Behavioral Ecology of the Western Atlantic Short-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus)

Social structure is a key determinant of population biology and is central to the way animals exploit their environment. The risk of predation is often invoked as an important factor influencing the evolution of social structure in cetaceans and other mammals, but little direct information is available about how cetaceans actually respond to predators or other perceived threats. The playback of sounds to an animal is a powerful tool for assessing behavioral responses to predators, but quantifying behavioral responses to playback experiments requires baseline knowledge of normal behavioral patterns and variation. The central goal of my dissertation is to describe baseline foraging behavior for the western Atlantic short-finnned pilot whales (Globicephala macrohynchus) and examine the role of social organization in their response to predators. To accomplish this I used multi-sensor digital acoustic tags (DTAGs), satellite-linked time-depth recorders (SLTDR), and playback experiments to study foraging behavior and behavioral response to predators in pilot whales. Fine scale foraging strategies and population level patterns were identified by estimating the body size and examining the location and movement around feeding events using data collected with DTAGs deployed on 40 pilot whales in summers of 2008-2014 off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Pilot whales were found to forage throughout the water column and performed feeding buzzes at depths ranging from 29-1176 meters. The results indicated potential habitat segregation in foraging depth in short-finned pilot whales with larger individuals foraging on average at deeper depths. Calculated aerobic dive limit for large adult males was approximately 6 minutes longer than that of females and likely facilitated the difference in foraging depth. Furthermore, the buzz frequency and speed around feeding attempts indicate this population pilot whales are likely targeting multiple small prey items. Using these results, I built decision trees to inform foraging dive classification in coarse, long-term dive data collected with SLTDRs deployed on 6 pilot whales in the summers of 2014 and 2015 in the same area off the coast of North Carolina. I used these long term foraging records to compare diurnal foraging rates and depths, as well as classify bouts with a maximum likelihood method, and evaluate behavioral aerobic dive limits (ADLB) through examination of dive durations and inter-dive intervals. Dive duration was the best predictor of foraging, with dives >400.6 seconds classified as foraging, and a 96% classification accuracy. There were no diurnal patterns in foraging depth or rates and average duration of bouts was 2.94 hours with maximum bout durations lasting up to 14 hours. The results indicated that pilot whales forage in relatively long bouts and the ADLB indicate that pilot whales rarely, if ever exceed their aerobic limits. To evaluate the response to predators I used controlled playback experiments to examine the behavioral responses of 10 of the tagged short-finned pilot whales off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and 4 Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) off Southern California to the calls of mammal-eating killer whales (MEK). Both species responded to a subset of MEK calls with increased movement, swim speed and increased cohesion of the focal groups, but the two species exhibited different directional movement and vocal responses. Pilot whales increased their call rate and approached the sound source, but Risso’s dolphins exhibited no change in their vocal behavior and moved in a rapid, directed manner away from the source. Thus, at least to a sub-set of mammal-eating killer whale calls, these two study species reacted in a manner that is consistent with their patterns of social organization. Pilot whales, which live in relatively permanent groups bound by strong social bonds, responded in a manner that built on their high levels of social cohesion. In contrast, Risso’s dolphins exhibited an exaggerated flight response and moved rapidly away from the sound source. The fact that both species responded strongly to a select number of MEK calls, suggests that structural features of signals play critical contextual roles in the probability of response to potential threats in odontocete cetaceans.

‘Tenshillingland’: Community and Commerce, Myth and Madness in the Modern Scottish Novel.

While ‘community’ as a concept has come under increasing attack in a neoliberal era, it has remained in Scotland a mythic, though not unexamined, signifier of resistance to perceived threats to national identity. Community, central to the Scottish novel since the Kailyard, continues to be a prevalent theme in the many important novels of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries explored here. Yet, while often disturbingly oppressive in tenor, many of these representations of community actually attack the myth of Scottish communalism to critique, and often expose as forms of madness, the conventional values of social class, capitalism, patriarchy, and religion.

Towards an understanding of Pakistani undergraduates’ current attitudes towards learning and speaking English

The English language has an important place in Pakistan and in its education system, not least because of the global status of English and its role in employment. Realising the need to enhance language learning outcomes, especially at the tertiary level, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has put in place some important measures to improve the quality of English language teaching practice through its English Language Teaching Reforms (ELTR) project. However, there is a complex linguistic, educational and ethnic diversity in Pakistan and that diversity, alongside the historical and current role of English in the country, makes any language teaching reform particularly challenging. I argue, in this thesis, that reform to date has largely ignored the issues of learner readiness to learn and learner perceptions of the use of English. I argue that studying learner attitudes is important if we are to understand how learners perceive the practice of learning and the use of English in their lives. This study focuses on the attitudes of undergraduate learners of English as a foreign language at two universities in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan in Pakistan. These provinces have experienced long struggles and movements related to linguistic and ethnic rights and both educate students from all of the districts of their respective provinces. Drawing on debates around linguistic imperialism, economic necessity, and linguistic and educational diversity, I focus on learners’ perceptions about learning and speaking English, asking what their attitudes are towards learning and speaking English with particular reference to socio-psychological factors at a given time and context, including perceived threats to their culture, religion, and mother tongue. I ask how they make choices about learning and speaking English in different domains of language use and question their motivation to learn and speak English. Additionally, I explore issues of anxiety with reference to their use of English. Following a predominantly qualitative mixed methods research approach, the study employs two research tools: an adapted Likert Scale questionnaire completed by 300 students and semi-structured interviews with 20 participants from the two universities. The data were analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis, with each set of data synthesised for interpretation. The findings suggest that, compared with the past, the majority of participants hold positive attitudes towards learning and speaking English regardless of their ethnic or linguistic backgrounds. Most of these undergraduate students do not perceive the use of English as a threat to their culture, mother tongue or religious values but, instead, they have a pragmatic and, at the same time, aspirational attitude to the learning and use of English. I present these results and conclude this thesis with reference to ways in which this small-scale study contributes to a better understanding of learner attitudes and perceptions. Acknowledging the limitations of this study, I suggest ways in which the study, enhanced and extended by further research, might have implications for practice, theory and policy in English language teaching and learning in Pakistan.

Are incentive programs working? Landowner attitudes to ecological restoration of agricultural landscapes

Private property accounts for much of the planet's arable land, and most of this has been cleared for agricultural production. Agricultural areas retain only fragments of their original vegetation and this has been detrimental to many native plant and animal species. Habitat restoration and revegetation may be able to reconnect and enlarge existing remnant areas in agricultural landscapes and, thereby, enhance native plant and animal communities. However, conservation initiatives will be successful only if landowners actively participate in restoration actions. This study used four hundred postal questionnaires to assess the degree to which landowners in two regions of south-eastern Australia adopt restoration activities, their opinions regarding remnant and revegetated land and their management actions in these areas. One hundred and seventy nine completed questionnaires were received. Three quarters of respondents had undertaken restoration on their property or were planning to revegetate in the future. Landcare members were most likely to have previously revegetated and future revegetation intentions were best predicted by previous restoration activities and a primary income source that was off-farm. Landowners were more likely to manage restored and remnant areas if they perceived threats such as weeds, pest animals and fire risk would be detrimental to their property, than to enhance environmental outcomes. These results indicate that landowners are interested in restoring natural areas, but without greater assistance to restore ground layers and manage perceived threats posed by fire and invasive plants and animals, restoration actions will not have their desired biodiversity benefits.

Assessing Historical and Current Threats to Common Frog (Rana Temporaria) Populations in Ireland

Ponds are an ephemeral feature of the landscape but their large-scale loss can have profound implications for biodiversity and the persistence of amphibian populations. We quantified rates of pond loss throughout Ireland over a period of approximately 125 yr. Environmental parameters and perceived risk factors associated with the current occurrence and density of the Common Frog, Rana temporaria, were also analyzed. The numbers of farmland ponds declined by 54% between 1887–1913 and 2005–11, with most ponds and the greatest losses
in the East, coincident with agricultural intensification and human habitation. The decline of pond numbers was significant but, at approximately 0.5% per annum, was substantially less than losses recorded in other European countries. Losses were coincident with major changes to the agricultural landscape including extensive land drainage. However, losses of pond and natural wetland habitats throughout Ireland may have been partially or wholly mitigated by a synchronous expansion of artificial field margin ditches associated with drainage projects during the mid-20th Century. The ecology of the Common Frog in Ireland was similar to its ecology elsewhere and it appears largely unaffected by pollution and disturbance. Consequently, the conservation status of the frog in Ireland was judged ‘‘favorable’’ and should remain so for the foreseeable future.

New threats - old routines : bureaucratic adaptability in the security policy environment

Within the framework of state security policy, the focus of this dissertation are the relations between how new security threats are perceived and the policy planning and bureaucratic implementation that are designed to address them. In addition, this thesis explores and studies some of the inertias that might exist in the core of the state apparatus as it addresses new threats and how these could be better managed. The dissertation is built on five thematic and interrelated articles highlighting different aspects of when new significant national security threats are detected by different governments until the threats on the policy planning side translate into protective measures within the society. The timeline differs widely between different countries and some key aspects of this process are also studied. One focus concerns mechanisms for adaptability within the Intelligence Community, another on the policy planning process within the Cabinet Offices/National Security Councils and the third focus is on the planning process and how policy is implemented within the bureaucracy. The issue of policy transfer is also analysed, revealing that there is some imitation of innovation within governmental structures and policies, for example within the field of cyber defence. The main findings of the dissertation are that this context has built-in inertias and bureaucratic seams found in most government bureaucratic machineries. As much of the information and planning measures imply security classification of the transparency and internal debate on these issues, alternative assessments become limited. To remedy this situation, the thesis recommends ways to improve the decision-making system in order to streamline the processes involved in making these decisions. Another special focus of the thesis concerns the role of the public policy think tanks in the United States as an instrument of change in the country’s national security decision-making environment, which is viewed from the perspective as being a possible source of new ideas and innovation. The findings in this part are based on unique interviews data on how think tanks become successful and influence the policy debate in a country such as the United States. It appears clearly that in countries such as the United States think tanks smooth the decision making processes, and that this model with some adaptations also might be transferrable to other democratic countries.

Young people with intellectual disabilities attending mainstream and segregated schooling: perceived stigma, social comparison and future aspirations

Mainstream schooling is a key policy in the promotion of social inclusion of young people with learning disabilities. Yet there is limited evidence about the school experience of young people about to leave mainstream as compared with segregated education, and how it impacts on their relative view of self and future aspirations. Sixty young people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in their final year of secondary school participated in this study. Twenty-eight individuals came from mainstream schools and 32 attended segregated school. They completed a series of self-report measures on perceptions of stigma, social comparison to a more disabled and non-disabled peer and the likelihood involved in attaining their future goals. The majority of participants from both groups reported experiencing stigmatized treatment in the local area where they lived. The mainstream group reported significant additional stigma at school. In terms of social comparisons, both groups compared themselves positively with a more disabled peer and with a non-disabled peer. While the mainstream pupils had more ambitious work-related aspirations, both groups felt it equally likely that they would attain their future goals. Although the participants from segregated schools came from significantly more deprived areas and had lower scores on tests of cognitive functioning, neither of these factors appeared to have an impact on their experience of stigma, social comparisons or future aspirations. Irrespective of schooling environment, the young people appeared to be able to cope with the threats to their identities and retained a sense of optimism about their future. Nevertheless, negative treatment reported by the children was a serious source of concern and there is a need for schools to promote the emotional well-being of pupils with intellectual disabilities.

Local community perception towards bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in Caves in South central Mindanao, Philippines: Threats and Implication for conservation

In the tropics, bats are an essential component of many native ecosystems, through providing various ecological services including pollination and insect pest control, in addition to seed dispersal. Many Philippine bat species roost in caves and underground habitats. However, many caves are disturbed by people, to exploit resources for food, recreation, and mineral and guano extraction. The misunderstanding of the importance of bats to the ecosystem is also considered a threat to many cave roosting species. Understanding the conflicts between humans and ecosystems which provide essential services is important to maintain ecosystem service provision. A total of 100 local respondents from the village of Pisan, Kabacan North Cotabato in south central Mindanao were interviewed through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Respondents were asked about their views, levels of knowledge, use, interaction, and awareness towards both the caves and bats in their locality. Our survey found that most of the respondents are aware of the presence of bats from the caves in their locality. Unfortunately, a large proportion of the respondents noted that bats are hunted in caves for bush meat and trade, and most people perceived bats as pest to fruit crops such as durian. These factors are among the main factors of the execution of many bat colonies in caves of south central Mindanao. In general, cave bats are under appreciated species in caves. The unregulated tourism, hunting for bush meat and trade, and guano extraction are among the alarming threats occurring for both caves and bats in the locality and possibly to other localities in the country. Furthermore, the establishment of strong and effective model conservation education programs and the strengthening the participation of local government, academic, and community are essential steps to preserve the current state of cave bats in the area.

Jihad vs The New Great Game: Paradoxes of militant Islamic threats in Central Asia. OSW Point of View (Policy Brief), January 2010

Threats linked to Islamic fundamentalism have been hanging over Central Asia for almost two decades. Many believe that militant Islam has played a significant part in each major political crisis in the region, and Central Asia is perceived as an almost perfect environment for its further development. Such a picture of this region is a result of serious abuses and manipulations. The real threat posed by militant Islam seems to be rather limited, and its roots lie outside Central Asia. This region is unlikely to become a key front of global jihad. Nevertheless, this does not guarantee peace and safety in Central Asia, as the Islamic threat remains an element of the geopolitical rivalry in the region – the ‘New Great Game’.