Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

My intention is to examine the evolution of early Christian architecture and redefine the role of the building type today, proposing an alternative design for the setting of the liturgy in the Greek Orthodox tradition. / Master of Architecture

Nest predation can significantly reduce hatchling recruitment in sea turtle populations. This study uses 20 years of data from Canaveral National Seashore, Florida, which has pristine and altered beaches. Chi-square tests were used to determine if secondary predation events were related to the nest's primary depredation event. To determine if human beach use and nest predation are spatially or temporally linked, we ranked human beach use and examined predation frequency across all screened and marked nests (n=40,441). Lastly, I quantified nest predation risk spatially and temporally. I found that primary predation increases the chance of a nest suffering subsequent predation. Primary and multiple predation events occurred with greater frequency in limited use areas and with lowest frequency in moderate use areas. Predation risk decreased by an average of 29.5% from 2000-2008. Nests deposited midseason were 9.8% more likely to be predated than nests deposited early or late. / by Rachel Welicky. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In this research, an attempt is made to evaluate the music program of a typical high school in terms of its contribution to the development of pupils who show evidence of possessing musical talent. One of the aims of modern education is to help pupils develop emotional stability, desirable attitudes, and worthy ideals. In other words, the purpose is to teach pupils to feel, as well as to know and do. Music can be powerful force in fulfilling this aim. The purpose of this report is to apply the results of the Pitch and Tonal Memory tests of the Seashore Measures of Musical Talent and the results of the Kuder Preference Record to the building of a Program Music in Borger High School.

We studied piping plovers (Charadrius melodus Ord) on Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland, during the 1988-1990 breeding seasons. The estimated breeding population declined from 25 pairs in 1988 to 14 pairs in 1990. Nest predation by red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) was high. Predator exclosures constructed around individual nests did not increase nest survival. Chick survival was higher in bay beach and island interior brood-rearing habitats than on the ocean beach. Our evidence supports the hypothesis that the availability of adequate food is driving the differences in survival observed among brood-rearing habitats. Chicks raised on the bay beach or island interior weighed more, had higher foraging rates, and spent a greater proportion of their time foraging than chicks reared on the ocean beach. Indices of invertebrate prey abundance indicated that insects were more abundant on the bay beach and island interior than on the ocean beach. Disturbance did not differ among brood-rearing habitats. Human disturbance was higher in 1990 than in previous years. Overall productivity was 0.71 chicks fledged/breeding pair, well below our estimate of the productivity needed to deter a population decline. Management efforts should focus on reducing nest predation and maintaining overwash access paths to high quality brood-rearing habitat. / Master of Science

In many arid and semiarid regions worldwide, high levels of soil salinity is a key driver of land degradation, as well as a key impediment to re-establishing plant cover. Combating land degradation and erosion associated with soil salinity requires experimental determination of plant species that can grow in soils with high levels of salinity and can be used to re-establish plant cover. Herein, we evaluated the responses of untested candidate cultivars of two halophytic grass species to high soil salinity: alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides Torr.) and seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz). We evaluated the growth responses of both species in a greenhouse under control (no-salt) and various levels of NaCl salinity (EC 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48dSm(-1)) using Hoagland solution in a hydroponics system in a randomized complete block design trial. At all salinity levels, sacaton grass had a greater shoot height, shorter root length, lower shoot fresh and dry weights, and poorer color and general quality compared to seashore paspalum. The shoot fresh and dry weights of both grasses were greatest at the low to medium levels of salinity, with the greatest response observed at EC 16dSm(-1). At the highest level, salinity significantly reduced shoot fresh and dry weights of both grasses. Because growth of both halophytic species exhibited high tolerance to salinity stress and were stimulated under low to medium levels of salinity, both species could be considered suitable candidates for re-establishing plant cover in drylands to combat desertification and land degradation associated with high levels of soil salinity.

O presente trabalho analisa o processo de transformação da paisagem litorânea paulista a partir da segunda metade do século XX, utilizando como estudo de caso o município de Bertioga. Este se configura como um município florestal, que ainda em 2008 tem preservada a integridade das dinâmicas ecológicas de seus ecossistemas costeiros, que sobreviveram ao intenso processo de expansão urbana por que passaram muitos municípios vizinhos. Dificuldades históricas de acesso, e a entrada em vigor a partir de meados da década de 1980 de um conjunto de instrumentos jurídicos que impuseram severas restrições à supressão de vegetação nativa de Mata Atlântica, permitiram que em Bertioga fossem observados padrões de ocupação urbanos diferenciados dos observados em grande parte da Baixada Santista, onde a malha urbana substituiu completamente a vegetação primitiva das planícies litorâneas. A urbanização com fins turísticos, o loteamento e a residência de veraneio, são entendidos como os principais vetores de desestruturação das dinâmicas ecológicas presentes na paisagem natural do litoral paulista. Neste cenário o ecossistema de restinga se encontra em posição de especial vulnerabilidade, pois possui formações específicas que somente se desenvolvem nos terrenos firmes de orla marítima, preferidos para a ocupação turística. / The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the ways in which São Paulos shore landscape has changed throughout the years since the fifties, through a case-study: the city of Bertioga. Bertioga is defined by landscape architecture researchers as a forest municipality, which, in the year of 2008, still has most of its coastal ecosystems ecologic dynamics preserved, in spite of the rapid process of urban growth that most of the nearby cities went through. The factors responsible for this strinking difference in Bertiogas development from other cities in the same area where the urban tissue has completely replaced the original vegetation are mainly the access to the city, traditionally difficult, and the implementation, since the Eighties, of a number of effective laws that have imposed severe restrictions concerning the destruction of Mata Atlânticas (brazilian coastal rainforest) native vegetation. The urban occupation with tourist purposes, the criteria for the division of land into plots and the increasing construction of vacation homes are seen as the main reasons for dismantling the structures of the ecologic dynamics existent in the natural landscape of São Paulos shoreline. Under these circumstances, the restinga ecosystem is specially vulnerable, due to certain formations that occur solely on firm ground along the shoreline the tourists favourite spots.

Anthropogenic sound has profoundly changed the acoustic environment of aquatic habitats, with growing evidence that even a short exposure to man-made sound sources can negatively affect marine organisms. Marine invertebrates have received little attention regarding their responses to anthropogenic sound, despite their pivotal role in marine ecosystems, and preliminary evidence of their sensitivity. In this thesis, I critically review the methods used in studies investigating the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine invertebrates. I identify methodological trends that have developed along the timeline of this topic, and use this information to suggest three research strategies to further the development of research in this field. From this review, current knowledge gaps are identified, and two main routes to address them are taken in this thesis. Firstly, to address the shortage of particle motion data in anthropogenic sound literature, two new low-cost and easily accessible particle motion sensors were developed and tested, one of them at 0.1% of the cost of currently commercially available models. These sensors will allow the measurement and reproduction of the sound fields experienced by marine invertebrates in bioacoustic research, even when research budgets are tight. Particle motion is the main sound component detected by invertebrates, yet neglected in many aquatic bioacoustical studies. Secondly, to expand on the comparably small quantity of research investigating the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine invertebrates, a series of controlled laboratory experiments were conducted. Two commercially and ecologically important model species were chosen, the blue mussel Mytilus edulis, representing sessile benthic invertebrates, and the European lobster Homarus gammarus, representing mobile benthic invertebrates. Experiments on M. edulis were conducted taking a mechanistic, integrative approach to investigate the effects of sound on multiple levels of biological organisation, including biochemistry, physiology, and behaviour. The ultimate aim was to understand the underlying drivers behind, and interactions between, responses. Comet assay analysis of haemocytes and gill cells demonstrated a significant six-fold higher single strand breakage in the DNA of cells of mussels exposed to ship-noise playback, compared to those kept under ambient conditions. Superoxide dismutase analysis did not identify an excess of superoxide ions, and glutathione, and glutathione peroxidase assays showed no increase in either glutathione or glutathione peroxidase. TBAR assays however revealed 68% more thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, indicating lipid peroxidation in the gill epithelia of noise exposed specimens. Algal clearance rates and oxygen-consumption rates of noise-exposed mussels were significantly lower (84% reduction and 12% reduction respectively), than those of control animals, while valve gape was significantly (60%) wider. This seemingly converse reaction indicates a shock response in mussels with the onset of noise exposure. Finally, at the genetic level, heat shock protein 70 expression was investigated, but no change was identified during noise exposure. Investigation into the noise induced behavioural responses of H. gammarus suggests seasonal differences in behaviour, using movement as a metric, in response to anthropogenic noise playbacks. During both summer and winter exposures, lobsters spent most time away from the highest noise area (98% of the observed time in summer and 78% in winter). The observed seasonal differences in the time spent in the highest noise area (2% in summer and 22% in winter) could be linked to the lobsters' requirement for shelter during winter. This requirement seems to have had a stronger influence over the animals' behaviour than any desire to avoid high noise levels. The information generated in this thesis can be used by researchers working in the field of marine sound to develop well rounded studies exploring the effects of sound on not only marine invertebrates but other faunal groups as well. The construction details provided to produce low cost particle motion sensors, will allow bioacoustic researchers to easily include particle motion measurements in all future studies investigating the effects of sound on fish and invertebrates. The results of the conducted mussel and lobster experiments evidence how multiple aspects of invertebrate biology can be affected by noise. The observed impacts on both sessile and mobile life forms highlight that the effects of noise cannot be fully understood before a wide range of species with different biological and ecological traits have been studied. The integrative approach to noise research used here can serve as a model for other species, and the results pooled to inform governments and industry of the effects of anthropogenic noise in the marine environment.

The intertidal red algal genus Porphyra is found on rocky shores worldwide. In the Northern Hemisphere the genus is well studied but there is a paucity of data on southern hemisphere Porphyra and even less on New Zealand Porphyra. The species� taxonomy has been undergoing revision since the late 1990�s, when it was discovered that the main species P. columbina and P. lilliputana reported for New Zealand were a combination of several endemic species. These species are found from the low to the high intertidal watermark; hence they are exposed to fluctuating stresses such as desiccation, temperature, high light and UV radiation. Algae have evolved a number of mechanisms to adapt to naturally changing increasing abiotic conditions, such as accumulation of screening pigments and changes in antioxidant metabolism during light stress. For terrestrial plants, polyamines (small aliphatic amines) have been shown to be involved in protecting cells from damage under conditions of stress including UV-B radiation; such mechanisms have yet to be identified in algae. The overall aim of this study was to determine the importance of cellular processes in shaping the community structure of Porphyra on a wave-exposed shore on the east coast of the South Island, New Zealand. Porphyra distribution and community structure was assessed by regular monthly monitoring of presence and absence of Porphyra along four transect lines at the site. Enviromnental information was recorded to determine the effects of temperature, light, UV radiation, humidity and wind on Porphyra�s spatial and temporal distribution. Regular tissue samples were taken for species identification by the application of primers, which were specifically designed during this study. P. cinnamomea and Porphyra spec. "ROS 54" were identified as dominant species present almost throughout the year with a pronounced maximum in presence during late winter and spring, and some weeks of absence during April or May. The two dominant species were recorded from the low to the high intertidal shore, but the mid intertidal was identified as the preferred habitat. Other species that were found were rare and only present for a few months in a very restricted area. It was hypothesised that free radical generation and antioxidant metabolism are associated with desiccation tolerance in Porphyra. An attempt was made to investigate the impact of desiccation stress on Porphyra. The extraction process of antioxidants was problematic and no reproducible results could be obtained. It was attempted to investigate the spatial distribution of spores and conchocelis of different Porphyra species in the field, and determine if those found at Brighton Beach are species-specific in their morphology. This indicated that the two main Porphyra species at Brighton Beach not only prefer to occupy the same habitat but that they also have a morphologically similar conchocelis phase. Mechanisms on a cellular level such as polyamine metabolism affected by environmental (abiotic) stresses are related to the alga�s ability to adapt to stress and therefore can have an effect on Porphyra�s distribution along the shore and its presence throughout the year. The depletion of the ozone layer has become an important issue as the effects of increased UV radiation on the environment, especially the intertidal habitat, are revealed. Marine macrophytes possess the main three. polyamines: putrescine, spermidine and spermine of varying levels. For the few species studied, Rhodophyta generally contain higher levels of polyamines than Chlorophyta, while polyamine levels for the one heterokontophyte analysed were between Chlorophyta and Rhodophyta. Levels of the three most common polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, spermine) were determined in P. cinnamomea under controlled UV exposure. Tissue discs were exposed to visible light (PAR), PAR and UV-A or PAR, UV-A and UV-B radiation. Discs exposed to PAR and PAR and UV-A showed little change in polyamine levels over a six day trial period, while discs exposed to PAR, UV-A and UV-B showed a significant increase in free, bound soluble and bound insoluble polyamines over the same period of time. Correspondingly levels of ADC and ODC, two enzymes involved in polyamine synthesis, were measured. ODC levels changed little while ADC levels increased significantly during UV-B treatment, indicating that under UV-B stress polyamines are mainly synthesized via the ADC pathway. The experimental set-up and process of this study has not been applied in macroalgal polyamine research and results obtained are the first indication that increased levels of polyamines are involved in protection and/or protection mechanisms in macrophytic algae to prevent UV-B damage.

Warm-season turf species are becoming increasingly popular for putting green use in the transition zone. Ultradwarf bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.)  C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy) is the prevalent warm-season putting green species, but seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz) and ‘Diamond’ zoysiagrass [Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr.] may also be grown in the transition zone. Warm-season species are susceptible to winter injury and may require different management regimes than cool-season species. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to assess the impacts of various management practices on warm-season putting green species and characterize the physiological basis for differences in freeze tolerance of various warm-season putting green species. Field studies determined sampling procedures form thatch-mat depth and soil organic matter content of warm-season putting greens and assessed the impact of various management practices on different warm-season putting green species/varieties. The relative freeze tolerance of ‘Champion’ and ‘TifEagle’ ultradwarf bermudagrass cultivars, ‘SeaDwarf’ seashore paspalum, and Diamond zoysiagrass were determined, along with the accumulation of proline and polyamines during cold acclimation, in growth chamber studies. All species/varieties required different sampling numbers for determination of thatch-mat depth and soil organic matter. More sand was incorporated into the turf canopy and surface hardness was increased with brushing and vibratory rolling TifEagle putting greens after sand topdressing application than either treatment alone. Putting green management programs with lower mowing heights and increased mowing frequencies increased ball roll distance on a MiniVerde putting green without negatively affecting turf quality. Weekly vertical mowing + daily grooming on TifEagle reduced thatch depth and turfgrass quality, while increasing topdressing incorporation over either treatment alone. Diamond was the most freeze tolerant species/variety, followed by TifEagle, Champion, then SeaDwarf. Cold acclimation increased proline concentration for all species/varieties except SeaDwarf, but had inconsistent effects on polyamines. Spermidine and putrescine concentrations differed with species/variety, but were not correlated to freeze tolerance.