolution and is essential for making informed conservation and restoration decisions. This thesis reports on a study located at different altitudes in nine tributary valleys of the Sacred Valley, Vilcanota Highlands, Peru. The assemblages of flower visitors were described and the plant-flower visitor matrices were analysed and compared to those found from other montane systems. Additionally, the thesis also addressed how the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) fits into these communities. Previous studies have predicted that abundance, diversity, and importance of hymenopterans as pollinators decrease with increasing altitude, where they are replaced by Lepidoptera and Diptera. Contrary to other temperate montane areas, Hymenoptera were more diverse at higher elevations. Diptera was the most abundant functional group overall but did not significantly increase in abundance with altitude as predicted. Species richness of visited plants reached a maximum at the highest altitudes. Using ordination analysis, hummingbirds, honeybees, flies and beetles were identified as major functional groups of flower visitors with significantly different visitation profiles. Nestedness analysis revealed that the plant-flower visitor networks had a similar structure to other published networks, consisting of core groups of generalist plants and animals which interacted with one another and with specialised flower visitors and plants, respectively. The core species varied in identity between valleys, but were usually the species in greatest abundance, implying that the networks were abundance structured. In addition, 85% of the interactions were observed only in single valleys. This context specificity may have implications for the conservation of plant-pollinator interactions in the Sacred Valley. Comparisons of the pollinator efficiencies of honeybees, hummingbirds, native bees and moths to Duranta mandonii (Verbenaceae) demonstrated significant variation among flower visitors in rates of visitation, pollen removal ability and contribution to fruit set. This variation was not correlated: hummingbirds were by far the most frequent visitors but removed virtually no pollen and did not contribute to fruit set. Despite the taxonomic diversity of flower visitors, the main pollinators were large native bumblebees and honeybees. Results highlighted the importance of measuring efficiency components when documenting plant-pollinator interactions, and also demonstrated that visitation rates may give little insight into the relative importance of flower visitors. Overall, the study showed that Apis was the most generalist flower visitor and a dominant core species within networks. However, although Apis visited a relatively large proportion of the flora compared to native taxa, they only intensively utilised a small proportion of available plant species. No evidence was found from the surveys to suggest that honeybees used interference competition and displaced other species. It was suggested that because specialised rare species are frequently dependent on a core of generalist taxa honeybees may play an important role for the possibilities of rare species to persist. However, perhaps the greatest threat to biodiversity and the persistence of plant-flower visitor communities in the Sacred Valley is from the destruction and fragmentation of habitats and from facilitative interactions between native and alien plants, mediated through visitation from honeybees

Missing pg.75 / The Northern Conifer-Hardwood Forests of Central Canada occupy a small but important portion of Canada's surface area. The relatively little quantitative information available concerning this forest community is surprising in view of its interesting vegetational characteristics. In addition the greater part of the Canadian population has been concentrated in the area for two centuries. Settlement of the eastern areas began in the 1600's and in the western parts of the study region in the late 1700's. The land and climate in the extreme southern region of Ontario favoured agricultural settlements at the expense of the original forest. Logging has also taken its toll of a large proportion of forest in central and northern parts of the region. Today with the continued push northward of the populated areas in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa River valleys, new areas are being developed and the forest communities are being heavily utilized. It is essential that an understanding of the ecological processes of this mixed conifer-hardwood community and its successional stages be gained before it becomes too decimated and modified. [...]