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This dissertation compares and contrasts aboriginal language planning within Canada at both the national and local scale. In 2005, the Aboriginal Languages Task Force released their foundational report which entailed “a national strategy to preserve, revitalize, and promote [Aboriginal] languages and cultures” (2005:1); however, discrepancies exist between their proposed strategies and the strategies employed locally by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, located in Atlin, British Columbia, and the Loon River Cree First Nation, located in Loon Lake, Alberta. Using data collected during ethnographic fieldwork with each First Nation between 2005 and 2008, I provide a rationale for these discrepancies and propose reasons why the national strategy has, as of 2008, been unsuccessful. Both national and local strategies have focused on the relationship between land and language and its role in language planning. National language planning rhetoric has also utilized the concept of nationhood. However, both the Taku River Tlingit and the Loon River Cree use the concept of nationhood in conjunction with assertions of sovereignty over land and, therefore, situate their language planning within land planning. Throughout my research, I have been involved in volunteer language projects for each of the communities. These have included creating a Tlingit language board game entitled “Haa shagóon ítxh yaa ntoo.aat” (Traveling Our Ancestors’ Paths) and Cree language storybooks entitled Na mokatch nika poni âchimon (I will never quit telling stories). Both of these projects connect land use and language use and can be seen as part of local language planning strategies. Finally, the Aboriginal Languages Task Force uses the concept of “language as a right” within their national language planning strategies; however, the Taku River Tlingit and the Loon River Cree have instead utilized a “language as resource” ideology (Ruiz, 1984). I argue that the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the Loon River Cree First Nation use “language as a resource” rhetoric due to their ideologies of land stewardship over Euro-Canadian models of land ownership and I argue that language planning can not stand on its own – separated from the historical, political, economic, social, and cultural considerations that a community faces.

Reindeer can have strong effects on the plant species composition and functioning of tundra ecosystems, and often promote a transition towards a graminoid-dominated vegetation type. As a result, they influence many ecological processes, such as nutrient dynamics, soil biotic composition and functioning, and carbon storage. Several studies suggest that the effect of reindeer on vegetation may follow predictable patterns and could induce an alternative stable vegetation state. However, little empirical data on the long-term stability of reindeer effects on vegetation exist, as it is inherently challenging to study these ecological processes experimentally on a sufficiently long timescale. The main objective of this thesis was therefore to gain a better understanding of the long-term ecological processes following reindeer-induced vegetation shifts. In order to gain a more mechanistic insight in what initially drives this transition, I used a field-based grazing simulation experiment in which I separated defoliation, trampling, moss removal and the addition of feces. This allowed me to test the relative contribution of reindeer-related activities to initiating the shift from moss and heath- dominated tundra towards a graminoid-dominated vegetation state. Additionally, I studied the long-term ecological stability following such a vegetation shift. I did this by addressing historical milking grounds (HMGs): sites where high reindeer concentrations associated with historical traditional reindeer herding practices induced a vegetation transition from shrubs towards graminoids several centuries earlier, but which were abandoned a century ago. Studying HMGs allowed me to address: 1. The potential stability of reindeer-induced vegetation shifts; 2. The ecological mechanisms contributing to the long-term stability of these vegetation shifts; and 3. How such long-lasting vegetation changes influence soil carbon- and nutrient cycling. I found that trampling by reindeer is an important mechanism by which reindeer cause vegetation change. Addressing HMGs further revealed that this vegetation change can be hightly persistent, as the studied HMGs showed only a low encroachment at the surrounding borders in the last 50 years. The vegetation in the core areas of all studied HMGs had remained strikingly stable, and were hardly invaded by surrounding shrubs. Interestingly, soil nutrient concentrations and microbial activities were still different from the surrounding area as well, and even comparable to actively grazed areas. Even after many centuries of changed vegetation composition and soil processes, there was no difference in total carbon sequestration. This suggests that the environmental conditions for microbial decomposition were more important than vegetation composition for the soil carbon stocks, in our study site. After studying the contemporary habitat use of HMGs by reindeer and other herbivores, investigating the potential plant-soil feedbacks mechanisms and detailed soil analyses, I concluded that several ecological mechanisms contribute to the long-term stability of HMGs: first, the altered soil biotic and abiotic conditions appear to have a stronger advantage for HMG vegetation than for the surrounding tundra vegetation. Furthermore, I found a clear browsing preference of small rodents on single shrubs proliferating in HMGs, causing a strong limitation on shrub expansion. Moreover, the dense established sward of graminoids likely poses a strong direct competition for space and nutrients, hindering seedling establishment. Finally, I conclude that HMGs are highly stable on relevant ecological timescales, and propose how the concepts of historical contingency and ASS can be applied to understand stability of these reindeer-induced vegetation transitions.

Wir befinden uns inmitten einer globalen Biodiversitätskrise mit steigender Aussterberate, die die natürliche Hintergrundrate bereits jetzt um das Tausendfache überschreitet. In terrestri-schen Lebensräumen geht vom Landnutzungswandel die größte Gefahr für die Biodiversität aus. Besonders die ursprünglich hohe Vielfalt im mitteleuropäischen Grünland ist seit der In-dustrialisierung durch Nutzungsintensivierung und -aufgabe stark zurück gegangen. Traditionell genutztes, beweidetes Grünland ist in Mitteleuropa selten geworden. Dennoch deuten einige aktuelle Studien auf seine große Bedeutung für den Erhalt der Biodiversität in der Agrarland-schaft hin. Allerdings fehlen umfassende, systematische Untersuchungen für viele traditionelle Grünlandsysteme. Um diese Wissenslücke zu verringern, untersuchte ich in meiner Dissertation die Relevanz voralpiner, traditionell bewirtschafteter Allmendweiden als Refugium für bedrohte Zielarten (Baumpieper [Anthus trivialis], Blaukernauge [Minois dryas]) sowie für arten- und individuenreiche Zoozönosen (Heuschrecken [Orthoptera]) der mitteleuropäischen Agrarlandschaft. Gepaarte Vergleiche von Allmendweiden und angrenzenden Flächen mit identischen Standortbedingun-gen (Referenzflächen) ermöglichten den Vergleich der Arten bzw. -gruppe anhand von Umwelt-parametern in den Vegetationstypen Grünland auf Mineralboden und offenen Mooren. Der Un-tersuchungsraum in Südbayern stellt den Verbreitungsschwerpunkt für Allmendweiden und intakte bis naturnahe Moorökosysteme in Deutschland dar. Meine Analysen zeigen, dass sich der Landnutzungswandel drastisch auf die Referenzflä-chen, die früher überwiegend Teil der Allmendweiden waren, auswirkte: Im Vergleich zu den Weiden weisen sie (i) homogene Strukturen auf Landschafts- und Habitatebene, (ii) geringe Anteile nährstoffarmer Habitate und (iii) eine geringe Besiedlung von Vögeln und Insekten auf. Somit sind sie weitgehend ungeeignet für den Erhalt der Biodiversität. Die einzige Ausnahme innerhalb der Referenzflächen bilden traditionell genutzte Heu- und Streuwiesen. In den Allmendweiden sorgt die traditionelle Beweidung (0.5–2.0 Großvieheinheiten/ha von Mai–Oktober) für eine hohe strukturelle Vielfalt mit nährstoffarmen Habitaten und fließende Übergänge zwischen Wald und Offenland. So können saisonal bzw. innerhalb des Lebenszyklus wechselnde Ansprüche vieler typischer Agrarlandschaftsarten im eng verzahnten Mosaik wert-voller Habitate erfüllt werden. Der Erhalt der Allmendweiden ist für das Überleben von Agrar-landschaftsarten im Untersuchungsgebiet essenziell. Eine Ausdehnung der Allmendweiden-Nutzung auf angrenzende Flächen ist unbedingt zu empfehlen.