Für die zukünftige Förderperiode der EU (2014 – 2020) plant Sachsen eine neue Fördermaßnahme zur Erhaltung wertvoller Wiesen und Weiden, die »ergebnisorientierte Honorierung artenreichen Grünlandes«. Die Broschüre stellt die Maßnahme vor und erläutert die Methode zur Beurteilung eines Grünlandschlages. Im Hauptteil werden alle Kennarten bzw. Kennartengruppen anhand von Zeichnungen, Fotos und Beschreibungen vorgestellt, die für die Förderfähigkeit artenreichen Grünlandes in Sachsen wichtig sind.

This thesis deals with the controversial species of the animal, the European beaver, which is perceived very differently in the human society. In the history, this especially protected animal was extincted on the territory of the Czech Republic and actually his activites frequently come into conflicts of human interests so the comeback of beavers is not always welcome. The thesis describes the process of changing situation of the population of beavers in the Czech Republic and important aspect of their existence. The practical part of the thesis is pursued on the research, which is focused on the perception of the problematic issues of the european beaver by the experts in the Czech Republic. This research is based on seven expert interviews and also on the survey. The goal of my research was to gain comprehensive informations about the perception of experts and about their recommendations how to moderate the situation and harmonize the human - beaver relationship. The main contribution of this thesis is the cooperation all key goups of experts and primary the most important is that results from the research can be used as a material for the future expert debates. Key words: European beaver, species protection, experts, nature preservation, Czech Republic

Für die zukünftige Förderperiode der EU (2014 – 2020) plant Sachsen eine neue Fördermaßnahme zur Erhaltung wertvoller Wiesen und Weiden, die »ergebnisorientierte Honorierung artenreichen Grünlandes«. Die Broschüre stellt die Maßnahme vor und erläutert die Methode zur Beurteilung eines Grünlandschlages. Im Hauptteil werden alle Kennarten bzw. Kennartengruppen anhand von Zeichnungen, Fotos und Beschreibungen vorgestellt, die für die Förderfähigkeit artenreichen Grünlandes in Sachsen wichtig sind.

Die Käferarten Heldbock und Eremit sind zwei typische Bewohner alter Laub- und Obstbäume. Die reich bebilderte Broschüre gibt Einblick in das interessante Leben dieser beiden auffälligen Käferarten und zeigt auf, mit welchen oft einfachen Maßnahmen Heldbock und Eremit unterstützt werden können. Beide Arten sind in den letzten Jahrzehnten selten geworden und brauchen Schutz. Durch die Erhaltung von Baumveteranen in unserer Kulturlandschaft wird nicht nur die Lebensgrundlage dieser besonderen Käferarten geschützt, sondern Hunderte weiterer Insektenarten behalten dadurch ebenfalls ihren Lebensraum.

One of the main attractions for tourists visiting Svalbard, Norway, are polar bears. The polar bear is a vulnerable species, dependent on sea ice to survive as this is where they hunt, wander and raise their cubs. Ship-based tourism poses a number of threats mainly due to the disturbances caused by the presence of ships, damage of critical habitats and the increasing interactions and deadly conflicts between humans and polar bears. Appropriate and effective legislation based on scientific knowledge of the impacts of ship-based tourism on polar bears is necessary to ensure sustainable tourism and environmental protection. Species protection and habitat conservation is not an issue isolated to Svalbard or the polar bears but rather just one part of the pressing global issue concerning loss of biodiversity, which is one of the greatest threats to humankind. The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) aims to ensure the conservation of wild flora and fauna species and their habitats. At the time of signing, the Norwegian Government excluded Svalbard from the application of the Bern Convention, ensuring that national conservation policies for Svalbard would be promoted. The Svalbard Environmental Protection Act is the main act regulating environmental protection on Svalbard, including both general principles and specific provisions regarding species and habitat protection. This paper explores the various needs of the polar bear population in Svalbard and the impacts caused by ship-based tourism. The Bern Convention’s provisions relating to the identified threats posed by ship-based tourism are examined and compared with the corresponding provisions in the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act. Moreover, this paper analyses the potential benefits that could arise from the application of the Bern Convention to the Svalbard territory. This paper concludes that the protection of the polar bears could, de jure, be strengthened by the Bern Convention, mainly due to the extensive interpretation of the types of activities that should be prohibited by signatory states. However, the Bern Convention can only be enforced by non-binding mechanisms and it is therefore unlikely that the application of the convention would lead to stronger protection of the polar bears than that which is provided by national legislation. The protection of the polar bear from threats caused by ship-based tourism would therefore, de facto, most likely not be strengthened by the application of the Bern Convention.

La thèse aborde une question originale et d'actualité: l'extension artificielle des côtes. Afin de mieux comprendre ce phénomène dans son actualité, la thèse attache une importance à la description de la pratique des États en fournissant les informations aussi précises, aussi actuelles et aussi concrètes que possible. C'est à partir de cette pratique que la thèse répond à la question de savoir comment les règles de droit répondent aux exigences de la pratique. En ce qui concerne la pratique des États, la thèse explique, dans une première partie, que l'extension artificielle des côtes est destinée, tantôt, à protéger les côtes contre l'élévation du niveau de la mer, tantôt à gagner des terres pour diverses fins: habitat humain, agricoles, développement des ports et de leurs infrastructures pour les besoins des navires modernes et du commerce international. Mais parallèlement, cette extension entraîne des effets négatifs pour l'écosystème côtier (chapitre I). Des travaux de ce genre ont été menés, ou vont l'être, en Europe (Pays-Bas, Allemagne, Belgique, France, R.-U., etc), aux États-Unis, en Asie (Bahreïn, Malaisie, Hong Kong, Singapour, Japon), en Australie, et sur certains archipels du Pacifique (chapitre II). La seconde partie de la thèse examine le droit applicable au phénomène d'extension artificielle des côtes. Sont ainsi passées en revue: les règles relatives à la navigation (chapitre III), les règles relatives aux lignes de base (chapitre IV), les règles relatives aux hauts-fonds découvrants (chapitre V), les règles relatives aux îles et aux rochers (chapitre VI) et enfin les règles relatives à la protection de l'environnement marin (chapitre VII).

Between July 2009 and October 2011, a new habitat was found for a rarely reported freshwater dinoflagellate species, Thompsodinium intermedium - Comal Springs (Comal County), Texas. In 2011, diel in-situ monitoring in monospecific blooms of this species revealed previously undetected negative impacts on endangered species habitat availability associated with conditions of low flow levels, recorded at the U.S. Geological Survey gage # 08169000 on Texas Commission on Environmental Quality river segment 1811 station 12655. During a period of low springflow in the summer of 2011, late afternoon and early morning measurements of dissolved oxygen and temperature and presence of dinoflagellate blooms were monitored at six sites. Significant differences in diel fluctuations were found in all of these parameters among sites with and without the planktonic blooms. These fluctuations increased risk of hypoxia and hyperthermia conditions at sites of planktonic bloom events. Arrays of in-situ continuous monitoring temperature/light probes were used inside and outside of blooms. Wildlife and human health implications are that hypoxia and hyperthermia are known to promote conditions favorable to harmful microbes which may be transported from springs to coastal bays. In-situ data demonstrated that T. intermedium blooms, hypoxia, and hyperthermia occurred in the upper Comal headwaters. These natural environmental stressors may be avoidable if adequate springflows are maintained to buffer against these impacts.

This study intends to investigate how different demographic groups among individual forest owners in Sweden view issues related to sustainable forestry. The study also intends to investigate what different individual forest owners perceive as positive/negative aspects in terms of species protection and policy changes. It also investigates in what way individual forest owners' views and forestry relate to decided goals and what previous research defines as sustainable forestry. To investigate this, a survey has been conducted where the survey was distributed to individual forest owners around the country through various online communication channels such as social media and online forums. The survey resulted in a total of 226 respondents spread across most parts of the country. The results that emerged from the study shows demographic differences and similarities, where we for example can see that there is a greater proportion of women than men who believe that Swedish forestry is not sustainable today. At the same time, we can observe that the majority believe that it is sustainable within all demographic groups. Incidentally, we can see that there is a dividing line between authorities and the interests of individual forest owners. Views on sustainable forestry vary and many forest owners strive for less government intervention in their forestry and property rights are central. We see a willingness to compromise if the forest owner receive financial compensation, in terms of protected areas. We can also see goal conflicts between forest owners' views and uses and authorities' directives and goals.

The illegal reptile trade quandary in the Western Cape province is strategically and chronologically addressed in this thesis with the implicit intention of revealing its gamut and underlying dynamics, developing a pragmatic, parsimonious and authentic conservation crime category with clearly delineated parameters, and formulating an integrated theoretical explanation regarding its aetiology that will adequately explicate herpetological, and hopefully also other forms of natural resource, crime and deviance. The thesis, by essentially transcending traditional, stereotypical edicts, throws new light on a severely neglected and underestimated form of natural resource exploitation, highlighting the need for reptiles, as the sentinels of the state of our environmental health to be preserved and perpetuated for, in the final analysis, the benefit of human kind. Through an essentially explorative enquiry, utilising an integrated qualitative -quantitative research approach, the concept of conservation crime, as a vanguard to an innovative and unified conservation criminology, is introduced in this thesis in the form of unambiguous adjunct of the mainstream criminological discipline. It is, furthermore, utilised as a conduit within the herpetological crime framework to enrich the criminological discipline as a whole, broaden its frontiers, promote effective and focussed intervention/mitigation initiatives, as well as stimulate interest for further investigation in this field. Fragmented, antiquated and nebulous legislation, deficient conservation and related role-player organisational capacity and inconsistent penalties, in concert with apathetic (and decidedly generic) societal attitudes and traditional pessimistic rubric regarding reptiles, emerge as fundamental proclivities impeding the effective intercession and management of the natural resources embodied in this sphere. Injudicious manipulation of the Western Cape's scarce and specialised reptile resources and the biodiversity ramifications such exploitation realises portend the intensification and diversification potential of such criminality. Conservation criminology, as developed and presented in this thesis, underscores the significant contribution this field of criminology can make in comprehending the illegal manipulation/exploitation of herpetological and other natural resources, expanding and enhancing its theoretical constructs and implementing justice through decisive, dedicated and holistic intervention programmes/strategies in order to defend the inherent right to the continued existence of all reptile species. / Crimonology / D. Litt et Phil. (Criminology)

The illegal reptile trade quandary in the Western Cape province is strategically and chronologically addressed in this thesis with the implicit intention of revealing its gamut and underlying dynamics, developing a pragmatic, parsimonious and authentic conservation crime category with clearly delineated parameters, and formulating an integrated theoretical explanation regarding its aetiology that will adequately explicate herpetological, and hopefully also other forms of natural resource, crime and deviance. The thesis, by essentially transcending traditional, stereotypical edicts, throws new light on a severely neglected and underestimated form of natural resource exploitation, highlighting the need for reptiles, as the sentinels of the state of our environmental health to be preserved and perpetuated for, in the final analysis, the benefit of human kind. Through an essentially explorative enquiry, utilising an integrated qualitative -quantitative research approach, the concept of conservation crime, as a vanguard to an innovative and unified conservation criminology, is introduced in this thesis in the form of unambiguous adjunct of the mainstream criminological discipline. It is, furthermore, utilised as a conduit within the herpetological crime framework to enrich the criminological discipline as a whole, broaden its frontiers, promote effective and focussed intervention/mitigation initiatives, as well as stimulate interest for further investigation in this field. Fragmented, antiquated and nebulous legislation, deficient conservation and related role-player organisational capacity and inconsistent penalties, in concert with apathetic (and decidedly generic) societal attitudes and traditional pessimistic rubric regarding reptiles, emerge as fundamental proclivities impeding the effective intercession and management of the natural resources embodied in this sphere. Injudicious manipulation of the Western Cape's scarce and specialised reptile resources and the biodiversity ramifications such exploitation realises portend the intensification and diversification potential of such criminality. Conservation criminology, as developed and presented in this thesis, underscores the significant contribution this field of criminology can make in comprehending the illegal manipulation/exploitation of herpetological and other natural resources, expanding and enhancing its theoretical constructs and implementing justice through decisive, dedicated and holistic intervention programmes/strategies in order to defend the inherent right to the continued existence of all reptile species. / Crimonology / D. Litt et Phil. (Criminology)