Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Fledgling'

This study examines the prototypical female leader as constructed by Octavia Butler in her science fiction novels, Dawn and Fledgling. The premise of the study relates to the protagonists’ capacity to undergo arduous tasks in extraordinary circumstances so that they can ultimately lead their people into a revolutionized society. Overcoming enormous obstacles, including the rejection of the very people they must lead, proves that both protagonists, Lilith Ilypo, in Dawn, and Shori Matthews, in Fledgling, are the women of the future, created to lead human beings into a “brave new world.” The study further examines Butler’s portrayal of the “othemesses” that continue to plague societies, despite the societies’ “higher” evolution, and concludes that only through continuous compromise will the world become unified. Butler indicates that the onerous task of achieving this ultimate unification lies on the shoulders of women who will serve as, what I term, the future’s “female Adams.”

Mestrado em Ecologia Aplicada
During the last years tropical forest has been a target of intense study especially due to its recent big scale destruction. Although a lot still needs to be explored, we start realizing how negative can the impact of our actions be for the ecosystem. Subsequently, the living community have been developing strategies to overcome this problem avoiding bottlenecks or even extinctions. Cooperative breeding (CB) has been recently pointed out as one of those strategies. CB is a breeding system where more than two individuals raise one brood. In most of the cases, extra individuals are offspring that delay their dispersal and independent breeding what allows them to help their parents raising their siblings in the subsequent breeding season. Such behavior is believed to be due, per example, to the lack of mates or breeding territories (ecological constraints hypothesis), a consequence of habitat fragmentation and/or disturbance. From this point, CB is easily promoted by a higher reproductive success of group vs pairs or single individuals. Accordingly, during this thesis I explore the early post-fledging survival of a cooperative breeding passerine, namely the impact of individual/habitat quality in its survival probability during the dependence period of the chicks. Our study species is the Cabanis’s greenbul (Phyllastrephus cabanisi), a medium-sized, brownish passerine, classified within the Pycnonotidae family. It is found over part of Central Africa in countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Kenya, inhabiting primary and secondary forests, as well as woodland of various types up to 2700m of altitude. Previous studies have concluded that PC is a facultative cooperative breeder. This study was conducted in Taita Hills (TH) at the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM), a chain of mountains running from Southeast Kenya to the South of Tanzania. TH comprises an area of 430 ha and has been suffering intense deforestation reflecting 98% forest reduction over the last 200 years. Nowadays its forest is divided in fragments and our study was based in 5of those fragments. We access the post-fledging survival through radio-telemetry. The juvenile survey was done through the breeding females in which transmitters were placed with a leg-loop technique. Ptilochronology is consider to be the study of feather growth bars and has been used to study the nutritional state of a bird. This technique considers that the feather growth rate is positively proportional to the individual capability of ingesting food and to the food availability. This technique is therefore used to infer for individual/habitat quality. Survival was lowest during the first 5 days post-fledging representing 53.3%. During the next 15 days, risk of predation decreased with only 14.3% more deceased individuals. This represents a total of only 33% survived individuals in the end of the 50 days. Our results showed yet a significant positive relationship between flock size and post-fledging survival as well as between ptilochronology values and post-fledgling survival. In practice, these imply that on this population, as bigger the flock, as greater the post fledging survival and that good habitat quality or good BF quality, will lead to a higher juvenile survival rate. We believe that CB is therefore an adaptive behaviour to the lack of mates/breeding territory originated from the mass forest destruction and disturbance. Such results confirms the critical importance of habitat quality in the post-fledging survival and, for the first time, demonstrates how flock size influences the living probability of the juveniles and therefore how it impacts the (local) population dynamics of this species. In my opinion, future research should be focus in disentangle individual and habitat quality from each other and verify which relationship exist between them. Such study will allow us to understand which factor has a stronger influence in the post-fledging survival and therefore redirect our studies in that direction. In order to confirm the negative impact of human disturbance and forest fragmentation, it would be of major relevance to compare the reproductive strategies and reproductive success of populations living in intact forests and disturbed patches.
Ao longo dos últimos anos, a floresta tropical tem sido alvo de intenso estudo, especialmente devido à sua destruição em grande escala. Embora ainda haver muito ainda por explorar, já começamos a perceber quão negativo pode ser o impacto de nossas ações neste ecossistema. Por conseguinte, certas comunidades têm vindo a desenvolver estratégias para superar este problema evitando diminuição das populações ou até mesmo extinções locais. Reprodução cooperativa (RC) foi recentemente apontou como uma dessas estratégias. RC é um sistema reprodutivo em que dois ou mais indivíduos criam uma ninhada. A maioria dos indivíduos extras são crias de anteriores ninhadas que atrasam a sua dispersão e reprodução independente o que lhes permite ajudar os pais a criar os seus irmãos na época de reprodução subsequente. Acredita-se que tal comportamento possa ser devido, por exemplo, à falta de companheiros ou territórios de reprodução (hipótese das restrições ecológicas), uma consequência da fragmentação e / ou perturbação do habitat. A partir deste ponto, RC é facilmente promovida se o sucesso reprodutivo do grupo é maior que o de casais indivíduos isolados. Assim sendo, nesta tese explorei a sobrevivência das crias no período após saída do ninho de uma espécie de passeriforme com RC. Nomeadamente o impacto da qualidade do individuo/habitat na sua probabilidade de sobrevivência durante o período de dependência das crias. A espécie em causa é o Cabanis’s greenbul (Phyllastrephus cabanisi) (PC), um passeriforme acastanhado de médio porte, classificada dentro da família Pycnonotidae. Pode ser encontrada na África Central em países como Angola, República Democrática do Congo, Moçambique e Quénia, habitando vários tipos de florestas primárias e secundárias, até 2700m de altitude. Estudos anteriores concluíram que PC é um reprodutor cooperativo facultativo. Este estudo teve lugar em Taita Hills (TH) nas “East Arc Mountain” (EAM), uma cadeia de montanhas que vão de sudeste Quênia ao sul da Tanzânia. TH compreende uma área de 430 ha e devido à intensa desflorestação, 98% da floresta desapareceu nos últimos 200 anos. Hoje em dia a sua floresta está dividida em fragmentos sendo o nosso estudo baseado em 5 desses fragmentos. A sobrevivência das crias foi obtida por rádio-telemetria através das fêmeas reprodutoras (FR). Ptilocronologia é o estudo de barras crescimento das penas e tem sido utilizado para estudar o estado nutricional de uma ave. Esta técnica considera que a taxa de crescimento da pena é positivamente proporcional à capacidade individual de ingestão de alimentos e da disponibilidade alimentar. Esta técnica é utilizada para inferir, portanto, para a qualidade individual / habitat. A sobrevivência foi menor durante os primeiros 5 dias após saída do ninho, cerca de 53,3%. Durante os 15 dias seguintes, o risco de morte diminuiu para 14,3%. Isto representa um total de sobrevivência de apenas 33% no final dos 50 dias. Os nossos resultados mostraram ainda uma relação significativamente positiva entre o tamanho do grupo reprodutivo e a sobrevivência das crias, bem como entre os valores ptilocronologia e a probabilidade de sobrevivência das crias. Na prática, isto significa que quanto maior o grupo reprodutivo, maior a sobrevivência das crias e que quanto melhor for a qualidade do habitat ou de fêmea reprodutora, maior será a taxa de sobrevivência. Isto leva-nos a crer que a RC é um comportamento adaptativo no sentido de compensar pela falta de companheiros/território reprodutivo originado pela destruição da floresta e perturbação. Tais resultados confirmam a importância da qualidade do habitat na sobrevivência das crias, e ainda, pela primeira vez demonstra como o tamanho do grupo reprodutivo influencia a probabilidade de sobrevivência dos juvenis e consequentemente a dinâmica populacional desta espécie. Na minha opinião, futuros estudos devem tentar separar a qualidade do habitat e a qualidade do individuo bem como verificar que relação existe entre eles. Isto vai-nos ajudar a entender melhor que fator tem mais impacto na sobrevivência das crias e, portanto, redirecionar os nossos estudos nessa direção. A fim de confirmar o impacto negativo da perturbação humana e fragmentação da floresta, seria de grande relevância comparar as estratégias reprodutivas e o sucesso reprodutivo das populações que vivem nas florestas intactas VS floresta perturbada.

English
Ph.D.
This project argues that Octavia's Butler's construction of the black woman characters is unique within the pantheon of late eighties African-American writers primarily through Butler's celebration of black female physicality and the agency the black body provides. The project is divided into five sections beginning with an intensive examination of Butler's ur-character, Anyanwu. This character is vitally important in discussing Butler's canon because she embodies the attributes and thematic issues that run throughout the author's work, specifically, the author's argument that black woman are provided opportunity through their bodies. Chapter two addresses the way black women's femininity is judged: their sexual activity. In this chapter, I explore one facet of Octavia Butler's narrative examination of sexual co-option and her subsequent implied challenge to definitions of feminine morality through the character Lilith who appears throughout Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy. Specifically, I explore this subject using Harriet Jacobs' seminal autobiography and slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as the prism in which I historically focus the conversation. In chapter three, I move the discussion into an exploration of black motherhood. Much like the aforementioned challenge to femininity vis-à-vis sexual morality, Octavia Butler often challenges and interrogates the traditional definition of motherhood, specifically, the relationship between mother and daughter. I will focus on different aspects of that mother/daughter relationship in two series, the Patternist sequence, which includes, in chronological order, Wild Seed, Mind of my Mind and Patternmaster. Chapter four discusses Butler's final novel, Fledgling, and how the novel's protagonist, Shori not only fits into the matrix of Butler characters but represents the culmination of the privileging of black female physicality that I observe in the author's entire canon. Specifically, while earlier characters are shown to create opportunities and venues of agency through their bodies, in Shori, Butler posits a character whose existence is predicated on its blackness and discusses how that purposeful racial construction leads to freedom.
Temple University--Theses

The kea is the only parrot species in the world to include the true alpine environment as part of their habitat. Survival in these harsh alpine conditions has been hypothesised to be the cause of the generalist behaviour of kea, leading to their heightened explorative behaviour and curiosity. Kea are also widely regarded as being extraordinarily intelligent. It is their intelligence that suggests that kea may possess a sophisticated communication system. I conducted a study exploring the potentially complex vocal repertoire of the kea. My study was conducted with wild population of banded juvenile and fledgling kea in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park between February 2003 and April 2004. I obtained 449 vocalisations from 16 identified and several unidentified kea. The results of this study confirmed that the vocal repertoire of the kea is exceptionally large for a parrot species, encompassing over 17 vocalisations. This study revealed five vocalisations previously undescribed in the kea repertoire and showed for the first time that vocal repertoire of immature kea may be different to the repertoire of adult kea. Two possible gender specific vocalisations were also revealed. The study of apparent vocal responses revealed that kea appear to be able to identify vocalisation types and respond accordingly using combinations of increasingly complex vocalisations. This is also the first study to take advantage of the similarity between human and parrot vocal systems for the kea, by utilizing powerful human speech analysis software. The results of this analysis allowed the identification of subtle differences in kea vocalisations, including the presence of graded signals, not identifiable by use of spectrogram analysis.

Many factors affect the productivity of songbirds. Which vegetation types the birds inhabit, nest-site characteristics, and adult behavior at the nest may affect predation and parasitism frequencies, fecundity, and nest survival and fledgling survival. All of these metrics determine reproductive success of individuals and may influence population persistence, especially for threatened and endangered species. My research investigated factors that affected these metrics for endangered black-capped vireos (Vireo atricapilla). Shrubland is considered high quality vireo habitat, with woodland vegetation types considered marginal. I located and monitored nests, conducted nest behavior observations, recorded behavior and predation at nests using video cameras, and resighted fledglings in shrubland, oak-juniper woodland, and deciduous woodland during the 2008–2010 breeding seasons. I monitored 302 black-capped vireo nests in 259 territories and resighted 350 fledglings with unique color combinations. Apparent nest success, nest survival, success of first nest attempts, parasitism and predation frequency, and fecundity did not differ statistically among vegetation types. Parasitism frequency was nearly twice as high in shrubland (22 percent) than in either woodland (12 percent in each) and varied by year. Nest-site characteristics differed among vegetation types, but nest survival was affected only by nest height and year; nests placed higher from the ground and nest attempts in 2008 and 2009 had lower survival. Fledgling survival was not affected by vegetation type or proximity of the nest to oak-juniper woodland. Nest behavior was not affected by vegetation characteristics, though nest attentiveness during incubation increased as average cover from 0 to 2 m increased. Females spent 80 percent more time on nests during incubation and 250 percent more time on nests during the nestling stage than males, but visitation was similar for each sex. Overall, the probability of nest success improved as male participation increased. My results emphasize the importance of male participation in determining the outcome of nests for species exhibiting bi-parental care. Furthermore, woodland habitats previously considered marginal may be good quality habitat in areas with large populations of black-capped vireos. Recognizing woodlands as non-typical, yet still suitable, habitat will allow managers to incorporate these vegetation types into management plans and recommendations for landowner conservation incentive programs.

碩士
國立政治大學
國際研究英語碩士學位學程(IMPIS)
107
In certain areas of Chinese academics, most notably in the field of IR, there has been an ardent push for constructing a Chinese school of international relations. This work is an attempt to extract the major underlying theoretical components of Chinese International Relations Theory by examining and testing both Qin Yaqing and Yan Xuetong’s theoreties. In addition, this work also highlights, but does not test, they works and theories of Zhao Tingyang. It is also and attempt to understand what, if any, significance this has for the wider IR debate. This work first analyzes the historical trend for theoretical construction within China and the evolution of the field of IR more broadly. Next, an overview of Western, or traditional, theories of IR is outlined. Followed by this is a comprehensive analysis of Qin Yaqing and Yan Xuetong’s major theoretical elements. The final two sections test the validity of these theories both through historical and contemporary cases of China’s use of force. The historical cases tested are: The Korean War 1950-1953, China-Taiwan Offshore Island War 1954, China-Taiwan Strait War 1958, Sino-Indian War 1962, Sino-Vietnamese War 1979 and The Johnson South Reef Skirmish 1988. The contemporaneous case study investigates the South China Sea disputes by surveying the U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane incident, the USNS Impeccable incident and Chinese island building project in the area of the Spratly feature group. In all cases tested, it is demonstrated that CIRT fails to explain China’s use of force, finding that realism is a better indicator of interpreting China’s use of force both historically and contemporaneously.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
英語學系
104
This thesis focuses on exploring different forms of posthuman bodies—the human, the cyborg and the vampire—in Marge Piercy‟s He, She and It and Octavia E. Butler‟s Fledgling via the posthuman perspective. Also, it aims to explore the processes and outcomes of becoming posthuman bodies. In He, She and It, Piercy depicts a future where people take use of high-tech facilities and devices to enhance the function of their bodies or replace damaged body parts with prostheses. They also create cyborgs as weapons to defend their city. In Fledgling, Butler imagines an alternative society where vampires make use of genetic engineering and a kind of unique venom to transform bodies and control humans to become their symbionts. Becoming posthumans is significant because it means that traditional binary oppositions, such as the human/nonhuman dualism and the human/machine dualism, are challenged and deconstructed. As the two authors imply in their novels, the only way for posthumans to ensure a better life and prolong one‟s life span is to cooperate with and embrace different life forms. Nevertheless, it is dangerous to see only the bright side of the concept of becoming posthumans and crossing boundaries because there might be desperations and disasters coming along with it. We should also examine its dark side. This thesis will draw from Donna Haraway‟ and Katherine Hayles‟ theories to re-examine traditional dualisms, explore the possibilities of crossing boundaries, and discuss the importance of cyborgs and how different posthuman bodies survive in the future. It will also explore the transformation of bodies. And then, Jacques Lacan‟s theory on identification would be discussed to explore how the posthumans identify themselves. It is hoped that this thesis can open a new path to re-think the question of what the human is via the posthuman perspective so we can re-explore the relationship between the self and the other.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2008.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 2, 2008) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Young, Hershini Includes bibliographical references.

The sexes have different life histories that can influence their parental care strategies. I studied northern flicker, Colaptes auratus, parents and simultaneously radio-tracked mates during the nestling and post-fledging periods. I tested hypotheses about sex differences in parental care strategies by examining foraging patterns, provisioning effort and habitat use. Males and females used the same microhabitats, but avoided overlap of their foraging areas on the home range consistent with the hypothesis that mates separate the home range to reduce competition. During temporary (i.e., 24 hr) brood size manipulations, both parents decreased provisioning to reduced broods, but did not increase provisioning to enlarged broods or alter their foraging pattern on the landscape. I suggest flickers were energy limited and were incapable or unwilling to respond to increased brood demands. During the post-fledging period, males spent more time near their fledglings, and cared for their fledglings longer than females (16 days versus 12 days, respectively). Approximately 36% of females abandoned their brood in the post-fledging period and females with high levels of feather corticosterone were more likely to abandon. Older males and those with high provisioning rates in the nestling period fed their fledglings longer. Nearly 45% of fledglings died within the first week after leaving the nest, but survival was higher for fledglings with intermediate body mass and those that occupied areas of dense cover. Families moved a greater distance from the nest during the first 4 days post-fledging when there was less tree cover within 250 m of the nest site. Parents brought fledglings to areas with dense vegetation within the first week post-fledging, but subsequently shifted to open grassland habitats. My results show that parents invest in their offspring indirectly by taking them to habitats that increase survival. This research stresses the importance of studying parental care during the post-fledging period to gain a more complete understanding of the total parental investment of males versus females and how each sex may react differently to trade-offs between investing in the current brood versus self-maintenance.

abstract: The Fledglings of Anani is a universe with an underlying organizing principle of desire, auspiciousness and serendipity, the veiled doors and windows of these realms serve as fugues bridging layers of time leading us through myth and landscape intimately tied to the physical intelligence of earth and character of place. It is a voice that comes to know itself first as being, then in correspondence to nature and her elements, enters into the rhythm of human connection and ultimately circles back to comprehend itself as all these things, varying only in degree. The poems travel further and further toward an allusive center with a contemplative inner eye that embraces the complexity and vitality of life.
Dissertation/Thesis
M.F.A. English 2012

Understanding factors limiting population growth is critical for species exhibiting declining populations. Reproductive success has an important effect on population dynamics; however, our ability to accurately estimate productivity is limited. Studies on avian breeding biology have focused on nest survival; however, surviving to fledging does not ensure survival to the end of the breeding season. Furthermore, our understanding of habitat selection by birds based on the nesting cycle may not adequately represent the breeding habitat requirements because habitat use often changes after the young leave the nest. My goal was to examine the postfledging dependence period of two flycatcher species in the central Sierra Nevada: the California state endangered willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) and the dusky flycatcher (E. oberholseri). My focus was to estimate fledgling survival and examine factors that influence survival, evaluate postfledging movements and habitat use, and estimate post-breeding home range sizes of postfledging flycatchers. I monitored nests of both flycatcher species, individually color banded nestlings, and observed family groups daily once the young fledged. Flycatcher fledgling survival ranged from 46 percent to 76 percent and varied by year and species. Survival was lowest during the first week of the postfledging dependence period for both species. Fledgling flycatchers moved on average ~45m per day during the dependence period. I detected family groups in the natal meadows from 13 to 33 days. I detected willow flycatchers in riparian shrub vegetation 94 percent of the time, with the remaining detections being along the upland forest edge. Dusky flycatchers were more likely to use upland forest vegetation after leaving the nest, as I detected them in riparian shrub vegetation 70 percent of the time. For both years combined, mean 95 percwnt home range sizes were 1.80 ± 1.44 ha for willow flycatchers and 1.82 ± 1.70 ha for dusky flycatchers. Mean 50 percent core areas were 0.33 ± 0.27 ha for willow flycatchers and 0.38 ± 0.44 ha for dusky flycatchers. My results suggest that using fledgling survival throughout the dependence period to assess reproductive output is more accurate than using nesting data alone. Furthermore, postfledging family groups used a larger area of habitat than what is typically estimated from territory mapping singing males. Future research should continue to stress the importance of gaining knowledge about the postfledging period, especially for species with declining populations.

Unambiguous gender identification (ID) is needed to assess parameters in studies of population dynamics, behavior, and evolutionary biology of Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber ruber) and other birds. Due to its importance for management and conservation, molecular (DNA-based) avian gender ID assays targeting intron-size differences of the Chromosome Helicase ATPase DNA Binding (CHD) gene of males (CHD-Z) and females (CHD-W) have been developed. Male (ZZ) and female (WZ) genotypes are usually scored as size polymorphisms through agarose or acrylamide gels. For certain species, W-specific restriction sites or multiplex polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) involving CHD-W specific primers are needed. These approaches involve a minimum of three steps following DNA isolation: PCR, gel electrophoresis, and photo-documentation, which limit high throughput scoring and automation potential. In here, a short amplicon (SA) High-resolution Melting Analysis (HRMA) assay for avian gender ID is developed. SA-HRMA of an 81-Base Pair (bp) segment differentiates heteroduplex female (WZ) from homoduplex male (ZZ) genotypes by targeting Single-nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) instead of intron-size differences between CHD-Z and CHD-W genes. To demonstrate the utility of the approach, the gender of Caribbean Flamingo (P. ruber ruber) (17 captive from the Dallas Zoo and 359 wild from Ria Lagartos, Yucatan, Mexico) was determined. The assay was also tested on specimens of Lesser Flamingo (P. minor), Chilean Flamingo (P. chilensis), Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber), White-bellied Stork (Ciconia abdimii), Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), and Attwater's Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri). Although the orthologous 81 bp segments of Z and W are highly conserved, sequence alignments with 50 avian species across 15 families revealed mismatches affecting one or more nucleotides within the SA-HRMA forward or reverse primers. Most mismatches were located along the CHD-Z gene that may generate heteroduplex curves and thus gender ID errors. For such cases, taxon and species-specific primer sets were designed. The SA-HRMA gender ID assay can be used in studies of avian ecology and behavior, to assess sex-associated demographics and migratory patterns, and as a proxy to determine the health of the flock and the degree by which conservation and captive breeding programs are functioning.