Biology Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2749

Browse

Filters

2003 - 20052

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.Anthropology, Cultural

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    THE EVOLUTION, PHYLOGEOGRAPHY, AND CONSERVATION OF THE GOLDEN LANGUR (Trachypithecus geei) IN BHUTAN
    (2005-04-15) Wangchuk, Tashi; Inouye, David W; Biology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The golden langur (<i>Trachypithecus geei</i>) is an endangered endemic species of primate in Bhutan. Conservation of this species is addressed here through phylogeographic and habitat management tools. I hypothesize that rivers and mountains in Bhutan isolated a population of capped langurs (<i>Trachypithecus pileatus</i>) and that this population later speciated into the morphologically distinct golden langur. <i>Trachypithecus</i>, the genus to which both capped and golden langurs belong, spread north from a paleo-refuge in south China and <i>Semnopithecus</i> (grey langurs) spread east and northward from a refuge in south India. My results show that these two genera both arrived in Bhutan but could not mix since the Sunkosh River and Pelela range form a biogeographic barrier. Likewise, a population of capped langurs isolated from parental populations by rivers speciated into the distinct golden langur. I conducted field surveys covering the entire range of langurs in Bhutan, confirming the distribution and isolating barriers among the three langurs. Grey langurs and golden langurs are isolated from each other by the Sunkosh River and Black Mountain range in west Bhutan. In the east, the Manas river system (Manas-Mangde-Chamkhar) served as a barrier between golden and capped langurs. However, this barrier has been broken in the last 30 years due to the construction of bridges over the Chamkhar river. A hybrid zone was found and the implications are discussed. A cyt b phylogeny showed the grey langur of Bhutan grouping into a distinct clade with other congenerics of Semnopithecus. The south-Indian clade of grey langurs is more ancient, with the Bhutan and Nepal grey langurs having diverged later. The golden and capped langur from Bhutan grouped with <i>Trachypithecus</i> from South East Asia. Finally, I explore conservation of golden langur habitat in Bhutan and estimate available habitat at 3,089 km2 and an estimated population of about 6,000 individuals. I also find that the most viable strategy for conservation of langur habitat is to give ownership of the forests to local people, with monitoring by the Department of Forestry.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A MEMETIC/PARTICIPATORY APPROACH FOR CHANGING SOCIAL BEHAVIORS AND PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP IN JALISCO, MEXICO
    (2003-12-04) Robles Diaz de Leon, Luisa Fernanda; Kangas, Patrick; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences
    This dissertation addressed the issue of sustainable development at the level of individual behaviors. Environmental perceptions were obtained from people living around the biosphere reserve Chamela-Cuixmala in Jalisco, Mexico. Several environmental issues were identified by the people, such as garbage and grey water on the streets, burning plastics, and the lack of usage of recreational areas. All these issues could be addressed with a change in behavior by the villagers. Familiarization activities were conducted to gain people's trust in order to conduct a community forum. These activities included giving talks to school children and organizing workshops. Four different methodologies were generated using memetics and participation to test which would ameliorate those environmental issues identified by the people through a change in behavior. The methodologies were 1) Memes; 2) Participation and Memes; 3) Participation; 4) Neither Participation nor Memes. A meme is an idea expressed within a linguistic structure or architecture that provides it with self-disseminating and self-protecting characteristics within and among the minds of individuals congruent with their values, beliefs and filters. Four villages were chosen as the treatments, and one as the control, for a total of five experimental villages. A different behavior was addressed in each treatment village (garbage, grey-water, burning plastics, recreation.) A nonequivalent control-group design was established. A pretest was conducted in all five villages; the methodologies were tested in the four treatment villages; a posttest was conducted on the five villages. The pretest and posttest consisted in measuring sensory specific indicators which are manifestations of behavior that can either be seen, smelled, touched, heard or tasted. Statistically significant differences in behavior from the control were found for two of the methodologies 1) Memes (p=0.0403) and 2) Participation and Memes (p=0.0064). For the methodologies of 3) Participation alone and 4) Neither, the differences were not significant (p=0.8827, p=0.5627 respectively). When using memes, people's behavior improved when compared to the control. Participation alone did not generate a significant difference. Participation aided in the generation of the memes. Memetics is a tool that can be used to establish a linkage between human behavior and ecological health.