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A population of spotted-tailed quolls Dasyurus maculatus was studied for three years (2002-2004) in the lower catchment of the Jacobs River, in the Byadbo Wilderness Area of southern Kosciuszko National Park, south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Survey and monitoring of quoll latrine sites and prey populations, dietary analysis and live-trapping was carried out for one year before and two years after the widespread wildfires of January 2003, which had a very high impact on the study area. Survey for spotted-tailed quoll latrine sites was successful in locating a total of 90 latrine sites in the Jacobs River study area over the three years of the study. These were found throughout all parts of the topography among large, complex granite outcrops and along rocky sections of riparian habitat. After the fire in 2003, lower numbers of latrines were in use than observed pre-fire, and there was a lower level of usage (number of scats) of individual latrines. Continued monitoring in 2004 revealed that many latrines that had become inactive in 2003 following the fire were re-activated in the second breeding season following fire. 1466 spotted-tailed quoll scats were collected from latrines and live-trapped quolls over the three years of the study. Hair analysis from scats identified twenty-two different species of mammal in the diet of the spotted-tailed quoll from the Jacobs River study area, representing the majority of all prey identified (98.5% occurrence) and contributing almost all of the biomass consumed (99.6%). Medium-sized mammals were the most important prey category, followed by small mammals, large mammals (most likely taken as carrion) and non-mammalian prey (birds, reptiles, insects and plants). Brushtail possums were the most important single prey item by both frequency of occurrence and percentage biomass in all years, followed by lagomorphs (rabbits and hares), Rattus spp., and swamp wallabies. There was a significant difference in the composition of the diet by major prey category across the years of the study as a result of the fire, indicated by a shift in utilisation of food resources by quolls in response to significant changes in prey availability. Monitoring of prey populations revealed that brushtail possums, lagomorphs and bandicoots were all significantly less abundant in the study area in the winter directly following the fire, followed by a significant increase in abundance of lagomorphs, but not of possums, in the second winter after the fire. Quolls adapted well to this altered prey availability. While there was a significant decrease in occurrence of brushtail possum in scats after the fire, significantly more scats contained hair of lagomorphs, to the point where almost equal proportions of lagomorphs and possum hair occurred in scats by the winter of 2004. Other fire-induced changes to the diet were evident, such as a significant drop in the occurrence of small mammals in scats for both winters after the fire, and a peak in occurrence of large mammals in the winter directly following the fire that strongly suggests there was a short-term increase in the availability of carrion. A large, high-density population of spotted-tailed quolls was live-trapped and marked during the winter breeding season of 2002. Twenty-two quolls (13 male and 9 female) were present in the study area in 2002, and subsequent trapping over the 2003 and 2004 winter breeding seasons following the fire revealed that the high-intensity wildfire did not result in the extinction of the local population. There was evidence of a small, short-term decline in the number of quolls present in the study area in the 2003 breeding season, with 16 individual quolls captured. Males were outnumbered two-to-one by females, due either to mortality or emigration. Trapping in 2004 showed a recovery of the population to numbers exceeding that observed prior to the fire, with 26 individuals captured (16 male, 10 female), most likely as a result of immigration. There was some evidence that recruitment of young from the post-fire breeding season in 2003 was reduced because of the fire. This study took advantage of an unplanned wildfire event to monitor the response of a population of spotted-tailed quolls and their prey. In this regard it was fortuitous since it has been recognised that the use of replicates and controls in the study of the impacts of wildfire on such species is likely to be logistically impossible. Consequently, the effects of fire on forest and woodland fauna such as the spotted-tailed quoll are poorly understood, with many authors expressing concern that, potentially, wildfires are likely to be highly detrimental to resident quoll populations. The results of this study, however, concur with the few other studies in which forest mammal populations have been monitored before and after wildfire in suggesting that wildfires may not be as destructive to fauna as that imagined. The results of this work will provide information to assist in the preparation of management strategies for the species, such as recovery plans, as well as information for land managers preparing management plans, including fire management plans, for habitats in which spotted-tailed quolls are found throughout their range.

There are significant mental health disparities in Aboriginal communities in Canada as a result of historical assimilation policies (Health Canada, 2012). One approach to mitigating these mental health concerns is through prevention programs that include a wilderness component. Wilderness based programs for Aboriginal youth are informed by cultural wisdom and empirical research that connects immersion in nature with psychological well-being. The goal of this study was to collaborate with two community partners (Nala Winds canoe family from the Heiltsuk First Nation, and Victoria Native Friendship Centre) to develop an evaluation tool that will satisfy mainstream funding standards as well as community, cultural standards. This tool-kit was designed to reflect the youth experience and mental health consequences of Tribal Journeys, an annual canoe journey program for Coastal First Nations peoples. The findings were shared with community partners and may be helpful in facilitating the creation, maintenance, and evaluation of other Aboriginal youth programs. / Graduate / 0620 / 0347 / 0621 / tansmethurst@gmail.com

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Text in Afrikaans / Die proefskrif ondersoek die funksie van fonteine en putte in die religie van ou Israel. Die religie van die Hebreeuse Bybel word tradisioneel beskryf as 'n historiese religie waarin Jahwe, die god van Israel, fundamenteel gemoeid is met die verlossing van sy volk in die gang van die geskiedenis, terwyl die wêreld van die natuur van marginale belang is. Dit is egter duidelik dat die natuur in die vorm van haar grondwaterbronne 'n belangrike rol in ou Israel se leefwerêld gespeel het, nie alleen as lewegewende bronne in die droē fisiese Palestynse landskap nie, maar ook in hulle narratiewe en simboliese wêrelde. Fonteine en putte was kultiese plekke en heilige ruimtes waar teofanieē plaasgevind het, konings gekroon is, regsgedinge gevoer is, voorvadergeeste opgeroep is en die nageslag van ou Israel verseker is toe die voorvaders hulle toekomstige bruide by putte ontmoet het. Deur middel van die ou Nabye Oosterse ikonografie as hulpwetenskap in die interpretasieproses, is gevind dat die rede vir die sakrale waarde wat aan die waterbronne geheg is, opgesluit is in ou Israel se kosmologie wat hulle met hulle mitologies-gesinde en natuurvererende bure gedeel het. Daarvolgens ontspring fonteine uit die kosmiese onderaardse oeroseaan om lewe en vrugbaarheid te bring aan alles wat lewe. Die beeld het daartoe aanleiding gegee dat fonteine en putte metafories vir vroulike seksualiteit en vrugbaarheid gedien het. Die waterbronne tree ook as draers van hoop op. In verhale oor die wonderbaarlike ontstaan van fonteine in die wildernis deur lewensonderhoud aan die Israetiete tydens hulle woestynomswerwinge te voorsien. Ons kan met sekerheid aanneem dat ou Israel hulle watergate as lokaliteite van integrasie, sin en orde teen die aanslae van die chaosmagte ervaar het. Deur die eeue het die mensdom nagedink oor eksistensiele kwessles soos lewe en dood, vrugbaarheid en steriliteit, die redes vir rampe en oor wat die toekoms inhou. Dit is ten diepste religieuse vrae wat die vervloe bybelskrywers vir hulle tyd en omstandighede aangespreek het deur 'n refigurasie van Palestina se waterbronne. Grondliggend aan hierdie studie as 'n herevaluering van die natuur in die Hebreeuse Bybel om menslike wesens as deel van die natuur op te stel en nie as staande bo die natuur nie. / The dissertation investigates the function of springs and wells in the religion of ancient Israel. The religion of the Hebrew Bible has traditionally been descibed as a historical religion in which Yahweh, the god of Israel, was fundamentally concerned with the salvation of Yahweh's people In history in which the world of nature is of marginal interest. However, it is evident that nature in the form of its groundwater sources played an important role, not only as life giving sources in the arid physical environment of Palestine, but also in their narrative and symbolic worlds. Springs and wells served as cultic centres and sacred places where theophanies took place, kings were crowned, lawsuits conducted, ancestral spirits conjured up and the future progeny of Israel was ensured when patriarchs betrothed their future brides at wells. By means of ancient Near Eastern iconography as an interpretation aid, this study finds the reason for the sacred value attributed to groundwater sources in the cosmology of ancient Israel which she shared with her mythically-minded and nature-worshipping neighbours. Springs were believed to arise from the cosmic subterranean ooean to bring life and fertility to all living things. This image caused springs and wells to serve as metaphor of female sexuality and fertility. They also act as agents of hope in stories of miraculous springs in the desert which provide sustenance during the Israelites' desert wanderings. We can safely conclude that ancient Israel experienced their springs and wells as localities of integration, meaning and order amidst the threatening forces of chaos. Through the ages humankind reflected on existential questions regarding life and death, fertility and sterility, the reasons for disasters and what the future holds. These are profoundly religious questions addressed by the biblical authors for their time and circumstances by implementing a refiguration of the groundwater sources of Palestine. Ultimately this study serves to re-evaluate nature in the Hebrew Bible and to construe human beings not as standing above nature, but as part of nature. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

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Le domaine du plein air est un champ traditionnellement masculin où les filles et les femmes éprouvent généralement des difficultés à être reconnues par leurs pairs et subissent plusieurs formes de discrimination. Cette faible reconnaissance, ainsi que la discrimination subie par plusieurs d’entre elles, ont des impacts négatifs sur leur participation, leur confiance en elle, leur sentiment d’appartenance, le développement de leurs habiletés techniques, et même, sur leur longévité professionnelle dans le domaine. Plusieurs activités de plein air se déroulent en contexte de groupe dans lesquels les inégalités de genre du domaine sont susceptibles d’émerger et de se reproduire. Ainsi, les groupes d’expédition sont des contextes privilégiés pour observer comment opèrent l’émergence et le fonctionnement des inégalités de genre dans le domaine du plein air. Ce projet de recherche doctorale vise à développer une meilleure compréhension des processus entourant la reconnaissance sociale dans les groupes d’expédition éducative, et ce, en portant une attention particulière au genre. Une étude de cas ethnographique comprenant de l’observation participante au cours d’une expédition de canotage de quatre semaines a été menée auprès d’un groupe d’étudiants (17 hommes et 7 femmes) engagés dans un programme de formation universitaire de premier cycle en intervention plein air. Un cadre conceptuel sociologique bourdieusien a été utilisé afin de rendre compte des différents processus pouvant influencer la reconnaissance sociale des membres d’un groupe d’expédition. Les concepts de champ, d’espèces de capital et d’habitus ont permis de mener trois analyses distinctes mais interreliées. La première étude est basée sur la signification et la valeur symbolique des tâches et des activités inhérentes à la conduite d’une expédition de canot et porte sur la division sexuée du travail en expédition. Cette étude montre comment le genre, les représentations du genre de même que la classe sociale interagissent pour orienter les stratégies d’amélioration ou de maintien de statut. La deuxième et la troisième mobilisent certains constats issus des travaux sur les hiérarchies de statut dans les groupes ayant des objectifs à atteindre. Plus précisément, la deuxième étude est basée sur le postulat selon lequel la perception de 6 compétence et les attentes de performance à l’égard d’une personne jouent des rôles déterminants dans les processus d’attribution de statut dans les groupes. L’analyse des données a permis d’identifier différentes stratégies consistant à laisser implicitement sous-entendre, dans ses actions ou ses discours, la possession d’une certaine expertise. Cette analyse a aussi permis de mettre en évidence comment les rapports sociaux de genre jouaient des rôles importants dans les processus de distinction liés à la compétence et comment les compétences de certaines femmes étaient parfois ignorées ou encore utilisées par d’autres participants pour apparaître plus compétents qu’elles. Enfin, la troisième analyse s’appuie principalement sur les concepts de capital social et de champ comme espace de luttes dans lequel les agents cherchent à influencer le mode de perception et d’appréciation légitime. Cette troisième analyse a permis d’identifier des stratégies consistant à gérer les relations et les interactions sociales avec autrui de façon à en tirer des avantages en termes d’amélioration ou de maintien de statut au sein d’un groupe. Cette étude a permis de montrer comment les rapports sociaux de genre et de classe interagissent et influencent les relations et les interactions sociales dans le groupe et donc, les processus de reconnaissance sociale. L’ensemble de ces analyses permet de mieux comprendre les logiques d’action et le fonctionnement, en contexte d’expédition, des inégalités fondées sur le genre et la classe sociale. Parallèlement, ces études ont aussi permis d’examiner certains enjeux relatifs à l’apprentissage et à la gestion des risques en contexte d’expédition éducative. À cet effet, des pistes d’intervention praxéologiques susceptibles de favoriser une dynamique de groupe plus inclusive et d’accroître le bien-être des participants, leur apprentissage et leur sécurité ont été proposées. / The outdoor field is a traditionally male-dominated field where girls and women generally have difficulty being recognized by their peers and suffer from many forms of discrimination. This low recognition, as well as the discrimination experienced by many of them, have negative impacts on their participation, confidence, sense of belonging, development of their technical skills, and even on their professional longevity in the field. Many outdoor activities occur in a group context where gender inequalities in the field are likely to emerge and recur. Thus, expedition groups are privileged contexts to observe how the emergence and functioning of gender inequalities in the outdoor field operate. This doctoral research project aims to develop a better understanding of the processes underlying social recognition in an educational expedition group, with particular attention to gender. An ethnographic case study involving participant observation during a four-week canoeing expedition was conducted with a group of students (N=24; 17 men and seven women) engaged in an outdoor adventure leadership undergraduate program at a university in Quebec (Canada). A Bourdieusien sociological conceptual framework was used to examine the different processes that could influence the social recognition of expedition group members. The concepts of field, forms of capital, and habitus offered powerful heuristic tools to conduct three distinct but interrelated analyses. The first study is based on the significance and symbolic value of the tasks and activities of a canoe expedition and focuses on the sexual division of labor. This study shows how gender, gender representations, and social class interact to guide the strategies used by the participants to maintain or uplift their social status as outdoor leaders. The second and third studies built on and seek to contribute to the research on status hierarchies in tasks-oriented groups. More specifically, the second study is based on the assumption that perception of competence and expectations of performance towards a person play decisive roles in the status allocation process in groups. Data analysis allowed us to identify various rationales underlying the strategies used by group members to convey an impression of competence in their actions or discourse. This analysis also highlighted how gender relations play essential roles in competence8 related processes of distinction and how the skills of some women are sometimes ignored or used by other participants to appear more competent than experienced women. Finally, the third analysis is mainly based on the concepts of social capital and field as a space of struggles in which agents seek to influence the legitimate principles of perception and appreciation in force in the group. In this third analysis, we identified six relational strategies that consist in managing social interactions and relations with other group members in order to improve or maintain one’s status within the group. This study showed how gender and class interact and influence relationships and social interactions in the group and, therefore, social recognition processes. Taken together, these analyses provide a better understanding of the logic of action and how inequalities based on gender and social class work in the context of expeditions. Moreover, these studies examined some issues related to learning, risk management, and inclusion in educational expeditions. To this end, practical recommendations have been proposed to foster a more inclusive group dynamic and increase participants' well-being, learning, and safety.

Human-induced impacts associated with recreational use in wilderness areas have the potential to imperil the wilderness resource and the quality of visitor experiences. One approach to address this problem is the Limits of Acceptable Change System, which helps Protected-area managers determine acceptable levels of resource impacts and social conditions in wilderness areas. This study's objective was to determine the possible applicability of the Limits of Acceptable Change System to the overnight caves in the wilderness areas of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park. Component A of the study discusses the ten steps of the Limits of Acceptable Change system and the management approaches for the wilderness areas and overnight caves in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park. A product of Component A is a procedure manual for inventorying indicators of resource conditions in the overnight caves. During a brief period of field research this procedure manual was applied to four overnight caves in the Mlambonja Wilderness area. Component B of the study summarizes much of the information found in Component A and examines the results from the field research. Recommendations are made to improve the effectiveness of measuring the resource indicators for the overnight caves in the procedure manual. This study's conclusions indicate that the Limits of Acceptable Change System can be applied to the overnight caves and would provide a valid management framework to address visitor impacts / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.