Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Leadbeater'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1987.
Title from title screen (viewed 25 March 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Religious Studies. Degree awarded 1987; thesis submitted 1986. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Leadbeater was a man who made the most startling claims for himself, and made them in a very matter-of-fact way.[4] He declared that he had penetrated the depths of the atom by his psychic powers, discovered the ultimate unit of matter whilst sitting in a park on the Finchley Road in London, and had psychically extracted individual atoms of various elements from the showcases in the Dresden Museum whilst he reclined several miles away. He also claimed to have sent sea spirits to dig out atoms of another element from the mines of Sabaranganuwa in Ceylon while he lay in his bed in Madras in India.[5] He claimed to have explored most of the planets in the Solar System, while his body remained on earth, and described their climates and inhabitants in some detail.[6] He claimed to be in regular communication with the Powers which govern the earth from the Inner Planes, the Masters or Mahatmas, the Supermen who constitute the Occult Hierachy of this planet. And, so he said, he conducted parties of pupils to the secret places in Tibet where these same Masters resided, while the bodies of both the pupils and their guide slept securely in their beds.[7](Excerpt from Introduction pp.3-4)

Doctor of Philosophy
Leadbeater was a man who made the most startling claims for himself, and made them in a very matter-of-fact way.[4] He declared that he had penetrated the depths of the atom by his psychic powers, discovered the ultimate unit of matter whilst sitting in a park on the Finchley Road in London, and had psychically extracted individual atoms of various elements from the showcases in the Dresden Museum whilst he reclined several miles away. He also claimed to have sent sea spirits to dig out atoms of another element from the mines of Sabaranganuwa in Ceylon while he lay in his bed in Madras in India.[5] He claimed to have explored most of the planets in the Solar System, while his body remained on earth, and described their climates and inhabitants in some detail.[6] He claimed to be in regular communication with the Powers which govern the earth from the Inner Planes, the Masters or Mahatmas, the Supermen who constitute the Occult Hierachy of this planet. And, so he said, he conducted parties of pupils to the secret places in Tibet where these same Masters resided, while the bodies of both the pupils and their guide slept securely in their beds.[7](Excerpt from Introduction pp.3-4)

Southern Ground-Hornbills Bucorvus leadbeateri are listed as Endangered in South Africa and there is a concerted effort to reverse their population decline. Understanding the factors affecting their movement patterns and how they interact with their habitat is useful to inform conservation and habitat management options for the species, to select sites for artificial nests and to identify suitable areas for reintroduction initiatives. In this study, I report daily and seasonal patterns of habitat use as well as patterns of roost site use of four Southern Ground-Hornbill groups in the Associated Private Nature Reserves, northeast South Africa, based on data from GPS-satellite tags collected over one year from October 2010 to September 2011. Home ranges varied from 5.9-10.3 km² and were larger in winter than during the summer breeding season. Daily travel distances were greater during the breeding season, when birds were constrained to forage close to their nest, and were lower in winter, when birds ranged more widely. Hourly travel distances were affected by time of day, season, air temperature and group. Birds travelled farthest per hour in the morning, decreasing in the afternoon in winter. However, in summer hourly travel distances were bimodally distributed, with a minimum during the middle of the day when ambient temperatures exceed 25⁰C. Acacia-dominated vegetation and riparian habitats were favoured disproportionately during the heat of the day in summer, presumably because they offer more shade than other habitats. The number of roost sites used per month decreased progressively throughout the Early Wet season (October-December) and was lowest during the Late Wet season (January-March) for three groups that bred successfully. Mean monthly nights per roost were highest for these groups in the Early Wet and Late Wet seasons, specifically over December and January, coinciding with the peak breeding period. Throughout the Early Wet season, all four groups frequently roosted in close proximity to the nest, with 54-83% of roosts being within 1 000 m of the nest. During the Wet season, riparian habitats were favoured for roosting by the three groups that bred successfully, while during the dry season, disturbed areas, combretum-dominated habitats and mopane-dominated habitats were used. I conclude that the optimal habitat configurations for ground-hornbills include a mosaic of habitat types, including open areas for foraging and dense trees for shade as well as adequate large trees for nesting and roosting, particularly in riparian habitats.

Populations of secondary tree-cavity nesting bird species are often limited by a shortage of natural nesting sites. For the Southern Ground Hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri that typically nests in natural tree cavities, the shortage of nesting sites is one factor potentially limiting population growth. The species is listed as endangered in South Africa, and vulnerable throughout the rest of its range. Nest boxes can improve the conservation status of threatened birds that are limited by nest-site availability. However, nest boxes or other types of artificial nests are not always beneficial to the target species, and their value as a conservation tool needs to be tested for each species. Wooden nest boxes were installed for ground hornbills in a study area in north eastern South Africa with a paucity of natural nest sites. In this thesis, I assess productivity, timing of breeding, and dispersal in the Southern Ground Hornbill in a study area supplemented with nest boxes and discuss the implications for the conservation of this endangered species. Nest boxes are an effective conservation tool to improve productivity in areas lacking natural tree cavity nesting sites. Breeding success (calculated as the proportion of nesting attempts that fledged a chick) and predation levels were similar for groups using nest boxes and natural nests. Natural nests were more buffered against cooling night temperatures, but otherwise nest boxes provided nesting conditions that were no better than natural nests. Timing of breeding for nests in natural tree cavities and nest boxes were similar. However, groups with access to a nest box attempted breeding more often than groups with access to a natural nest only, resulting in an 15 % increase in the number of fledglings per group compared to an adjacent protected area with no artificial nests. The number of breeding groups in the study area increased by 460 % over 12 years. However, there is a limit to the density of breeding groups. Breeding success was highest when breeding density was one breeding group per 90-120 km², so nests should be spaced ~10 km apart. Given that the threats to ground hornbills include persecution and poisoning, increasing the reproductive rate by providing nest boxes should assist in slowing the decline by the increased recruitment of offspring into the population. Timing of breeding varied across years. The first eggs laid each year ranged from 9 September to 14 November, and median lay date was 03 November. Breeding attempts that were initiated early in the season were more likely to fledge a chick than those initiated later in the season. Timing of breeding was delayed during warmer springs, particularly under dry conditions. In savannas, hotter spring temperatures could limit food availability, for example, if higher temperatures cause the vegetation to dry out, resulting in a rapid decline in insect flush, especially in the phytophagous insect groups that form a large part of the ground hornbill diet. Factors to consider when constructing and placing nest boxes include thickness of the cavity walls, entrance height above ground and density of nest boxes placed in the landscape. Breeding attempts in natural nests and nest boxes with thicker nest walls and those positioned with higher entrances above the ground increased breeding success. Therefore, nests should be constructed with cavity walls at least 6 cm thick and placed so that the entrances are situated > 6 m above the ground. With 186 ringed chicks fledging from the study area after the installation of nest boxes, it was possible to observe their dispersal within the study area and farther away into the adjacent Kruger National Park. There was no evidence for sex-biased dispersal. Males and females dispersed at similar ages, and over similar distances, raising interesting questions about inbreeding avoidance mechanisms in this species. If females do not disperse beyond the range of related males, how do related individuals avoid pairing, and what forms of individual recognition exist?

G. R. S. Mead is an important but neglected historical personality of the British fin-de-siècle occult, Theosophical, and post-Theosophical milieu. While previous scholars of Theosophy have portrayed the Theosophical movement as quite cohesive in nature, I argue that it might have been a lot more pluralistic, with ostensibly key Theosophical concepts being open for debate. By a careful study of Mead’s editorial activity, his debates with other Theosophists in leading occultist journal over the period 1890s through 1910s, I illustrate that Mead held alternative views of key Theosophical concepts. This gives us a clue as to how the movement of Theosophy can be characterized differently. I suggest that we speak of many different “Theosophies” rather than one singular “Theosophy” to better capture the seemingly diverse makeup of the Theosophical movement. I look at three areas wherein Mead’s views differed from those of other important Theosophists: the concept of “the Masters” as spiritual authority, which sources to turn to and how to interpret them, and the question of whether occultism should be understood primarily in theoretical or in practical terms. I propose that by seeing Theosophy as a debating ground where many different Theosophists competed over the definition of their particular kind of Theosophy, we might also better account for why so many post-Theosophical currents emerged. Lastly, Mead’s concept of “Gnosis” might have served as a bridge between his Theosophical and post-Theosophical periods, as the concept’s meaning, along with Mead’s spiritual outlook, does not appear to have changed over time. This gives some consequences to how we conceive of post-Theosophy, since he does not fit neatly within that category.

The habitat of an animal is extremely important as it provides that animal with the necessary resources for fulfilling its life-history requirements (Brennan & Block, 1993; Beyer et al. 2010). A habitat is defined as a region in environmental space which comprises of multiple abiotic and biotic variables influencing an animal's location (Krausman, 1999; Beyer et al. 2010). Animals tend to utilise discrete areas within a habitat, constituting part of their home range. Home range analysis helps to delineate the area used by an animal habitually and areas of concentrated use (Samuel et al. 1985; Seaman & Powell, 1996; Moorcroft et al. 1999; Mitchell, 2007; Rodgers & Kie, 2011). Patterns of differential use of space within an animal's home range are the result of competing demands and trade-offs. In this study, a kernel technique was used to determine the home range of four satellitetracked groups of Southern Ground-Hornbills Bucorvus leadbeateri in the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) in the South African lowveld. Satellite data were analysed in ArcGIS® 9.3 to quantify habitat selectivity by groups of ground-hornbills at different times of the year to determine a) favoured habitat types, and b) the resolution with which they perceive their environment. Each of the I groups showed variation in the utilisation and extent of their home ranges on a seasonal basis. Home range sizes contracted towards the nest during the summer breeding season (December to March) and expanded during the dry season (April to September). Within the home range of one of the groups the physical characteristics of habitat types (i.e. vegetation types) were sampled at 250 random co-ordinates in order to assess whether habitat preference at the meso-scale can be explained by the physical attributes of that vegetation type. By profiling and quantifying the vegetation of areas in the home range that are used by Southern Ground-Hornbills to differing degrees, this information could be used as a proxy to facilitate re-introduction efforts, by providing a tool to identify optimal landscape configurations.

The Southern Ground Hornbill (SGH) (Bucorvus leadbeateri) has recently been listed globally by the IUCN Red list as Endangered or Critically Endangered. In South Africa, the declining population of the SGH has led it to be listed nationally as Vulnerable and falls under the “Protected Species” legislation. Research into the habitat preferences and identification of suitable reintroduction areas have been few since the initiation of reintroduction attempts, therefore resulting in mixed outcomes of previously-reintroduced SGH. The aim of this study was to identify and verify optimal reintroduction sites for the SGH, in the Musina area in the Limpopo Province. Five main objectives were determined, namely: to identify optimal reintroduction areas; to develop a habitat profile of the designated area; to determine the availability of prey items; to determine the availability of large trees needed for nesting and roosting; to evaluate pre-release sites by involving a number of stakeholders. Three study sites were selected on the farm Greyghost Safaris (Ludwigslust), each made up of a different plant community. Sampling was carried out a total of four times during the year: one sampling bout in each season. A niche-based modelling technique was used to describe the suitability of a particular habitat (“ecological space”) then used to project it onto another geographical space. Floristic and faunal surveys were conducted to determine the species composition of prey items and composition and frequency of the herbaceous and woody layer. High-resolution, natural-colour aerial imagery was used in order to determine the availability of trees for nesting and roosting. Pre-release site evaluations and stakeholder engagements were conducted by means of interviews with landowners on and around the study sites. The Limpopo River Valley and across to the KNP on the eastern border of the Limpopo Province, is suitable re-introduction sites for the SGH. This study site provided a good opportunity to explore what an optimal site for reintroduction should resemble.
Thesis (MSc (Zoology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The aim of the study was to determine the consequences of elephant (Loxodonta africana) impact on selected nesting sites of avian fauna and other species in the Associated Private Nature Reserves. The study also aimed at answering key questions on how the architecture of trees influence nest site suitability and what landscape features affect nest site location. Furthermore the type of impact that elephants have on specific nesting sites was determined and how this would affect the short term persistence of these trees. The facillitatory role of elephants was examined by looking at the type of impact that produces gum exudants as well as what gum is selected for by primates and whether primary branch breaking may lead to the creation of nesting sites for species such as the southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri).
Environmental Sciences
M. Sc. (Environmental Management)