Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Trade diversion'

The objective of this paper is to assess the bilateral exports from an origin to a destination, in the context of countries belonging to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and whether or not the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) leads to trade creation or trade diversion, or both. To study this, a panel gravity model is employed with 135 countries, from 2000-2014, using a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood method (PPML). To study the impact of AFTA on trade creation/diversion, a set of three dummy variables are used, denoting whether the origin country belongs to ASEAN, whether the destination country belongs to ASEAN and finally, whether both origin and the destination countries belong to ASEAN. Along with AFTA, five other Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) are also taken into account. The main finding of this paper is that there is no pure trade creation nor pure trade diversion due to AFTA, but rather a significant export trade creation, that is, ASEAN’s exports to the rest of the world is positive and significant. Future policy implications could include measures to strengthen the regional economic cooperation amongst the members of ASEAN.

This Bachelor thesis investigates if the Swedish trade has faced trade diversion and or trade creation after entering the European Union (EU). This is done by analyzing Sweden’s trade pattern of goods before and during the membership using a selected time-period of 1985-2004.

To be able to investigate if Sweden has faced trade diversion and trade creation we apply the Soloaga and Winters model (2000) which is based on the gravity model of trade and we modify it to fit our purpose. By using the modified version we run a pooled panel data regression where we divide the time-period into two groups, a before (1985-1994) and during (1995-2004) EU membership group and we included eight different variables to estimate trade diversion and creation. After running the pooled panel data, we could conclude that Sweden has faced 44 percent trade diversion by diverting its trade from non-members to member states in the EU. Sweden has also increased its trade to EU member states by 106 percent implying trade creation. However since we have not included an exchange rate variable these figure cannot be used as direct percentages to estimate trade diversion and creation, they are instead used as a point of reference.

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Denna kandidatuppsats undersöker huruvida Sveriges handel har påverkats av handelsomfördelning och eller en handelsökning efter medlemskapet i den Europeiska Unionen (EU). Detta gör vi genom att analysera Sveriges handelstrend under 1985-2004.

Till vår hjälp i vår undersökning av Sveriges handelsutveckling under de senaste 20 åren har vi använt Soloaga och Winters (2000) regressionsmodell som är baserad på gravitations modellen för handel men vi har modifierat den till att passa vårt syfte. Genom denna modifierade modell har vi gjort en poolad paneldata analys där vi delar upp vår tids period i två grupper, en före- och en under EU grupp och vi inkluderade åtta variabler i modellen. Sammanfattningsvis har vi kommit fram till att Sverige har påverkats av en 44 procentig handelsomfördelning då handeln har skiftat från icke medlemsstater till medlemsstater. Sverige har även ökat sin handel med EU länderna med 106 procent vilket pekar på att Sverige även har påverkats av en handelsökning. Dessa siffror måste dock ses som en utgångspunkt och inte exakta siffror för handelsomfördelning och handelsökning då vi ej inkluderat en variabel som mäter valutakurs förändringar i vår regressionsmodell

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have a long history of trading with each other. They are economic partners as well as competitors for many years. In order to push their economic relationship to a higher level, in November 2002, ASEAN and China signed the initial framework agreement, determined on establishing the ASEAN - China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) among the eleven countries by 2010 for the ASEAN-6 (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) and by 2015 for the transitional economies of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (the CLMV). There are fears that China’s rapid development recently will encourage ASEAN’s exports to flow into its giant domestic market instead of among the members countries. Also the benefits of the Free Trade Agreement are still unclear. The Thesis uses three gravity models and the panel data of 11 countries from 1992 to 2009 to test two hypotheses: trade diversion (that expanded trade with China will reduce intra-trade within ASEAN) and trade creation (that ACFTA will boost up bilateral trade between ASEAN and China).

In December of 2003, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced the presence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) within a cow in the state of Washington. The announcement prompted the cessation of beef imports by the largest traditional beef trading partners with the United States, resulting in immediately realized losses to the U.S. industry. This thesis evaluates the short- and long-term impact this discovery and subsequent policies had on the global beef market. We utilize market share analysis to examine the loss realized by the U.S. over a 13-year time frame, then employ a log-linear gravity model with fixed effects to quantify the changes in global export and import values and quantities using a novel bilateral trade database spanning 16 years. We find that the policies implemented immediately on discovery of the single BSE case were often slow to be rescinded even though additional related cases of BSE were not found in the United States. We also find that the removal of said policies does not guarantee full reentry of U.S. beef products, even after a lag of several years. Finally, we find that both traditional and newly emerging suppliers of beef and beef products contributed to the slow reentry of U.S. beef within critical markets. The losses and implications of the aforementioned policies detailed within this thesis suggests a different approach be undertaken by regulators should another similar threat to the U.S. food supply emerge in the future.
Master of Science

Background: A large part of the daily political and economic debate in Sweden concerns the EU. One question that has been debated since the beginning of European integration is whether trade is created as a consequence of integration and, ifso, how great are the gains related to the increased trade. An equally important but maybe less debated question is whether countries outside the union are affected by the increased European integration. Is increased European integration made at the cost of countries outside the EU?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is, by calculating trade creation and trade diversion, to evaluate if a number of developing countries’ trade with Sweden has decreased after Sweden’s membership in the European Union.

Limitations: The study is limited to the years 1990-1999, and not all developing countries are included in the study. All developed countries are also omitted from the study.

Method: The empirical material consists of calculations of consumption shares for Sweden, partner countries and third countries. The method is called residual imputation, meaning that the actual evolution of the trade is compared with a hypothetical, calculated one. These calculations where made for three groups of countries, divided after GDP/capita.

Conclusions: On the aggregated level, and for the two least poor groups of countries, there is no evidence that these countries have seen their shares decreased as a consequence of Sweden entering the EU. The poorest group of countries has, however, not been able to maintain the same level of exports to Sweden after the membership.

The thesis analyses the effect of the Eastern enlargement on goods flows into four CEECs. In the beginning, the Eastern enlargement and numerous related economic effects are briefly characterised. After that it focuses on trade diversion and trade creation effects, starting with a concise discussion of the traditional customs union theory and followed by the explanation of the choice of the estimation method. A gravity model applied on a panel data set is then used to model the import flows into the EU15 and the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The results showed that a careful choice of the model specification and estimating technique is needed and the model that controlled for four sources of unobserved heterogeneity (time, country pair, importer, and exporter specific characteristics) was chosen. Based on this model's results, we could expect a significant increase of imports from EFTA into these countries but aggregately we should not expect any trade diversion as no further redirecting of import flows from the rest of the world is predicted. Eventually, some of the real trade flow developments (territorial and commodity structures and revealed comparative advantages of selected regions) are described.

In 2000 “the European Union and South Africa Free Trade Agreement” was established with

the aim to gradually increase the amount of duty-free agricultural and industrial products to

each market. The aim of this paper is to investigate if South Africa benefits from the EU-SA

Free Trade Agreement and also what impacts this agreement has on South Africa’s trade with

Southern Africa and the rest of the world. The result from the study indicates that South

Africa benefits from the agreement in terms of improve trade. The result also shows that

South Africa’s trade with some Southern African countries has been negative effected by the

agreement but it is difficult to state if this is caused by the agreement or not. The rest of the

world has not been negatively affected by the agreement.

The thesis concentrates on measuring the benefits and losses of implementing regional trade agreements. In particular, the thesis analyses trade flow changes, foreign direct investment inflow changes, industrial total factor productivity changes and specific commodity trade flow changes in Australia and China. Four empirical studies are undertaken. Firstly, the thesis introduces the gravity model to estimate the effect of regional trade agreements on trade flow changes, focusing on thirty-nine countries and areas from seven regional trade agreements during 1980-2004. The results show that there are trade creation and trade diversion effects for various memberships. The results further show that China experiences an export creation effect for its APEC membership while Australia has an import diversion effect for its CER membership. When trade between Australia and China is considered, Australia's CER membership impedes its trade with China. However, both Australia and China benefit from attending APEC jointly to enlarge their bilateral trade. Secondly, a modified gravity model is undertaken to test the impact of regional trade agreements on foreign direct investment inflows to Australia and China. It uses the same regional trade agreements to that of the trade flow study for the period of 1980 to 2004 for Australia and 1985 to 2004 for China. The results show that CER members tend to strengthen their bilateral foreign direct investment cooperation after the implementation of CER trade and investment liberalization. Thirdly, the impact of regional trade agreements is examined on industrial total factor productivity growth. The findings show that industries with comparative trading advantages in both Australia and China tend to improve their total factor productivity upon liberalizing trade both bilaterally and multilaterally. However, industries with comparative disadvantages need more protection against severe foreign competition. It uses data from 1974-75 to 2004-05 for the Australian market sector analysis, from 1968-69 to 1990-2000 for the Australian manufacturing industry analysis, and from 1987 to 2003 for the Chinese industry analysis. Finally, the thesis investigates the impact of regional trade agreements on bilateral commodity trade between Australia and China from 1979 to 2004. A similar gravity model to that of the trade flow study is used, introducing an additional GDP per capita variable to capture the effect of increasing consumers' income on their consumption of particular goods and products type based on product and production characteristics. Both the one-digit and some detailed four-digit commodity classifications described in the Standard International Trade Classification are considered. The results show that participation in regional trade agreements is an important factor that affects Australia's major commodity trade with China. The major contribution of this thesis is the investigation of issues on trade flows and foreign direct investment specifically in Australia and China, together with the studies of the effect of regional trade agreements on industrial total factor productivity improvement and specific commodity trade changes. Due to the increasing pursuit of bilateral and regional economic cooperation in Australia and China, the results of this thesis are of particular importance to both countries in their foreign trade and economic strategies.

The different ways countries trade with each other have developed during the years but the purpose, free exchange in goods and services, remains intact. The main idea of trade between countries is that both parties gain from the exchange. The European Union is the world’s biggest trading block, and in the form of a customs union there are mainly two different ways in which it theoretically can affect bilateral trade flows, namely by trade diversion or by trade creation. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the European Union affects the bilateral trade flows both within the union, as well as with countries outside of it. In order to examine these effects a quantitative method will be used where a regression analysis is applied based on a gravity model, observing the years 2000–2019. The results indicate a significant positive effect of EU-membership on both trade flows with different member countries, as well as with countries without a membership. The estimations from the different regressions indicate that the bilateral trade flows between member countries increases with around 33%–40%, while bilateral trade flows with countries outside of the union increases with around 3%.
Länders sätt att handla med varandra har utvecklats genom åren men syftet, fritt utbyte av varor och tjänster, är intakt. Grundidén till handel mellan länder är att båda tjänar på utbytet. Europeiska unionen är världens största handelsblock, och som en tullunion så finns det framförallt två effekter detta kan ge på länders bilaterala handel, antingen handelsfrämjande eller handelsomfördelande. Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera hur den europeiska handelsunionen påverkar den bilaterala handeln dels med andra medlemsländer, dels med länder utanför handelsunionen. För att undersöka dessa effekter används en kvantitativ metod där en regressionsanalys genomförs med hjälp av en gravitationsmodell, där de observerade åren är år 2000–2019. Resultatet av denna studie visar ett positivt signifikant samband mellan bilateral handel med både andra medlemsländer såväl som länder utanför unionen. Estimeringarna från de olika regressionerna indikerar att den bilaterala handeln ökat mellan EU-medlemmar med cirka 33%–40% och med cirka 3% med länder utanför unionen.

This bachelor thesis examines how the trade flow of Turkey would change if the country becomes a member in the EU. This is done by analysing the Turkish trade flow with the EU and ROW over the period 1995 – 2005. The main question is if trade creation and trade diversion occurs?

The model used in this paper is a gravity model influenced by Soloaga and Winters (2000) gravity model. To be able to answer the purpose of this paper we used a crosssectional regression and base our analysis on our results.

The conclusion of this paper is that Turkey’s trade flow with the EU will increase if full-membership is accomplished. This leads to trade diversion and trade creation towards the other members-states within EU. We see Turkey as the key to the door for Middle Eastern countries and the EU; this implies that if Turkey becomes a member-state in EU, the trade could increase between these two continents.

Denna kandidatuppsats undersöker huruvida Turkiets handelsflöde kan förändras av ett eventuellt Europeiskt medlemskap. Det är gjort genom att analysera Turkiets handelstrend under perioden 1995 – 2005. Huvudfrågan är huruvida handelsfördelning och handelsökning sker?

Modellen som används i uppsatsen är en gravitations modell influerad av Soloaga och Winters (2000) gravitations modell. För att kunna besvara syftet i uppsatsen har vi använt oss av en tvärsnittsregression och baserat analysen på resultaten.

Sammanfattningsvis ser man att Turkiets handelsflöde med EU ökar av ett eventuellt medlemskap i EU. Detta leder till handelsökning samt handelsfördelning gentemot nuvarande medlemmar. Vi anser även att Turkiet är nyckeln Mellanöstern samt EU, vilket innebär att fullt medlemskap ökar handeln mellan dessa två kontinenter.

Chapter 1 shows that there is a negative relationship observed between sanctions and civil liberties in the target country, which is driven by how exposed the target country's trade was to the sanctioning countries. Using a fixed panel regression covering 160 countries from 1972-2005, it is found that import exposure to the sanctioning countries drives this negative relationship, with every percentage point of import exposure reducing the inverted FHI freedom score by 0.165 points. This implies that restricting imports to a country that promotes an oppressive response by the targeted government. Chapter 2 examines whether countries change their trade patterns in response to economic sanction threats in addition to imposed sanctions. Using a bilateral gravity panel dataset covering 180 countries from 1950-2005 I find that imposed sanctions cause a very significant 55.43% increase in purchases from third party suppliers or a smaller 49.78% increase in sales to third party buyers during sanction events. Sanction threats cause a 42.05% increase in purchases from third party suppliers, and a 42.76% increase in sales to third party buyers, all significant at the 1% level. I conclude that both imposed sanctions and sanction threats lead to a significant increase in trade with third party countries, preempting and subverting sanction regimes. Chapter 3 studies whether there is evidence of cheating during sanction events by examining the difference in reporting for exports in the selling country versus imports in the buying country. A systematic change in reporting behavior is detected, with the log difference of reported exports minus reported imports increasing 7.46% in the case of exporter imposed sanctions, and decreasing 9.86% in the case importer imposed sanctions. This is consistent with the theory that firms in the sanctioning countries face harsher penalties for being caught compared to the targeted countries.

Mestrado em Economia Internacional
A possibilidade de adesão dos países de Leste à União Europeia constitui o quadro para a redefinição da política comunitária face aos países terceiros mediterrânicos e irá seguramente moldar a face das futuras relações entre as duas margens do Mediterrâneo. Apesar do Processo de Barcelona actualmente em curso, os países do Magrebe encaram com alguma apreensão o futuro das suas relações com a União Europeia, já que, com o aprofundamento da integração a Leste, a União parece fragilizar a sua presença a Sul. O objectivo central do presente trabalho é analisar o desenvolvimento das relações externas do Magrebe com a União Europeia nas suas múltiplas vertentes - cooperação, comércio, investimento e parceria. A evolução da política mediterrânica da UE é analisada desde os primeiros acordos nos anos sessenta até aos desafios trazidos pela futura Zona de Comércio Livre, assim como o seu impacto potencial nas economias mediterrânicas. Os fluxos de comércio são examinados, em direcção e composição. Os principais factores determinantes do Investimento Directo Estrangeiro são identificados, assim como algumas das razões para a fraca atractibilidade do Magrebe. E apresentada a aplicação prática de um modelo gravitacional ao comércio entre a União Europeia e o Magrebe, onde é tido em consideração o impacto dos acordos de associação com os países da Europa Central e Oriental. Mais concretamente, no que se refere a este impacto específico, pretende-se evidenciar a existência, ou não, de criação ou de desvio de comércio nas trocas entre o Magrebe e a União Europeia.
The possibility of eastern countries becoming members of the European Union, is the ground for the redefinition of communitary policy towards third Mediterranean countries and will surely shape future relations between the two banks of the Mediterranean. In spite of the Barcelona Process presently in course, Maghreb countries face with some apprehension the future of their relationship with the European Union, since the deepening of the integration in the East, seems to weaken the Union's presence in the South. The main purpose of the present text is to analyse the development of Maghreb's external relations with the European Union in its multiple forms - cooperation, trade, investment and partnership. An overview of the development of the EU's Mediterranean Policy is given, from the early agreements in the sixties, to the challenges posed by the coming Free Trade Area and its potencial impact on Maghreb's economies. Trade flows are examined on direction and composition. The main determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Mediterranean region are identified, as well as some of the reasons for Maghreb's poor attractiveness. An application of a gravity model to the exchanges between the Maghreb and the European Union is presented, where the impact of the European Agreements with Central and Eastern European countries is taken into account. Particularly, in what regards the impact of the next enlargement, it is our intention to put in evidence the existence, or not, of trade criation and trade diversion.

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Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada
This research aims to study the advantages of the economic integration for two countries of MERCOSUL: Brazil and Argentina. From this perspective, is observed the trade creation, the exports low competitiveness and some evidences showing that the two biggest economies of Latin America are specialized in export commodities shift and share analyses and the regional evolution of the commerce, all those points are highlighted in this work. Trying to value the real advantages of the agreement of MERCOSUL, this search aims to provide a discussion if regional integration can help increasing the world competitiveness from those economies external sector, according to the international economics theory. How would be the best strategy: regional integration or commercial multilateralism? It will discuss theories and arguments from economic thoughts trying to explain the consequences from the integration between countries considering a trade flow analysis. In addition, it considers an individual analysis of the main MERCOSUL members Brazil and Argentina and their advantages related to the regional integration. Several empirical indices were examined in order to measure if the expected integration advantages can be really seen
Este trabalho se propõe a estudar as vantagens da integração econômica para os países do MERCOSUL, Brasil e Argentina. Dos efeitos percebidos, na perspectiva recente deste bloco econômico, destacam-se a criação de comércio, a pouca competitividade das exportações, as diferenças de competitividade entre commodities e manufaturas e o relativo aumento do comércio regional, que são foco da análise da presente dissertação. Visando avaliar as vantagens conseguidas a partir da efetivação do MERCOSUL, o trabalho pretende contribuir para a discussão relativa à adoção de uma estratégia de integração regional em opção à abertura comercial multilateral, à luz das teorias do comércio internacional. Será considerada a análise individual do Brasil e da Argentina e suas respectivas vantagens advindas como consequência da adesão ao bloco, advindas de variações nos fluxos comerciais, aumento da competitividade do ponto de vista estrutural diferencial, de preços relativos e aqueles provenientes dos ganhos estáticos. Além disso, abordaremos debates teóricos entre escolas de pensamento econômico, relativos à economia internacional, na tentativa de explicar as consequências que a integração entre países acarretaria. Serão analisados diversos indicadores empíricos objetivando visualizar se as vantagens previstas na teoria da integração já se efetivaram

Mestrado em Economia Internacional e Estudos Europeus
O objetivo da presente dissertação de mestrado passa por estudar os possíveis impactos económicos de um alargamento da União Europeia aos Balcãs Ocidentais, mais concretamente à Albânia, Macedónia do Norte, Sérvia e Montenegro - atualmente candidatos à integração europeia. Para tal, foi recolhida informação estatística da base de dados CHELEM relativamente aos fluxos comerciais entre os países da União Europeia e entre estes e os Balcãs Ocidentais. Posteriormente, a construção de um indicador baseado no Índice de Vantagens Comparativas Reveladas de Bela Balassa permitiu distinguir entre estruturas de especialização semelhantes e complementares e identificar possíveis fenómenos de criação e desvio de comércio derivados do alargamento da União Europeia aos países considerados.
The following master's dissertation goal is to study the possible economic impacts of a European enlargement to the Western Balkans, more specifically to Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro - current candidates for European integration. In order to achieve this goal, statistical information on trade flows between the countries of the European Union and between those countries and the Western Balkans was collected. Afterwards, the formulation of an indicator that allows to distinguish between similar and complementary specialization structures, based on Bela Balassa's Index of Revealed Comparative Advantages, allowed to identify possible creation and diversion of trade as an outcome of the European enlargement.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Since the liberalization of international trade intensified in the middle of the XXth century, some States wished that goods and services containing a cultural value be put aside from the process of liberalization by means of a cultural exception. Others, on the contrary, considered that cultural industries constitute commodities entirely subjected to the principles of free trade. This thesis analyzes the present debate in order to determine if the cultural value of certain industries is enough to justify a specific treatment in international trade. For that purpose, the study goes back to the historical origins of the problem and attempts to determine if these industries have a specificity, particularly by analyzing their role in a society and by examining their legal nature. Based on these considerations, during the negotiations of the international trade agreements, some States intended to impose their point of view. Some of the latest agreements hold a specific regime to the cultural sector, whereas others did not refer explicitly to these. However, several governments have implemented support measures for their cultural industries, something other States considered violations to the principles of free trade and attacked them on political and legal grounds. Finally, this thesis examines the recent evolutions of the debate, especially at the time of the new round of negotiations within the framework of the WTO. It analyzes, as well, the new questions given arise by the development of new technologies, the new strategies of the States, and the solutions proposed to solve this debate. Most of these solutions refer to the cultural diversity concept, which, in a sense tend to appear as a political objective, which will make it possible to draw some legal conclusions in the field of international trade.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-123).
This minor dissertation investigates the lives and businesses of informal artists and vendors in Maputo, Mozambique. The research points to a swell in numbers of artisans in Maputo over the past dozen years. Tourism has developed in Mozambique; expanding the clientele for Maputo's informal artisans. The increase of artisans has had a few negative effects including a drop in prices due to competition and a compromise in artistic quality. The seven interviewees explain the reality of the informal art business as one of subsistence.

‘Diversity management’ (DM) has come to dominate human resource equality policies in Anglo-Saxon and many EU countries. However, analysis of trade union responses to DM in continental Europe is strikingly underdeveloped, although there is good reason to suspect that unions may play some role in shaping DM due to their institutionalised roles in issues of equality. This thesis has shown that unions’ influence over DM and their responses to it vary by country, but in ways that are not generally expected. Using a qualitative research design based on documentary data analysis and semistructured interviews and a discursive institutionalism (DI) approach, the study compares how DM has been presented in France, Germany and Sweden, and how this affects the extent of social dialogue on DM and union responses to it. It examines unions’ influence on diversity discourses and the implications of these responses for equality agendas. The research has contributed to knowledge and theory of DM and to the field of industrial relations by: applying the recursive DI approach to analysing how national contexts shape DM and vice versa; by combining theories of institutionalisation with Gumbrell-McCormick and Hyman’s (2013) conceptualisation of types of trade union power to reveal models of underlying mechanisms for when, where and why a social dialogue approach to DM is more likely; by analysing the impact of a social dialogue approach on DM; by providing empirical evidence for Gumbrell-McCormick and Hyman’s (2013) proposition that moral and discursive power, rather than structural, associational, organisational and institutional strength, are more important for unions in the ‘battle of ideas’. The research also demonstrates the value of the DI concepts of actors’ ‘background ideational’ and ‘foreground discursive’ abilities for critically evaluating unions’ responses to diversity management in a manner which seeks to avoid both ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Diese Dissertation untersucht ökonomische Sanktionen im Kontext der empirischen politischen Ökonomie. Obwohl sie aus drei unabhängigen Kapiteln besteht, ist das übergeordnete, verbindende Ziel dieser Forschungsarbeit ein Gesamtverständnis der Motivation und der Effekte von Sanktionen anzubieten, getragen von der generellen Idee der Wechselwirkungen zwischen ökonomischen Anreizen und politischen Zielen. Meine Forschung zeichnet die ökonomischen Restriktionen ab, mit denen sich die politischen Entscheidungsträger im Bereich der internationalen Beziehungen auseinandersetzen.
This dissertation explores economic sanctions in an empirical political economy context. While consisting of three independent papers, it aims at providing a holistic understanding of the motivation and effects of sanctions in particular, and the interplay between economic incentives and political goals in general. My research delineates the economic constraints that policymakers encounter in the field of international relations.

In this paper we investigate and compare multi-objective and weighted single objective approaches to a real world workforce scheduling problem. For this difficult problem we consider the trade off in solution quality versus population diversity, for different sets of fixed objective weights. Our real-world workforce scheduling problem consists of assigning resources with the appropriate skills to geographically dispersed task locations while satisfying time window constraints. The problem is NP-Hard and contains the Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) as a sub problem. We investigate a genetic algorithm and serial schedule generation scheme together with various multi-objective approaches. We show that multi-objective genetic algorithms can create solutions whose fitness is within 2% of genetic algorithms using weighted sum objectives even though the multi-objective approaches know nothing of the weights. The result is highly significant for complex real-world problems where objective weights are seldom known in advance since it suggests that a multi-objective approach can generate a solution close to the user preferred one without having knowledge of user preferences.

Recent years have seen British trade unions regain some of the membership and influence lost during the 1980s and 1990s. During the same period, sexual orientation activism and other 'new' social movements have become increasingly prominent on the world stage. This thesis is an empirical examination of British unions' responses to the issues, concerns and priorities of lesbian and gay workers seeking to further their agendas through collective action. In response to the paucity of academic research in this area, this thesis presents an analysis of six unions' attempts to organise and represent diverse lesbian and gay interests within class-focused bureaucratic structures. Establishing a context for this study, the thesis considers historical and contemporary accounts of union organisation, the fusion of class with status-based identities and examples of gender, 'race' and disability action within British trade unions. Through interviews with key actors, the research uncovers the existence of separate 'safe spaces' for lesbian and gay organisation, structures connecting action to 'mainstream' activities, and top-down initiatives designed to promote acceptance of organisational diversity. This thesis examines anticipated 'pockets of resistance' within the unions to sexuality action, but finds the bureaucratic and hierarchic nature of union organisation a larger barrier to the effectiveness of action than any internal opposition. The need to recognise intra-group diversity and the dangers of centralised 'servicing' to the unions' future plans are discussed, in light of contemporary trends towards workplace organisation, partnership and the requirement to address members' heterogeneous needs, as are the questions such an analysis raises for conceptualisations of democratic practice. Through the examination of the unions' organisation of sexual minorities, this thesis refines and extends Kelly's (1998) mobilisation theory and presents an alternative framework of trade union action as 'mobilisation within mobilisation'. It closes by considering the implications for both social movements and continued union 'renewal' of organised labour's attempts to negotiate 'the bigger picture'.

This thesis examines various issues related to intranational and international trade, fiscal decentralization, trade openness, economic diversity, resource curse and economic growth – all within a Canada-US sub-national framework. Chapter 1 provides the motivation for the study and sets the stage for the various empirical-based policy trade-offs and insights arrived at in the subsequent chapters. In chapter 2, we examine the extent to which trade costs, modeled by distance and contiguity, influence the magnitude and direction of both east-west and north-south trade in Canada and the US .We provide an alternative framework which pays special attention to estimation issues related to unobserved heterogeneity, log-linearization in the presence of heteroscedasticity, and logarithmic transformation of zero bilateral trade flows. In all, this thesis provides updated results and garners further evidence in support of the home bias argument of McCallum (1995) and Obstfeld and Rogoff (2000b). Equally, our results uphold the Linder-hypothesis, but refute the Heckscher-Ohlin factor endowment proposition. Chapter 3 focuses on the relative importance of fiscal redistribution and trade openness in the economic growth analysis of Canada and the US. Using a dynamic panel of Canada-US data, we estimate the importance of redistributive flows based on personal income after federal taxes and transfers, and pretax personal income. We conclude that there is a clear incidence of “immiserising growth”. The coefficient of the interaction variable gives no evidence of fiscal transfer-induced growth across all four major estimators. Chapter 4 explores the diversity-resource-growth nexus. The first major conclusion is that the diversity measures employed are arbitrary because both the absolute and relative specialization measures, on which they are based, are arbitrary. We find evidence for a positive direct relationship for the diversity-growth nexus. Due to statistically insignificant coefficients, the GMM framework does not provide us with predictive power to test the resource curse proposition. However, through the fixed effects technique, we provide evidence for the role of economic diversity as a transmission channel of the resource curse.

In the late 1990s an attempt got underway to develop a new paradigm for cultural development policy at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The fruit of these efforts was the adoption of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which entered into force in 2007. This binding international treaty has been welcomed for restoring a degree of cultural policy sovereignty to states against some of the pressures of contemporary globalisation, and celebrated for burying some of the political differences between North and South that had pulled UNESCO apart in the 1970s and 1980s. As an instrument with widespread political support the Convention on cultural diversity has also marked something of a landmark event in the more general controversies over the nature of contemporary cultural change and the role of cultural policy in the era of neoliberal globalisation. This thesis is a response to these developments over the last decade, based on a series of studies looking at the processes that led to the formation of the Convention and examining some of the effects of the new framework as they are becoming apparent in the first years following its adoption and entry into force. It looks in particular at the precise points of consensus between North and South that have been found in the new framework of cultural development, examining some of its measures and the way they are coming to feature - or not - in the work of international development agencies, policymakers and cultural industry stakeholders. These observations are developed through two main case studies looking at contemporary attempts at cultural policy reform in China and the Caribbean. The thesis also attempts to offer an alternative perspective to the legal and international relations analyses that have surrounded the Convention and its political controversies so far by approaching them within the framework of social and cultural theory, engaging in particular with recent claims about the transformation of culture into a 'resource' for trade and development in the new global economy. I argue that the new framework tends to conflate cultural rights and recognition with the right of the state to protect and promote activities that it deems worthy of recognition on cultural grounds: this has offered a welcome development to those that have come to have a privileged role to play in the contemporary concern to promote enterprise, production and trade in the knowledge-based economy of content and intellectual property creation, but it has also tended to weaken the position of others whose claims to cultural recognition are inseparable from demands which have little or no protagonism in this framework.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi are essential to seedling establishment in disturbed sites. This dissertation examines the effects of trace metals and soil disturbance on ectomycorrhizal fungi in the laboratory and the field. The first experiment assessed Cu and Zn impact on growth of three ectomycorrhizal species in pure culture. Suillus granulatus and Pisolithus tinctorius were more tolerant to Cu than Paxillus involutus, however, none of the species grew at 250 ppm Cu. Suillus granulatus had the highest Zn tolerance, followed by Paxillus involutus and Pisolithus tinctorius. Sectoring observed in Suillus granulatus was deemed spontaneous and not involved in metal tolerance.

The second experiment examined the adsorption of copper and zinc to acidic Uchee fine loamy sand. Contrary to expectations, the soil adsorbed up to 667 ppm Cu and 238 ppm Zn. Adsorption occurred mainly in the non-crystalline fraction of the soil. This analysis is a new approach in mycorrhizal research, and the crucial need for such tactics is discussed.

The third experiment surveyed ectomycorrhizae on a mine reclamation project in Wise County, Virginia. Pinus strobus trees planted 1, 8, 13, and 25 years prior to the experiment were sampled. Colonization was lower than in well developed soils, but occurred on all seedlings. Increased colonization and a late stage mycobiont (Tuber) occurred on roots taken from the 25 year old subsite. A new observation was made of Suillus americanus on one year old seedlings. Lack of species overlap among sites suggests localized inoculum sources.

The last experiment explored Pinus strobus and Pinus virginiana seedlings naturally regenerating on acidic, bare-mineral soil exposed by a road cut in Floyd County, Virginia. Ectomycorrhizal colonization ranged between 30 to 80 percent. Wide variation among individual samples suggests patchy inoculum distribution. Scleroderma citrinum, a common early-stage fungus, was dominant throughout. Other early stage genera included Rhizopogon, Pisolithus, and Thelephora. Mid to late stage genera including Suillus and Lactarius were identified. Cenococcum, often a dominant taxon, was a minor taxon here. The unusual presence of the ericoid mycobionts Hymenoscyphus and Oidiodendron is discussed. These results suggest that native inoculum can be an important resource for seedling recruitment.
Ph. D.

Le cacaoyer (Theobroma cacao, L.) est cultivé dans les tropiques humides d'Amérique latine, d'Afrique et d'Asie. Principale source de revenus d'une agriculture essentiellement familiale, les systèmes agroforestiers à base de cacaoyers fournissent de nombreux services écologiques et contribuent à la conservation de la biodiversité. Ces systèmes associent plantes ligneuses et cultures de manière simultanée, dans une gamme importante et peu décrite de richesses et de structures botaniques. Les connaissances actuelles sur leur productivité se limitent à des essais en milieu contrôlé associant un petit nombre d'espèces. Nos travaux testent l'hypothèse d'une relation de compromis entre le niveau de productivité des cacaoyers et le niveau de biodiversité hébergée par les agroforêts à base de cacaoyers. Nous caractérisons ces compromis sur un gradient de situations de production paysannes, reposant sur la structure verticale, l'intensité de gestion de la composante végétale et le contexte bio-physique des agro-systèmes étudiés. Sur un dispositif de 36 cacaoyères paysannes situées dans la région de Talamanca, Costa Rica, nous montrons que des variations significatives de la structure végétale reflètent les modes de gestion de la parcelle et affectent le rendement par cacaoyer (295 à 667g/arbre/an) mais pas le rendement en cacao (136 kg/ha/an), ni le volume végétal global (400 m3/ha). Ces variations de la structure végétale affectent peu la diversité α des peuplements de plantes associées, d'épiphytes, d'amphibiens, de reptiles, de mamifères, d'invertébrés du sol et de la litière, mais leur diversité β répond de manière contrastée à ces variations d'habitat. Les relations de compromis que nous mettons finalement en évidence entre la productivité en cacao marchand à l'hectare ou à l'arbre et les niveaux de biodiversité atteints sont de nature (linéaire, cubique, quadratique) et de tendances (négative, postive) contrastées selon le taxon considéré et remettent en cause les résultats de certains travaux récents. Nos travaux dévoilent également des situations de compromis optimales, offrant des perspectives positives pour l'intensification écologique des systèmes agroforestiers tropicaux
Cacao (Theobroma cacao, L.) is cultivated in the humid tropics of Latin America, Africa and Asia. Cocoa-based agroforestry systems are the main source of income for smallholders' families and provide numerous ecological services and contribute to biodiversity conservation. These systems associate trees with crops simultaneously, in a wide and poorly described range of botanical and structural plant diversity. The current knowledge about their productivity is restricted to controlled trials with a low numer of associated plant species. Our work tests the hypothesis of a trade-off relationship between the level of cocoa productivity and the level of biodiversity hosted in cocoa-based agroforests. We characterize these trade-offs on a gradient of production situations, based on the vertical structure, the management intensity of the vegetal component and the bio-physical context of cocoa-based agroforests. On the base of a 36 on farm cocoa plots network located in Talamanca, Costa Rica, we show that significant variations in the vegetation vertical structure reflect farmer's management strategies and affect the cocoa yield per tree (295 to 667g/tree/year) but neither the cocoa yield per plot (136 kg/ha/year), nor the global plant volume (400 m3/ha). The variations in vegetation structure poorly affected the α-diversity of 7 plant and animal taxa, but their β-diversity gave contrasted and significant responses to habitat variations. Finally, the trade-offs relationships we display between dry cocoa productivity per hectare or per tree and the observed biodiversity levels showed contrasted forms (cubic, quadratic, linear) and tendances (positive, negative) according to the taxa considered and question results from recent publications. Our work also revealed optimal trade-off situations which offer positive prospects for the ecological intensification of tropical agroforestry systems

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is important in maintaining agroecosystem sustainability. Plant-microbe symbioses, such as exists between the grass tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceum) and the asexual fungal endophyte Epichloë coenophiala, can be utilized to enhance agroecosystem functions, such as herbivore resistance. “Novel” E. coenophiala strains that vary in the production of mammal- and insect-toxic compounds have been identified, inserted into tall fescue cultivars, and are planted in pastures globally. Novel fungal endophyte-tall fescue associations may have divergent ecosystem function effects. This study assessed effects of different fescue-endophyte symbiotic combinations on pasture ecosystem function, including aboveground (fescue biomass, plant species richness, alkaloid synthesis, arthropod abundance) and belowground (soil microbial biomass, soil enzyme activity, trace gas fluxes) parameters. Results showed no significant effects of increasing symbiotic diversity within a fescue stand on aboveground measurements, bar arthropod abundance and alkaloid synthesis. Most soil parameters quantified had significant symbiotic diversity effects. For example, soil microbial biomass decreased whereas soil enzyme activity increased with increasing symbiotic diversity. Overall, our results suggested that increasing symbiotic diversity had weak to moderate effects on aboveground processes and stronger effects on certain belowground processes, indicating that symbiotic diversity can impact ecosystem functions and warrants further research.

La disparition et la fragmentation d’habitat sont considérées comme des causes majeures de l’érosion de la biodiversité.Les forêts sont parmi les plus riches écosystèmes terrestres de la planète. La simplification structurelle et la disparition d’éléments d’habitats clés qui résultent de leur exploitation mettent en péril la biodiversité qu’elles abritent.Grâce à l’analyse de différents jeux de données mutualisés entre plusieurs laboratoires et de deux jeux de donnéesoriginaux générés par mes travaux, l’objectif de cette thèse est d’évaluer le rôle joué par plusieurs éléments de la Trame de Très Vieux Bois pour la diversité des coléoptères saproxyliques aux échelles locale et paysagère. L’effet des caractéristiques du milieu et la biodiversité associée aux ilots de vieillissement, réserves forestières et arbres isolés extra-forestiers ont été évalués.En parallèle, nous avons conduit des explorations méthodologiques concernant la principale technique d’échantillonnagede notre modèle biologique. Nous avons mis en évidence les effets (i) forts de la réplication spatiale ou temporelle des dispositifs d’échantillonnage sur les données obtenues, mais (ii) négligeables de l’exclusion d’une famille couteuse en temps d’identification sur les résultats.Nos résultats écologiques indiquent l’effet de l’arrêt d’exploitation sur la reconstitution des compartiments bois mort etdendromicrohabitats et des assemblages de coléoptères saproxyliques associés, au contraire de l’extension de rotationreprésentée par les ilots de vieillissement. D’importantes densités de réserves forestières dans le paysage (plus de 20%) semblent nécessaires pour une conservation efficace de la faune saproxylique. De plus, nous avons mis en évidence qu’une part importante des espèces saproxyliques est préférentiellement retrouvée sur des arbres solitaires, non-forestiers. La totalité de la faune saproxylique n’est donc pas abritée par la forêt. Ces structures non forestières représentent des éléments primordiaux à prendre en compte pour la sauvegarde de la biodiversité saproxylique
Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered as major threats to biodiversity in forests, one of the species-richest terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. The structural simplification and the loss of key habitat elements resulting from forest harvesting threaten forest biodiversity. Through the analysis of datasets shared between laboratories and two original datasets created during this thesis, I intended to evaluate the role for associated beetle diversity of several components of the saproxylic habitat network at local and landscape scales. The effect of local environmental variables has been evaluated and the biodiversity associated with ageing stands, forest reserves and isolated non-forest trees were explored. In parallel, we have analyzed the main technique used to sample our study group. We highlighted (i) strong effects of spatial or temporal replication of sampling on data, but (ii) negligible effects of data simplification by excluding a time-expensive family on results. We demonstrated significant effects of forest setting aside on the restoration, mainly of dead wood and tree microhabitats, but also on associated saproxylic beetle assemblages. Extended rotations in ageing stands did not provide such positive effects. Besides, we evidenced that a high density of forest reserves in the landscape (over 20%) seems necessary to efficiently favor the saproxylic fauna. In addition, we observed that a significant proportion of saproxylic species prefer non-forest solitary tree habitats. The whole saproxylic fauna is therefore not hosted by forests. These non-forest saproxylic structures have to be included in conservation strategies dedicated saproxylic biodiversity

Den här uppsatsen handlar om HTF:s och Sif:s arbete med jämställdhet och mångfald. Hur de som fackförbund är förebilder med möjlighet att påverka samhället. Uppsatsens syfte är att ur ett genusvetenskapligt perspektiv undersöka och ge exempel på hur förbunden arbetar med jämställdhet och mångfald, internt mot de anställda och externt mot medlemmar samt hur de hanterar sin roll som förebild. De frågor som jag ställt mig har varit följande; Vilka exempel på skillnader finns det mellan retorik och praktik? Hur formuleras syftet med arbetet? Vad står begreppen jämställdhet och mångfald för, vilka attityder och inställningar finns? Vilka exempel på olikheter finns det på förbundens sätt att arbeta med frågor om jämställdhet och mångfald? Uppsatsen är uppbyggd kring tanken om att organisationen och dess medlemmar interagerar och återskapar tankar om genus och mångfald. Samt att jämställdhetsbegreppet är en maktordning i sig. Undersökningen är baserad på dels en enkätundersökning och dels kvalitativa djupintervjuer samt policydokument. Materialet har analyserats med hjälp av narrativanalys. Resultatet av undersökningen visar på att även om respondenterna ser facket som en förebild inom områdena jämställdhet och mångfald så finns det ett glapp mellan ord och handling, i hur förbunden vill agera i dessa frågor med hur de gör. Begreppet jämställdheten görs till en kvinnofråga emedan mångfald uppfattas som svårare att definiera. Arbetet med dessa frågor har inte heller samma tyngd och status som andra fackliga frågor inom förbunden. Även om de fackliga organisationerna har påtagit sig rollen att vara föregångare när det gäller jämställdhet och mångfald, kan det konstateras, att det finns betydligt mer att göra.

This essay is about HTFs and Sifs work with equality and diversity. How they as trade unions are to be considered role models with the possibility to influence society. The essay's aim is that from a gender science perspective, to examine and give examples on how the above associations work with equality and diversity and how they handle their role as a model - both internally against the employee and externally against members. Which examples on differences are there between what is said and what is done? What is the aim of the work? What do the concepts of equality and diversity stand for, and which attitudes exist? Which examples are there of differences between the unions’ way of working with questions regarding equality and diversity? The essay is edified around the thought that the organization and its members recreate thoughts about gender and diversity, also that the equality concept is a power order in itself. The survey is based on a questionnaire survey and qualitative in depth interviews as well as policy documents. The material has been analysed with the aid of narrative analyses. The result of the survey shows that although those interviewed see the unions as a role model within the areas equality and diversity, there is a gap between theory and experience - in how the unions want to act upon these questions with what they do to address them. Equality is considered to be a question for women only whilst diversity is considered more difficult to define. The work with these questions does not have either the same weight or status that other trade union questions have. Although the trade union organisations have taken on themselves to be role models when it comes to equality and diversity it can be established that there is considerably more to do.

La mise en place Trame Verte et Bleue sur le territoire français a pour vocation de garantir la connectivité fonctionnelle entre habitats. C’est une des réponses politiques qui vise à enrayer le déclin actuel de la biodiversité, lie notamment à la destruction et à la dégradation des habitats. L’objectif de cette thèse est de quantifier l’effet de la connectivité, au regard d’autres facteurs environnementaux, sur la diversité des communautés et la diversité génétique des papillons de jour dans trois régions agricoles. Deux approches sont utilisées pour comprendre les processus qui sous-tendent ces patrons de diversité : i) l’étude de la communauté dans son ensemble et des groupes écologiques qui la compose, ii) l’étude de la résistance des milieux a la dispersion par génétique du paysage sur une espèce : le Myrtil (Maniola jurtina L.). Les résultats montrent que même si les caractéristiques locales jouent un rôle plus fort, la structure du paysage influence la composition des communautés. Ainsi, la quantité de terres arables réduit la richesse spécifique, la diversité génétique, et les flux de gènes chez le Myrtil. Les prairies hébergent des communautés diversifiées, incluant des espèces peu fréquentes. Les éléments linéaires enherbes supportent des communautés appauvries, mais favorisent la dispersion et la diversité génétique du Myrtil. La diversité des papillons est plus forte a proximité de boisements : les papillons pourraient bénéficier de ressources sur les lisières ; par ailleurs, les milieux boises semblent à la fois limiter les flux de gènes du Myrtil tout en accroissant sa diversité génétique. La complémentarité des milieux soulevée ici nous invite à repenser le modèle classique en ≪ sous-trames ≫ indépendantes de la Trame Verte et Bleue. Selon les enjeux de conservation, les espèces et les contextes paysagers, il est nécessaire de distinguer les situations ou, parmi un panel d’actions envisageables, améliorer la connectivité est une solution pertinente
The implementation of the “Green and Blue Infrastructure” in France intends to ensure the functional connectivity of habitats (green veining). It is one of the nature conservation policies which aim to reduce the loss of biodiversity caused by the destruction and degradation of natural habitats. The objective of this work was to quantify the impact of connectivity, in comparison to other environmental factors, on the diversity of butterfly communities and their genetic diversity in three French agricultural regions. Two different approaches were applied to understand the underlying processes driving these diversity patterns: i) the study of the whole community and of the different ecological groups, ii) the study of landscape features resistances to butterfly dispersal using a landscape genetics approach on one species: the Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina L.). Our findings show that although local characteristics play a dominant role, landscape context does have an influence on community composition. Arable land cover decreases species diversity, and the Meadow brown genetic diversity and gene flow. Grasslands support more species rich communities, including non-frequent species. Grassy linear landscape elements host impoverished communities, but improve Meadow brown dispersal and enhance its genetic diversity. Species diversity is higher within grasslands in proximity to woody habitats: butterflies may benefit from resources on forest edges; moreover, woodlands seem to limit Meadow brown dispersal while increasing its genetic diversity. The habitat complementarity we evidenced here led us to question the classic model of ecological continuities as a collection of independent sub-networks, one for each type of habitat. According to conservation issues, species under interest and landscape contexts, we also need to identify situations where, among a broad panel of possible conservation actions, increasing connectivity is the most effective solution

La connaissance des patrons de diversité des communautés d’insectes herbivores occupe une part importante dans la recherche écologique. Elle est nécessaire en vue d’une lutte biologique, sachant que certains insectes herbivores sont capables de devenir des ravageurs de cultures. Les ennemis naturels et les variables environnementales font partie des facteurs structurant les communautés d’insectes herbivores. Alors que les ennemis naturels assurent la régulation des insectes herbivores, les variables environnementales vont plutôt influencer leur diversité et leur distribution spatiale. L’objectif principal de cette thèse était de comprendre les effets des traits de paysage sur la diversité des communautés de thrips herbivores suivant le gradient altitudinal de La Réunion et d’étudier les effets de la diversité des ennemis naturels dans le contrôle biologique des thrips ravageurs. Dans la première étude, les thrips ont été échantillonnés suivant des gradients d'altitude répliqués, et à chaque site d'échantillonnage, les caractéristiques du paysage et les variables abiotiques ont été estimées dans des zones tampons entourant le site. L’étude a révélé que la plus grande diversité des thrips à La Réunion se concentre en basse altitude, bien que les habitats dans ces altitudes soient fortement dégradés. La diversité des thrips a été particulièrement insensible à la fragmentation et, l’hétérogénéité du paysage et la quantité d’habitat ont interagi pour affecter positivement la diversité des thrips. Dans la deuxième étude, nous avons manipulé dans des cages placées sous serre, des communautés composées de deux thrips ravageurs, Thrips parvispinus et Frankliniella occidentalis, et deux espèces d’acariens prédateurs Amblyseius swirskii et Proprioseiopis mexicanus. L’étude a montré que deux prédateurs assurent une meilleure régulation qu’un seul prédateur, confirmant ainsi l’importance de maintenir de la biodiversité au niveau trophique supérieur dans le contrôle biologique des herbivores. Par ailleurs, l’étude a révélé l’existence possible d’un compromis entre la compétition pour la ressource et la dispersion chez les prédateurs, appelé «The, competition-colonization trade-off », permettant ainsi leur coexistence malgré leur interaction dans une prédation intraguilde
Understanding of driving forces that affect diversity in herbivorous insect communities figures prominently in ecological research, and is necessary for integrated pest management, because some herbivorous insect can become crop pests. Natural enemies and environmental variables are among factors that structure herbivorous insect communities. While natural enemies regulate herbivorous insects, environmental variables affect their diversity and their spatial distribution. The main goal of this thesis was to understand effects of landscape features on diversity of herbivorous thrips communities along elevational gradients in Reunion, and to investigate effects of natural enemy diversity in biological control of pest thrips. In first study, thrips were sampled along replicated elevational gradients, and at each sampling site, landscape features and abiotic variables were estimated within buffers surrounding the site. Study has shown that the greatest diversity of thrips in Reunion is concentrated at lower elevation, although habitats situated in these localities are highly degraded. Thrips diversity was not affected by fragmentation but landscape heterogeneity and habitat amount interacted to affect positively thrips diversity.In second study, we manipulated communities composed of two pest thrips Thrips parvispinus and Frankliniella occidentalis, and two predatory mites Amblyseius swirskii and Proprioseiopis mexicanus. These communities were in cages and were established in greenhouse. Study has shown that both predators are better than one in thrips regulation. That confirms the necessity to maintain biodiversity at the upper trophic level for herbivore control. Moreover, this study revealed that despite intraguild predation, predators would have coexisted because of competition-colonization trade-off

A ocorrência de distúrbios impacta a diversidade de estratégias de vida em comunidades e a evolução de estratégias de vida em populações. Na Ecologia, o distúrbio é estudado enquanto fator ambiental que altera a disponibilidade de recursos e a abundância das populações, ocasionando a exclusão competitiva de espécies menos favorecidas a depender da intensidade e da frequência de sua ocorrência. Na Biologia Evolutiva, o distúrbio é avaliado enquanto pressão que, dependendo de sua regularidade no ambiente, determina a intensidade da resposta evolutiva das espécies e, assim, a adaptação a estratégias de vida de maior aptidão. Ainda que haja separação entre as duas áreas, a dinâmica ecológica influencia a dinâmica evolutiva e vice-versa. Estudos que integram Ecologia e Evolução têm sido cada vez mais recorrentes, no entanto, poucos ou nenhum consideram o distúrbio. Neste trabalho, utilizamos um modelo baseado em indivíduo para criar cenários nos quais os processos de adaptação e exclusão competitiva de espécies possam ocorrer, tanto conjunta quanto isoladamente, a fim de entender como o distúrbio determina as estratégias de vida presentes em comunidades sob dinâmicas ecológicas, evolutivas e eco-evolutivas. No modelo, as estratégias de vida são atributos herdáveis definidos por um trade-off entre longevidade e fecundidade. O cenário evolutivo foi composto por populações (apenas uma espécie) com mutação; o cenário ecológico, por diversas espécies sem mutação e o cenário eco-evolutivo, por diversas espécies com mutação. Observamos que o distúrbio esteve positivamente relacionado com a predominância de indivíduos fecundos em todos os cenários, mas o efeito do distúrbio sobre a diversidade de estratégias variou. Nos cenários evolutivo e eco-evolutivo, a diversidade de estratégias aumentou com a intensificação do distúrbio, enquanto no cenário ecológico a diversidade caiu. Isso indica a importância da mutação como fonte de novas variantes da estratégia quando há alta renovação de indivíduos da comunidade, condicionada pela mortalidade elevada. Apenas no cenário eco-evolutivo houve um pico de heterogeneidade de estratégias em níveis intermediários de distúrbio. Neste cenário, o isolamento reprodutivo das espécies, em contraposição à pan-mixia que ocorre dentro das populações, permite que as espécies difiram em relação à sua estratégia de vida média. Em paralelo, a entrada constante de variantes de estratégias por mutação previne a extinção definitiva das estratégias do sistema. Assim, quando o nível de distúrbio é intermediário, tanto espécies mais fecundas quanto espécies mais longevas conseguem coexistir na comunidade. Dado que os diferentes cenários resultaram em padrões distintos de frequência relativa de estratégias de vida, este trabalho evidencia a importância de estudarmos o efeito do distúrbio na estrutura e na dinâmica de comunidades unindo processos que são tipicamente estudados de forma isolada pela Ecologia e pela Biologia Evolutiva
Disturbance events impact life strategy diversity in communities and life strategy evolution in populations. In the field of Ecology, disturbance occurrence is studied while an environmental factor that alters resource availability and populations abundance, causing competitive exclusion of less favorable life strategies depending on disturbance frequency and intensity. In the field of Evolutionary Biology, disturbance is evaluated as a pressure, depending on its spatial and temporal regularity, that determines the intensity of species\' evolutionary response and, as a consequence, the adaptation towards the fittest life strategy. Although there is a separation between these two fields of knowledge, ecological dynamics influence evolutionary dynamics and the other way around. Studies that mix Ecology and Evolution are becoming more common, but few or none of them takes disturbance in consideration. Here, we use an individual-based model to generate contexts in which adaptation and competitive exclusion might act apart and together in order to understand how disturbance determines life strategies that occur in communities under ecological, evolutionary and eco-evolutionary dynamics. In the model, life strategy is an inheritable character defined for a trade-off between longevity and fecundity. Simulations from the evolutionary context were composed by one population under mutation acting, simulations from the ecological context by various species without mutation and simulations from the eco-evolutionary context by various species with mutation occurrence. We observed that disturbance was positively correlated with fecund individuals preponderance in all contexts but that disturbance effect on life strategy diversity varied between the different contexts. In the evolutionary and the eco-evolutionary contexts, life strategy diversity increased with disturbance raise, while in the ecological context diversity decreased. This result evidences the mutation role as a source of new life strategy variants when there is a high renovation of individuals given by raised mortality. Only in the eco-evolutionary context there was an interspecific heterogeneity peak on intermediate levels of disturbance. In this scenario, species reproductive isolation, in contrast to populations panmixy, allows species to differ in relation to its life strategies. In parallel to this, the constant input of new life strategy variants by mutation prevents the definite extinction of life strategies from the system. Therefore, when disturbance level is intermediate, productive species as well as long-lived ones are able to coexist. Given that the different contexts resulted in varied patterns of life strategies\' relative frequency, this study evidences the importance of studying disturbance effect on communities structure and dynamics unifying processes that are typically separated between Ecology and Evolution fields

It is well established that national retail chains impact small, single location retail businesses in terms of revenue generation, retail structure, retail type diversity, and location. This study examines the retail structure and diversity of five retail districts in the City of Denton, Texas. The analysis focuses on one central business district (CBD), one traditional retail strip center (University Drive, also known as US HWY 380), one special retail district (Fry Street District), one traditional enclosed shopping mall and associated development (Golden Triangle Mall), and one power retail center (Denton Crossing). The empirical foundation for the investigation is a historical business database covering years 1997 to 2010, obtained from Info Group's Reference USA. This Reference USA database includes location, industry, and status (single versus chain location) information for each business. Retail diversity and evenness were measured for each of the five retail districts using the Simpson's Diversity Index and the Simpsons Measure of Evenness, leading to specification of the differences that exist in retail structure and diversity among the districts. Golden Triangle Mall and Denton Crossing were primarily chain location in composition while Fry Street District, the CBD, and University Drive were primarily single location in composition. Across all years, the single versus chain status of the local business communities did not substantially change within any of the districts. The Fry Street District exhibited the most change in diversity as well as the lowest overall diversity among the retail districts, followed by University Drive and Golden Triangle Mall. The CBD did not experience any major change in retail type diversity. However, all retail districts experienced major changes in retail evenness. Overall for the city, single location retail businesses accounted for the majority of all the retail businesses, however, chain locations employed more people. In total, these findings indicate that the development of retail districts composed primarily of chain location retailer's affects retail district diversity and evenness but not retail structure.

La scelta del modeller riguardo alla chiusura del modello CGE influenza i suoi risultati finali e le sue prescrizioni di policy. In questa tesi, lo scopo è l’analisi e l’identificazione del problema, sia attraverso una discussione teorica che un’ applicazione pratica. Dall’articolo del 1963 di Amartya Sen in poi, la letteratura ha presentato vari articoli sull’argomento. Attualmente, il problema delle chiusure del modello non appare più centrale nel dibattito. Dopo una breve introduzione su cosa siano i CGE, il loro sviluppo e la loro struttura, è presentata una serie di esemplificative maquette con lo scopo di introdurre al concetto di chiusura, come essa influenzi i risultati e come questa scelta del modeller sia intimamente connessa ai fondamenti macroeconomici del sistema. Dopo la teoria, ci si sposta nel mondo reale analizzando con differenti modelli (Neoclassico, “Bastardo Keynesiano”, Strutturalista/Post- Keynesiano) e diverse chiusure per gli aggregati macroeconomici (risparmi privati, pubblici, e stranieri) l’impatto dell’accordo regionale SADC sull’economia mozambicana. I modelli CGE per il Mozambico sono calibrati su una SAM del 2003 e sono svolti con l’ausilio di GAMS/MPSGE. I risultati dimostrano che la chiusura influenza i risultati stessi del modello per cui ognuno presenta una serie di raccomandazioni politiche per l’applicazione dell’accordo SADC.
Modellers’ choice on closure rules affects a CGE model results and consequently its policy prescriptions. In this thesis, the aim is to detect and assess this issue, both through a theoretical discussion and an empirical application. Starting from Amartya Sen’s 1963 paper, literature presents many contributions on this topic. Currently, the closure rule problem is not central in the CGE debate. After a brief introduction on CGEs, their development and their structure, a series of simple maquette is presented. They have the exemplary role of introducing the concept of closures, explain how they affect final outcomes and how this modeller’s choice is strictly connected to the macroeconomic foundation of the economic system. After theory, we move into the real World analyzing through different models (Neoclassical, “Bastard Keynesian”, and Structuralist/ Post- Keynesian), and through different closure rules for macro- aggregates (private, public and foreign savings) the impact of the Regional Trade Agreement of SADC with respect to the Mozambican economy. The Mozambican CGE models are calibrated on a 2003 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and they are performed using GAMS/ MPSGE. Outcomes show that closure rules affect them and each model presents a set of policy prescription to implement the SADC agreement.

À l’échelle d’un territoire, la mise en place de la Trame Verte et Bleue ne peut se faire sans connaissances des espèces présentes, de la qualité écologique des habitats les accueillant et des connexions existantes entre les habitats. Les mares sont souvent décrites comme des points relais (i. E. Stepping stone) favorisant les échanges d’individus entre populations. L’objectif de ce travail est d’étudier le rôle des mares dans le maintien des connectivités en faveur des odonates ainsi que dans le maintien des communautés d’odonates à l’échelle du paysage. Plus particulièrement, cette étude porte sur les relations entre les espèces d’odonates et les caractéristiques environnementales des mares. La connectivité, quant à elle, est abordée en étudiant la dispersion d’une espèce de demoiselles (i. E. Ischnura elegans) de manière directe (i. E. Capture-Marquage-Recapture, suivis individuels, translocations) et indirecte (i. E. Flux de gènes). Le premier chapitre est focalisé sur l’influence des variables biotiques et abiotiques des mares, de leur localisation géographique et de leur contexte paysager environnant sur les communautés d’odonates. Les résultats obtenus montrent que deux mares plus proches géographiquement et écologiquement vont avoir plus d’espèces d’odonates en commun. Aussi, les zygoptères et les anisoptères ne répondent pas de la même manière aux variables environnementales des mares. Le deuxième chapitre de résultats s’attarde sur l’importance de la variabilité des mares dans le maintien du pool régional d’espèces. Le contexte dans lequel se situe la mare est important à considérer. Les mares agricoles favorisent le pool d’espèces d’odonates dans sa globalité. Les mares urbaines favorisent préférentiellement le pool de zygoptères et les mares forestières, le pool d’anisoptères. Ces différences sont à mettre en relation avec les traits des espèces (i. E. Mode de ponte, envergure, nombre de générations par an). Le troisième chapitre s’est concentré sur l’étude des déplacements locaux d’Ischnura elegans en relation avec les caractéristiques locales des mares et leur contexte paysager. Les différentes approches effectuées (i. E. Capture-Marquage-Recapture, suivis individuels, translocations) ont mis en évidence un effet du contexte paysager avec des déplacements sur de plus longues distances en milieu agricole qu’en milieu urbain. En cas d’assèchement de la mare, les individus passent sur la mare voisine en contexte agricole. Pour finir, la survie n’est pas dépendante des caractéristiques de la mare. Le dernier chapitre de résultats met l’accent sur l’étude des flux de gènes d’Ischura elegans à l’échelle de la Seine-Maritime. Une structuration génétique est mise en évidence ainsi qu’un isolement par la distance jusqu’à une distance de 9. 5 km. Ischunra elegans est donc une espèce mobile à l’échelle du paysage via les mares présentes. Les résultats obtenus lors de ce travail confirment l’importance des mares dans le maintien des communautés d’odonates et leurs rôles de point relais pour la dispersion des individus. La mare est un habitat essentiel à considérer dans la mise en place de la Trame Verte et Bleue
At a regional scale, the establishment of the « Trame Verte et Bleue » cannot be achieved without knowledge of species presence, of the ecological quality of habitats hosting these species and existing connections between these habitats. Ponds are often described as stepping stones promoting the exchange of individuals between populations. The objective of this study was to determine the role of ponds in maintaining favourable connectivity for Odonata and in maintenance of Odonata communities at a landscape scale. Specifically, this study focuses on the relationships between species of Odonata and environmental characteristics of ponds. Connectivity, for its part, is approached by studying dispersal of a damselfly species (i. E. Ischnura elegans) directly (i. E. Capture-Mark-Recapture, individual tracking, translocation) and indirectly (i. E. Gene flow). The first chapter focuses on the influence of biotic and abiotic variables of ponds, their geographic location and surrounding landscape context on Odonata communities. Results show that two geographically and ecologically closer ponds will have more Odonata species in common. Also, Zygoptera and Anisoptera do not respond in the same way to environmental characteristics of ponds. The second chapter focuses on the importance of ponds variability in the maintenance of regional species pool. The context of the pond is important to consider. Field ponds promote the pool of Odonata species in its entirety. Urban ponds preferentially promote the pool of Zygoptera species and forest ponds promote the pool of Anisoptera species. These differences are to be linked to species traits (i. E. Laying mode, wingspan, number of generations per year). The third chapter focuses on the study of Ischnura elegans local movements in relation to ponds local characteristics and landscape context. The different approaches taken (i. E. Capture-Mark-Recapture, individual tracking, translocation) have shown an effect of landscape context on movements over longer distances in field contexts compared to urban contexts. In case of a pond drying up, individuals go to the nearest pond in field contexts. Finally, survival is not dependent on pond characteristics The last chapter focuses on the study of gene flow of Ischnura elegans across Seine-Maritime. A genetic structure is highlighted and an isolation by distance up to a distance of 9. 5 km. Ischnura elegans is consequently a mobile species at a landscape scale through available ponds. Results obtained in this study confirm ponds importance in maintaining Odonata communities and their roles of stepping stones for the dispersal of individuals. The pond is an essential habitat to consider in the establishment of the « Trame Verte et Bleue »

The Arctic plays a key role in Earth’s climate system as global warming is predicted to be most pronounced at high latitudes and because one third of the global carbon pool is stored in ecosystems of the northern latitudes. In order to improve our understanding of the present and future carbon dynamics in climate sensitive permafrost ecosystems, the present study concentrates on investigations of microbial controls of methane fluxes, on the activity and structure of the involved microbial communities, and on their response to changing environmental conditions. For this purpose an integrated research strategy was applied, which connects trace gas flux measurements to soil ecological characterisation of permafrost habitats and molecular ecological analyses of microbial populations. Furthermore, methanogenic archaea isolated from Siberian permafrost have been used as potential keystone organisms for studying and assessing life under extreme living conditions. Long-term studies on methane fluxes were carried out since 1998. These studies revealed considerable seasonal and spatial variations of methane emissions for the different landscape units ranging from 0 to 362 mg m-2 d-1. For the overall balance of methane emissions from the entire delta, the first land cover classification based on Landsat images was performed and applied for an upscaling of the methane flux data sets. The regionally weighted mean daily methane emissions of the Lena Delta (10 mg m-2 d-1) are only one fifth of the values calculated for other Arctic tundra environments. The calculated annual methane emission of the Lena Delta amounts to about 0.03 Tg. The low methane emission rates obtained in this study are the result of the used remotely sensed high-resolution data basis, which provides a more realistic estimation of the real methane emissions on a regional scale. Soil temperature and near soil surface atmospheric turbulence were identified as the driving parameters of methane emissions. A flux model based on these variables explained variations of the methane budget corresponding to continuous processes of microbial methane production and oxidation, and gas diffusion through soil and plants reasonably well. The results show that the Lena Delta contributes significantly to the global methane balance because of its extensive wetland areas. The microbiological investigations showed that permafrost soils are colonized by high numbers of microorganisms. The total biomass is comparable to temperate soil ecosystems. Activities of methanogens and methanotrophs differed significantly in their rates and distribution patterns along both the vertical profiles and the different investigated soils. The methane production rates varied between 0.3 and 38.9 nmol h-1 g-1, while the methane oxidation ranged from 0.2 to 7.0 nmol h-1 g-1. Phylogenetic analyses of methanogenic communities revealed a distinct diversity of methanogens affiliated to Methanomicrobiaceae, Methanosarcinaceae and Methanosaetaceae, which partly form four specific permafrost clusters. The results demonstrate the close relationship between methane fluxes and the fundamental microbiological processes in permafrost soils. The microorganisms do not only survive in their extreme habitat but also can be metabolic active under in situ conditions. It was shown that a slight increase of the temperature can lead to a substantial increase in methanogenic activity within perennially frozen deposits. In case of degradation, this would lead to an extensive expansion of the methane deposits with their subsequent impacts on total methane budget. Further studies on the stress response of methanogenic archaea, especially Methanosarcina SMA-21, isolated from Siberian permafrost, revealed an unexpected resistance of the microorganisms against unfavourable living conditions. A better adaptation to environmental stress was observed at 4 °C compared to 28 °C. For the first time it could be demonstrated that methanogenic archaea from terrestrial permafrost even survived simulated Martian conditions. The results show that permafrost methanogens are more resistant than methanogens from non-permafrost environments under Mars-like climate conditions. Microorganisms comparable to methanogens from terrestrial permafrost can be seen as one of the most likely candidates for life on Mars due to their physiological potential and metabolic specificity.
Die Arktis spielt eine Schlüsselrolle im Klimasystem unserer Erde aus zweierlei Gründen. Zum einen wird vorausgesagt, dass die globale Erwärmung in den hohen Breiten am ausgeprägtesten sein wird. Zum anderen ist ein Drittel des globalen Kohlenstoffs in Ökosystemen der nördlichen Breiten gespeichert. Um ein besseres Verständnis der gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Entwicklung der Kohlenstoffdynamik in klimaempfindlichen Permafrostökosystemen zu erlangen, konzentriert sich die vorliegende Arbeit auf Untersuchungen zur Kontrolle der Methanflüsse durch Mikroorganismen, auf die Aktivität und Struktur der beteiligten Mikroorganismen-gemeinschaften und auf ihre Reaktion auf sich ändernde Umweltbedingungen. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine integrierte Forschungsstrategie entwickelt, die Spurengasmessungen mit boden- und molekularökologischen Untersuchungen der Mikroorganismengemeinschaften verknüpft. Langzeitmessungen zu den Methanflüssen werden seit 1998 durchgeführt. Diese Untersuchungen zeigten beträchtliche saisonale und räumliche Schwankungen der Methanemissionen auf, die zwischen 0 und 362 mg m-2 d-1 für die untersuchten Landschaftseinheiten schwankten. Für die Bilanzierung der Methanemissionen für das gesamte Delta wurde erstmals eine Klassifikation der unterschiedlichen Landschaftseinheiten anhand von Landsat-Aufnahmen durchgeführt und für eine Hochrechnung der Methandaten genutzt. Die Mittelwerte der regional gewichteten täglichen Methanemissionen des Lenadeltas (10 mg m-2 d-1) sind nur ein Fünftel so hoch wie die berechneten Werte für andere arktische Tundren. Die errechnete jährliche Methanemission des Lenadeltas beträgt demnach ungefähr 0,03 Tg. Die geringen Methanemissionsraten dieser Studie können durch den bisher noch nicht realisierten integrativen Ansatz, der Langzeitmessungen und Landschafts-klassifizierungen beinhaltet, erklärt werden. Bodentemperatur und oberflächennahe atmosphärische Turbulenzen wurden als die antreibenden Größen der Methanfreisetzung identifiziert. Ein Modell, das auf diesen Variablen basiert, erklärt die Veränderungen der Methanflüsse gemäß der dynamischen mikrobiellen Prozesse und der Diffusion von Methan durch den Boden und die Pflanzen zutreffend. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Lenadelta erheblich zur globalen Methanemission aufgrund seiner weitreichenden Feuchtgebiete beiträgt. Die mikrobiologischen Untersuchungen zeigten, dass Permafrostböden durch eine hohe Anzahl von Mikroorganismen besiedelt wird. Die Gesamtbiomasse ist dabei mit Bodenökosystemen gemäßigter Klimate vergleichbar. Die Stoffwechselaktivitäten von methanogenen Archaeen und methanotrophen Bakterien unterschieden sich erheblich in ihrer Rate und Verteilung im Tiefenprofil sowie zwischen den verschiedenen untersuchten Böden. Die Methanbildungsrate schwankte dabei zwischen 0,3 und 38,9 nmol h-1 g-1, während die Methanoxidation eine Rate von 0,2 bis 7,0 nmol h-1 g-1 aufwies. Phylogenetische Analysen der methanogenen Mikro-organismengemeinschaften zeigten eine ausgeprägte Diversität der methanogenen Archaeen auf. Die Umweltsequenzen bildeten vier spezifische Permafrostcluster aus, die den Gruppen Methanomicrobiaceae, Methanosarcinaceae und Methano-saetaceae zugeordnet werden konnten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Methanfreisetzung durch die zugrunde liegenden mikrobiologischen Prozesse im Permafrostboden gesteuert wird. Die beteiligten Mikroorganismen überleben nicht nur in ihrem extremen Habitat, sondern zeigten auch Stoffwechselaktivität unter in-situ-Bedingungen. Ferner konnte gezeigt werden, dass eine geringfügige Zunahme der Temperatur zu einer erheblichen Zunahme der Methanbildungsaktivität in den ständig gefrorenen Permafrostablagerungen führen kann. Im Falle der Permafrostdegradation würde dieses zu einer gesteigerten Freisetzung von Methan führen mit bisher unbekannten Auswirkungen auf das Gesamtbudget der Methanfreistzung aus arktischen Gebieten. Weitere Untersuchungen zur Stresstoleranz von methanogenen Archaeen – insbesondere des neuen Permafrostisolates Methanosarcina SMA-21 - weisen eine unerwartete Widerstandsfähigkeit der Mikroorganismen gegenüber ungünstigen Lebensbedingungen auf. Eine bessere Anpassung an Umweltstress wurde bei 4°C im Vergleich zu 28°C beobachtet. Zum ersten Mal konnte gezeigt werden, dass methanogene Archaeen aus terrestrischem Permafrost unter simulierten Marsbedingungen unbeschadet überleben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass methanogene Archaeen aus Permafrostböden resistenter gegenüber Umweltstress und Marsbedingungen sind als entsprechende Mikroorganismen aus Habitaten, die nicht durch Permafrost gekennzeichnet sind. Mikroorganismen, die den Archaeen aus terrestrischen Permafrosthabitaten ähneln, können als die wahrscheinlichsten Kandidaten für mögliches Leben auf dem Mars angesehen werden.

This thesis explores the location and nature of the power that is deepening and broadening the revolution in modern biotechnologies, and which is inherent in the global governance of one type of genetic resource — plant genetic resources. Plant genetic resources are of increasing importance within the global political economy and ecology because of the power/knowledge networks contributing to, and responding to developments in the biotechnology sector, and concerned with the rampant erosion of biological diversity. The thesis argues that transnational norms, values and knowledge are important aspects of power. Discursive power, and particularly the power inherent in discourses of sustainable development, security and human rights, are a central focus of the thesis. The thesis challenges realist, neo-realist and other structural analyses of power which focus on relative distributions of power at the level of individual states or at the global level.

As alterações das paisagens promovidas pelo homem, em razão das atividades relacionadas ao uso e ocupação do solo, representam um desafio para as atividades de controle da malária na Amazônia brasileira. Desse modo, buscou-se avaliar o sistema ecológico da malária através da construção de três eixos: desmatamento, uso do solo e diversidade de Culicidae. Esses eixos tiveram a paisagem como centro de conexão, modulados por fatores de pressão (hospedeiro humano), de risco (o vetor) e de causa (o agente infeccioso). A transmissão de patógenos, incluindo espécies de Plasmodium, ocorre na intersecção entre os nichos do hospedeiro humano, dos vetores e dos parasitos, em ambiente que permite a interconexão dos mesmos. Nesse sentido, verificou-se que cada quilômetro quadrado de área impactada pelo desmatamento, entre 2009-2015, produziu 27 novos casos de malária (r² = 0,78; F1,10 = 35,81; P <0,001) na Amazônia Legal brasileira, com uma correlação positiva altamente significativa entre o número de áreas de florestas impactadas com menos de 5 km² e a incidência da doença. Em virtude das relações indiretas com o desmatamento, foi possível verificar que o aumento da produção de soja, madeira, gado e óleo de palma no mundo apresentou alta correlação positiva significativa com a incidência de malária em países tropicais. No cenário brasileiro, a abundância de Nyssorhynchus darlingi respondeu positivamente à perda da cobertura florestal de áreas endêmicas de malária. Ao contrário, a diversidade de Culicidae diminuiu, deixando os vetores como espécies dominantes, favorecendo a taxa de picada e a capacidade de transmissão do Plasmodium. Desse modo, foi possível concluir que a incidência da doença, em áreas rurais, está fortemente associada aos padrões de uso e ocupação do solo. A estrutura da paisagem pode ser indicador de risco para a doença, em virtude das dinâmicas ecológicas do Ny. darlingi.
Changes in the landscapes caused by humans, due to the activities related to the use and occupation of the soil, represent a challenge for malaria control activities in the Brazilian Amazon. Therefore, we evaluated the ecological system of malaria in relation to the construction of three drivers: deforestation, land use and Culicidae diversity. These drivers had in common the landscape, modulated by factors of pressure (human host), risk (the vector) and necessary cause (the infectious agent). The transmission of pathogens, including species of Plasmodium, occurs at the intersection among niches of the human host, the vectors and the parasites, in an environment that allows the interconnection of these organisms. The data analyzed herein verified that every square kilometer of area impacted by deforestation between 2009-2015 produced 27 new cases of malaria (r² = 0.78, F1.10 = 35.81, P <0.001) in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, with a highly significant positive correlation between the number of forest areas with impacted less than 5 km² and the incidence of the disease. Due to the indirect relationship with deforestation, it was possible to verify that the increase in the production of soybean, wood, cattle and palm oil worldwide showed a significant positive correlation with the incidence of malaria in tropical countries. In the Brazilian scenario, the abundance of Nyssorhynchus darlingi responded positively to the loss of forest cover of endemic areas of malaria. In opposite, the Culicidae diversity decreased, leaving vectors as dominant species, favoring the biting rate and the capacity to Plasmodium transmission. Thus, it was possible to conclude that the incidence of the disease in rural areas is strongly associated with the patterns of land use and occupation. The structure of the landscape can be an indicator of risk for the disease, due to the ecological dynamics of the Ny. darlingi.

Présentation de plusieurs complexes, répartis en trois types, d'après leurs caractères pétrographiques, minéralogiques et géochimiques. Chaque type correspond à une étape géodynamique particulière de l'évolution du domaine pharusien. On propose un modèle géodynamique de mise en place en système de bassins intrasialiques

Au regard de la variété d’enjeux (économiques, sociétaux et environnementaux) que recouvrent les espaces de nature soumis au développement humain, il apparait urgent de comprendre les déterminants de leur fonctionnement. En effet, même si elles ne constituent pas des lieux prioritaires de conservation pour les espèces rares et menacées, les zones urbanisées sont loin d’être dépourvues de biodiversité. Cependant, cette biodiversité et les processus écologiques en œuvre demeurent mal connus. Il s’agit ici d’utiliser les communautés de Rhopalocères (papillons de jour) comme grille de lecture des paysages urbains et périurbains. A partir de l’étude des communautés de papillons (et accessoirement d’oiseaux) en région PACA, l’objectif principal de ce travail est ainsi de mettre en évidence les patrons d’organisation de ces communautés afin comprendre les facteurs conditionnant les assemblages d’espèces en milieu urbain et périurbain. Situé en région méditerranéenne qui constitue un espace original d’un point de vue biogéographique, ce travail a porté sur des terrains d’étude permettant d’aborder deux expressions différentes du processus d’urbanisation touchant le territoire provençal : (i) le village de Lauris (84), caractéristique d’un arrière-pays méditerranéen « en voie de métropolisation » ; et (ii) l’agglomération marseillaise (13), 2ème ville la plus peuplée de France. A partir de l’analyse des assemblages d’espèces de quatre habitats (friches, jardins privés, vignes, forêts), les travaux menés sur la commune de Lauris se sont intéressés à la réponse des communautés de Rhopalocères face aux changements de la disponibilité en habitats dans une mosaïque paysagère en mutation. Les résultats ont ainsi révélé des variations en termes de structure et de composition fonctionnelle, soulignant tant l’influence du contexte paysager que du type d’habitat sur l’organisation de ces communautés. Cette étude a également soulevé l’intérêt du compartiment jardin en tant que réservoir de biodiversité. Les travaux ont ensuite été orientés sur la question de la biodiversité hébergée par les espaces artificialisés en ville. Pour cela 24 parcs publics de la ville de Marseille ont été étudiés. Il a été possible de démontrer comment les traits fonctionnels des espèces (papillons et oiseaux) permettaient de prédire leur répartition le long d’un gradient d’urbanisation. Les différents travaux menés sur l’agglomération marseillaise ont également révélé l’importance de l’échelle paysagère et des dynamiques spatiales régionales (dispersion et colonisation) sur l’organisation des assemblages d’espèces. Les communautés de Rhopalocères apparaissent fortement conditionnées par le degré d’isolement des parcs vis-à-vis des massifs semi-naturels, soulevant l’idée d’une alimentation des assemblages intra-urbains par un pool d’espèces régional situé en périphérie. Cette hypothèse est d’ailleurs appuyée par la distribution imbriquée des espèces (nested subsets) entre les parcs, où les sites les plus pauvres en termes de composition spécifique constituent des sous-échantillons des sites les plus riches, sans que cela ne soit relié à l’existence d’une relation aire-espèce significative. Enfin, l’étude de l’aménagement des parcs et de leur gestion a permis de souligner l’effet d’interactions plus locales sur l’organisation des communautés. Cependant, le contexte paysager semble fortement conditionner la composante végétale autour, mais aussi dans les parcs, notamment par le biais de sa gestion par les services municipaux
Given the wide range of issues (economic, social and environmental) that are concerned by natural environments under the impact of human development, it is a matter of urgency to understand the factors that determine their functioning. Even if they do not constitute priority areas for the conservation for rare and endangered species, urban areas are by no means devoid of biodiversity. This biodiversity and the ecological processes involved remain poorly known.The approach here is to use the communities of Rhopaloceres (butterflies) as a framework for reading the urban and outlying suburban landscapes. On the basis of a study of butterfly communities (and secondarily those of birds) in the PACA (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur) region, the main aim of this study is to provide evidence of the patterns of organisation of these communities in order to understand the factors that control the assemblages of species in the urban and outlying suburban environment.Focused on the Mediterranean area, which constitutes an original site from the biogerographical point of view, this investigation has focused on two study sites in order to offer two different expressions of the process of urban development affecting the territory of Provence: (i) the village of Lauris (84), characteristic of a Mediterranean hinterland ‘in the process of metropolisation’; and (ii) the Marseille conurbation (13), the 2nd most populous city in France.On the basis of an analysis of the assemblages of species of four habitats (fallow land, private gardens, vineyards, forests), the investigations carried out in Lauris are focused on the response of the communities of Rhopaloceres in the face of rapid changes in land use. The results provide evidence of variations in terms of structure and functional composition, underlining the influence both of the landscape context and of the type of habitat on the organisation of these communities. This study also highlights the interest of the garden compartment as a reservoir of biodiversity.Then, the investigation has focused on the question of the biodiversity accommodated in the man-made areas of the city. To this end, 24 public parks in the city of Marseille have been studied. It has been possible to show how the functional traits of species (butterflies and birds) can be used to predict their distribution along a gradient of urban development. The various studies carried out on Marseille have also shown the importance of the landscape scale and of the regional spatial dynamic (dispersal and colonisation) with regard to the organisation of assemblages of species. The communities of Rhopaloceres appear to be strongly conditioned by the degree of isolation of parks with regard to the semi-natural massifs, raising the idea of the strengthening of the intra-urban assemblages by a regional pool of species situated around the outskirts. This hypothesis is further supported by the overlapping pattern of distribution of the species (nested subsets) between the parks, where the poorest sites in terms of species composition constitute sub-samples of the richest sites, without this being linked to the existence of a significant species-area relationship. Finally, the study of the development of parks and their management has enabled us to highlight the impact of more local interactions on the organisation of the communities. Nevertheless, the landscape context would appear to strongly condition the plant component in the surroundings, but also in the parks, in particular via the management practices of the municipal departments

As discussões sobre as relações entre o Acordo TRIPS e a Convenção sobre a Diversidade Biológica (CDB) encontram-se na agenda internacional desde a realização da IV Conferência Ministerial da Organização Mundial do Comércio, ocorrida em novembro de 2001, em Doha no Catar. Apesar da considerável atenção que o tema tem recebido nos fóruns internacionais, o debate sobre o tratamento adequado da questão persiste sem solução. A presente tese apresenta uma abrangente análise das conexões que existem entre a proteção dos direitos de propriedade intelectual e a conservação da diversidade biológica. Além disso, a partir de uma análise de conceitos de propriedade intelectual como patentes, indicações geográficas, transferência de tecnologia e propriedade comunitária de conhecimentos tradicionais, destacam-se elementos necessários para o uso sustentável e conservação dos recursos biológicos.
The goal of establishing a positive relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity has been on the international agenda since the fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. Despite a considerable amount of attention in the international forums, the debate about the appropriate parameter of this relationship persists without resolution. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the protection of intellectual property rights and the conservation of biological diversity. Furthermore, that upon analysis of concepts of intellectual property such as patents, geographical indications, technology transfer and communal property over traditional knowledge, issues are identified to support the conservation and sustainable use of the biological resources.

A Bruxelles comme dans d’autres contextes régionaux et nationaux, de nombreux professionnels et spécialistes présentent les notions de discrimination et de diversité dans le domaine de l’emploi comme « les deux faces d’une même pièce » : au dépassement de la première répondrait l’avènement de la seconde. Considérant ce discours comme problématique, nous retraçons dans notre thèse l’émergence et le développement de l’action publique bruxelloise de lutte contre les discriminationsethno-raciales et de promotion de la diversité en matière d’emploi, depuis la fin des années 1990. Dans une perspective qualitative, nous analysons les conditions d’élaboration et de mise en oeuvre de cette action publique régionale, en prêtant une attention particulière aux pratiques des acteurs et aux effets concrets des dispositifs (en particulier le « Plan de diversité »). Au-delà du caractère éduisant et consensuel de la notion de diversité, nous montrons que les interventions qui s’en réclament tendent à perdre de vue le problème des discriminations ethno-raciales en matière d’emploi, qu’elles devaient pourtant contribuer à réduire. Les entreprises privées peuvent ne pas voir l’utilité ni la pertinence des « bonnes pratiques » de gestion des ressources humaines promues dans ce cadre. Et même lorsque les pratiques managériales évoluent, cela n’a pas forcément d’effet en matière de recrutement ou de reconnaissance symbolique des minorités ethno-raciales
In Brussels as in many other regional and national contexts, discrimination and diversity are often described as “two sides of the same coin”, diversity being thought of as a solution to discrimination. We question this argument in our doctoral dissertation and examine how authorities in the Brussels region implemented a new public policy to tackle discrimination and promote diversity since the end of the 1990s. We analyse in a qualitative perspective how measures and instruments were designed and brought into action. In particular, we focus on social practices and also on the practical effects of the policy instruments mobilized in this context (especially the “Diversity plan”). The seducing notionof diversity seems to produce consensus, but we also show that it often leads to losing sight of the discrimination problem. Furthermore, public authorities promote “best practices” to improve diversity in the workplace, but these are not always considered useful nor relevant by private companies. Even when changes appear to happen in management practices, we observe a limited impact on ecruitmentand also on symbolic recognition of ethno-racial minorities