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An instantaneous sampling system was used to quantify nest attentiveness and time budget of a pair of Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) nesting at the Moore Creek colony on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1977. The amount of time devoted to various activities during each stage of the 4-month reproductive cycle was examined and differences between stages evaluated. During the incubation period an adult was constantly at the nest site and the birds shared equally in the incubation duties. During the first four weeks of the 8-week pre-flight nestling stage, an adult was with the chicks continuously, although the adults discontinued brooding after the first week. In the latter four weeks of the pre-flight stage and 4-week post-flight stage, the amount of time spent in the colony by the adults diminished until the parents only returned to the colony for several minutes per day to feed the young. The time devoted to incubation, brooding, nest maintenance, and sexual displays declined during the breeding season, while the time spent "loafing" and away from the colony increased. Next defense, chick maintenance, and standing at the nest were maximal during the first half of the pre-flight stage.

"My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call." -Pat Conroy "Existential contents have their source in the landscape." -Willy Hellpach The preceding statements each reflect the significance of the landscape to one's existential being. The first embodies the veracity of the latter in its specificity of place, the tidal marshes and sea islands of the Carolinas. How do we come to know a place? What is the significance of one's participatory perception of the qualitative experience of the natural world? How can that awareness of the specificity of the surrounding physical environment be imparted through architecture? / Master of Architecture

Henri Basnage de Beauval (1656-1710) est né dans une famille protestante de la noblesse normande. Arrière-petit-fils, petit-fils, neveu, cousin et frère de pasteurs, il choisit pourtant de devenir avocat, à l’instar de son père, Henri Basnage de Franquesnay. Face à l’accélération des persécutions contre sa communauté confessionnelle, il prend la plume pour dénoncer la violation des consciences et proposer une solution pragmatique à son souverain, celle de la tolérance civile des religions. Un an après la publication de son traité, la Révocation de l’édit de Nantes l’oblige à se convertir au catholicisme et ce n’est qu’à l’été 1687 qu’il s’exile en Hollande où il retourne au protestantisme et commence une nouvelle vie. Au Refuge huguenot, il retrouve son frère Jacques Basnage ainsi que le philosophe Pierre Bayle qui lui offre l’opportunité de devenir journaliste et de faire son entrée dans la République des Lettres. Grâce à son Histoire des ouvrages des savans (1687-1709), il participe à la diffusion des connaissances scientifiques et littéraires et s’érige en intermédiaire entre les lettrés européens. Il propose également une révision du Dictionnaire universel d’Antoine Furetière et réédite les œuvres juridiques de son père. Continuant de défendre l’idée que la tolérance civile des religions est la solution la plus acceptable face au morcellement de la chrétienté, il participe également à la controverse inter et intra confessionnelle de son temps, s’opposant en particulier au pasteur Pierre Jurieu. Il décède à La Haye en 1710, loin de sa patrie. Par une approche à la fois sociale, culturelle et intellectuelle, cette biographie interroge les singularités de l’identité d’un huguenot de la fin du XVIIe siècle, mais également la façon dont ce dernier perçoit le monde et se comporte face aux obstacles auxquels il est confronté. / Henri Basnage de Beauval (1656-1710) was born in a protestant family of the Norman nobility. Great grandson, grandson, nephew, cousin and brother of ministers, he nevertheless chooses to become a lawyer like his father, Henri Basnage de Franquesnay. Facing the growing persecutions against his confessional community, he writes to denounce the violation of consciences and propound a pragmatic solution to his king, that of civil tolerance of religions. One year after the publication of his treaty, the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes forces him to convert to Catholicism and it is only during summer 1687 that he exiles himself to Holland where he returns to Protestantism and begins a new life. In the Huguenot Refuge, he finds his brother Jacques Basnage and the philosopher Pierre Bayle who offers him the opportunity to become a journalist and to enter into the Republic of Letters.Thanks to his Histoire des ouvrages des savans (1687-1709), he takes part in the dissemination of scientific and literary knowledge and stands as an intermediary between the European scholars. He also offers a revision of Antoine Furetière’s Dictionnaire universel and republishes his father’s legal works. Continuing to defend the idea that the civil tolerance of religions is the most acceptable solution to face the Christianity fragmentation, he also takes part in the internal and external confessional controversy of his time, opposing in particular the pastor Pierre Jurieu. He dies in The Hague in 1710, far away from his homeland. By a social, cultural and intellectual approach, this biography aims at questioning the singularities of a Huguenot identity at the end of the seventeenth century, but also the way the latter perceives the world and behaves in front of the obstacles he has to face.

The Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea) is a Neotropical migrant bird species which is experiencing severe population declines. This study fills in gaps in the information available concerning Cerulean Warbler territoriality and breeding in a site in southeastern Indiana. During the summers of 2002 and 2003, 51 territories were mapped, with an average territory size of 0.21 hectares. Differences existed between territories and random sites for canopy cover, slope, canopy height, number of trees, diameter at breast height (DBH), the number of trees between 3 - 7.9 cm DBH, the number of trees between 8 - 14.9 cm DBH, the number of trees between 15 - 22.9 cm DBH, and the number of trees > 38 cm DBH. Nest productivity was very low in the study area, suggesting that Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge was a sink population of Cerulean Warblers during the two years of the study. / Department of Biology

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Master of Science

Fire is an important disturbance mechanism in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) communities, yet little is known about wildlife population dynamics during post-fire habitat succession. I estimated the abundance of small mammals and birds in relation to fire history in mountain big sagebrush (A.t. spp. vaseyana) communities on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in the northwestern Great Basin, USA. I employed a chronosequence approach that took advantage of multiple wildfires that had occurred in similar plant communities between 7 to 20 years prior to sampling. Belding’s ground squirrel (Spermophilus beldingii) were approximately 10 times as abundant in burned areas relative to adjacent unburned habitat regardless of the number of years since a burn occurred. Deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) was more abundant on more recently burned sites, but not at sites closer to full vegetation recovery. Great basin pocket mouse (Perognathus parvus), sagebrush vole (Lemmiscus curtatus), and least chipmunk (Tamius minimus) abundance did not vary as a function of fire history, but some variance was explained by habitat features such as rocky areas and the canopy characteristics of sagebrush. Bird diversity was higher in unburned habitats irrespective of the number of years of recovery out to 20 years. Nine of the 12 most widely occurring species of birds in the study have population densities influenced by fire or post-fire habitat succession to at least 13 to 20 years following a burn. Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli), Black-throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata), and Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) occurred at relatively low densities and were nearly restricted to unburned habitats. Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo Chlorurus), Gray Flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii), American Robin (Turdus migratorius), and Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothus ater) occurred at lower densities in burned areas than adjacent unburned areas although the relationship was not strong for the latter two species. The magnitude of the difference in density between burned and unburned sites within a landscape diminished with the number of years of vegetation recovery for Green-tailed Towhee. Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella brewerii) occurred at lower densities relative to adjacent habitat in the most recent burn, but occurred at higher densities after 20 years of habitat succession, suggesting a positive response with a multiple decade lag period. Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) and Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) respond positively to fire, but densities were similar to unburned areas after 20 years of habitat succession. An ordination analysis captured 86% of the variation in 12 bird species with 3 orthogonal axes. My research demonstrates that strong community structure exists for birds associated with mountain big sagebrush habitats, and that fire influences community structure for multiple decades. / Graduation date: 2011 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Dec. 22, 2010 - Dec. 22, 2011.