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La prédation peut avoir des effets très importants à la fois sur l'écologie ainsi que sur l'évolution des communautés biologiques. Elle peut notamment être une force sélective favorisant des prédateurs plus efficaces et des proies moins vulnérables. De plus, des études montrent que les prédateurs agissent sur les proies, non seulement directement en les tuant, mais qu'ils peuvent également influencer le comportement des proies et induire des réponses physiologiques ou morphologiques. Pourtant, aujourd'hui, encore peu de choses sont connues sur comment les prédateurs peuvent influencer les populations de proies, notamment chez les grands herbivores. Les études les plus détaillées sur les grands herbivores sont en effet situées dans l'hémisphère Nord, souvent dans des endroits où ces herbivores n'ont plus de prédateurs. Lors de cette thèse j'ai étudié une population de grands herbivores et l'impact de la prédation sur celle-ci : la population de zèbres des plaines (Equus quagga) dans le parc national de Hwange au Zimbabwe et son interaction avec les lions. J'ai étudié la dynamique de populations des zèbres dans la zone d'étude, mais j'ai également travaillé sur le zèbre au niveau individuel, en tentant de mieux comprendre quels étaient les comportements anti-prédateurs utilisés par les zèbres, ainsi que leurs coûts potentiels, tout en m'intéressant aux différences entre individus. Cette population de zèbres est fortement impactée par la prédation, de manière à la fois directe et indirecte, et les comportements anti-prédateurs mis en place par les zèbres sont coûteux.

Biological invasions threaten the stability and biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. The impacts of an invading species often vary across systems, making their prediction difficult. When data from multiple invaded sites are available, statistical models can be developed to correlate an invader's distribution and abundance with local environmental variables; such models could then provide managers with useful tools to help prioritize efforts to control the invader. The introduction of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga mussel (D. bugensis) to North America ranks among the most ecologically and economically disruptive aquatic invasions ever documented. While some attempts have been made to predict zebra mussel occurrence and abundance, none have been made for quagga mussels. Furthermore, few studies have been based on river systems, which possess the bulk of North American freshwater biodiversity. I related zebra and quagga mussel occurrence and biomass to physical habitat variables (calcium concentration, substrate size and depth) in the St. Lawrence River. I then developed predictive models of abundance for each species from combinations of these variables. Each variable explained a significant amount of variation in mussel biomass, but different combinations of variables were obtained for each species. Although these models do not account for all of the variation in abundance, they do provide a useful basis for predicting dreissenid distribution and abundance in other invaded river systems.

Biological invasions are a global phenomenon that can threaten native species and disrupt ecosystem processes. Exotic species also impact ecosystems in less conspicuous ways by provoking native species to alter their foraging behaviour. Subtle impacts such as diet shifts are frequent, and can have consequences for food web dynamics and the fitness of native predators. Diet shifts involving the consumption of exotic species require native predators to recognize, capture and handle novel prey. In this thesis, I document a diet shift in the St. Lawrence River involving a common native fish and Eurasian mussels that invaded the river in the early 1990s. I conducted diet analysis of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) at multiple sites in the upper St. Lawrence River and discovered that they consumed substantial quantities of zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena spp.) in the Soulanges Canal, an artificial waterway west of Montreal. This was unexpected because perch lack adaptations for crushing molluscs. This foraging innovation was not observed at the same site in the early 1990s or at other sites at any time. Mussel shells were weaker at this site, probably because of exposure to calcium-poor water. This suggests that water chemistry mediates yellow perch predation on mussels. This study provides an example of diet shifts involving exotic prey and illustrates the influence of abiotic factors on species interactions.

Diploma thesis deals with creation of laboratory exercises in ns-3 environment. Each one of three exercises consists of theoretical introduction and instructions to carry out the simulation. The first exercise´s topic is routing protocol BGP. The second exercise is focused on transport protocols TCP, UDP, SCTP. In the last exercise, the basic network devices and topologies are simulated. The ARP and RIPv2 protocols are simulated as well.

Purpose of this master thesis was to explain simulation of real network, point to the imperfection during these simulations and try to find out technologies and solutions that could improve credibility of simulation. For this purpose, network simulator ns-3 has been chosen which supports direct code execution together with Quagga software suite. Master thesis describes internet protocol IPv4, UDP protocol, basics of routing and detailed explanation of OSPF routing protocol. Focus in this thesis is also on general description of simulation, its kinds and detail explanation of discrete simulation that is used by ns-3 simulator. Next chapter explains theory of ns-3 simulator, its development, conceptual overview and objects. Direct code execution and Quagga that both help improve credibility of simulation, are described in last chapter of theoretical part of thesis. In practical part of thesis is explained how to install and configure all three implemantaions of ns-3 simulator on Ubuntu, linux distribution. On the basis of obtained knowledge, the simulation model has been designed, also there has been given detailed explanation of how to create new model of simulation and how to analyze its results for all implementation.

Introduced species can become invasive and cause catastrophic alterations to the system they invade. Both zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis) have caused significant ecosystem alterations wherever they have invaded. These Dreissena species have caused changes in water quality and biodiversity and have disrupted energy pathways which can have cascading effects on other trophic levels. Recently quagga mussels invaded Lake Powell, a reservoir located in the southwestern USA, creating the possibility of a trophic cascade that could alter energy flow in the reservoir and change the trophic niche structure of the fishes in the lake. However, due to Lake Powell’s large size, dynamic nature, and complex hydrological structure, the effects of quagga mussels on fish species is uncertain. To determine impacts of quagga mussels on Lake Powell fishes, we quantified trophic niches of five species of sport fish over three years (2017-2019) using stable isotopes of nitrogen, δ15N, and carbon, δ13C. We test the following hypothesis: quagga mussels will cause a shift in trophic niche in more pelagic fishes such that pelagic fishes decrease in trophic position and shift toward use of more littoral energy. In addition, we compare the trophic niche of these species with a previous study on the trophic niche of fish in Lake Powell prior to full colonization of the lake by quagga mussels (2014-2015). In general, fish in the southern region of the lake exhibited a trend of decreasing δ15N suggesting decreasing trophic position and an enrichment of δ13C indicating a littoral energy shift in some species. Fish in the northern region of the lake exhibited a slight increase in trophic position and a shift towards pelagic energy across the same time period. These shifts support the hypothesis with pelagic fish experiencing a trophic niche shift, in the direction predicted, but only in the southern region of Lake Powell. Additionally, this shift is not exclusive to pelagic fish, but happened in all five species. Sediment laden input from the Colorado River may offset the impact of quagga mussels in the northern region of the lake resulting in observed regional differences.

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