Zoology (Theses and Dissertations)
Recent Submissions
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Reconceptualising Eco-tourism: Aligning Tourism and Conservation Goals using Biodiversity Perception, Governance, and Management
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences, 2024)This thesis represents an in-depth exploration of the intricate relationship between tourism and conservation, delving into the critical need for robust governance to ensure effective environmental management within the ... -
Interactions between global change and multiple infection have complex effects on life-history traits of Daphnia magna and its parasites
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2024)Recent outbreaks of disease such as the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the need to better understand the drivers of pathogen spread and transmission, especially with disease outbreaks becoming more frequent due to ... -
Quantifying the impacts of multiple stressors on the production of marine benthic resources
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2024)Coastal ecosystems are among the most heavily affected by climate change and anthropogenic activities, which impacts their diversity, productivity and functioning and puts many of the key ecosystem services they provide ... -
The biology and ecology of regionally endothermic fishes in Irish waters
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2023)The waters surrounding Ireland are very productive due to cold water upwellings. This has led to Irish waters supporting many livelihoods such as those in tourism and fisheries, with some specialising in catching and ... -
Assessing novel cultivation methods, baseline fish assemblages and survey methodologies of cultivated and wild kelp in the Southwest of Ireland
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2023)Kelp (i.e. large brown macroalgae of the order Laminariales) are important habitat-forming species in coastal ecosystems. Recently, the key role kelp play as part of an expanding blue economy has been recognised in addition ... -
Dietary Conservatism: The Influences and Determinants of Alternative Foraging Strategies
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2023)Dietary conservatism – the existence of alternative foraging strategies in response to novel foods – continues to be a little-known and understudied topic of animal behaviour. In every vertebrate population tested so far, ... -
Understanding variation in ecology and physiology of marine migratory species.
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2023)As the world faces the threats of multiple compounded and worsening crises, scientists are racing to gather the knowledge necessary to safeguard entire ecosystems and species. Technological advances are continuously ... -
Temperature and the ecophysiology of marine ectotherms
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2023)Temperature influences the physiology, behaviour, and distribution of organisms and the field of thermal ecology has been stimulated in recent decades by the need for a greater understanding of how climate change will ... -
Human pressure as an ecological force across scales and systems
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2023)Historically, climate has been seen as the main driver of global vegetation patterns, but ecological paradigms have recently expanded to acknowledge human activity as a critical determinant of species biogeography. Today, ... -
Dispersal and speciation in the avian archipelago
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2022)Islands play a key role in both the evolution of new species and our understanding of that evolution. The colonisation of islands, followed by different levels of gene flow between populations, has produced a diverse ... -
Population Ecology from Local to Global Scales: a case study using Plantago lanceolata
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2022)This thesis investigated approaches to infer on demographic processes across varying scales and environmental gradients, pulling information from multiple sources. I used the model organism Plantago lanceolata. This perennial ... -
The stability of ecosystems under global environmental change
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2022)Through global environmental change, humans are modifying the planet at an unprecedented rate and scale, triggering the ongoing biodiversity and climate crises. Ecological stability and the consistency of nature s contributions ... -
Evaluating the status and prospects of blue carbon in Ireland and the North-East Atlantic
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2022)Since its conception in 2011, the concept of blue carbon has been valuable to focus the field of ecosystem services on carbon sequestration by marine macrophytic communities, which has been historically overlooked. In ... -
Taxonomy and ecology of epilithic diatoms in Irish lakes
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2021)Benthic algae are significant primary producers and important in biogeochemical cycling in shallow lakes in particular, but epilithic diatom ecology is poorly understood compared to phytoplankton and higher trophic levels. ... -
General mechanisms for non-additivity between multiple stressors at higher temporal and biological scales
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2021)Multiple anthropogenic stressors threaten the diversity, stability and functioning of ecosystems worldwide. The combined effects of these stressors can, however, be surprisingly difficult to predict due to complex interactions ... -
The role of helminth parasites in host invasion: a freshwater fish system
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2021)With the incidence of species invasions set to increase in the coming decades, it is increasingly important that research on invasive species impacts captures the complexity of natural ecosystems, including the influence ... -
The value of ex situ collections for global biodiversity conservation in the wild
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2021)Despite the best efforts of conservation practitioners global biodiversity is continuing to decline. The role of zoos and aquariums in conserving global biodiversity ex situ has become increasingly important as more species ... -
Hepatic ascariasis in a mouse model of relative susceptibility
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2020)The parasitic nematode Ascaris lumbricoides infects 800 million people worldwide. The age group most affected by this parasite are children between the ages of 5 and 15 years. The symptoms of ascariasis can be broadly ... -
The helminth parasites of Irish badgers: An untold story
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2020)The European badger (Meles meles) is a member of the Mustelid Family and Ireland?s largest terrestrial carnivore. Since the identification of badgers as wildlife reservoirs of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), extensive research ... -
The ecology and evolution of endemic shrimp in Lake Tanganyika
(Trinity College Dublin. School of Natural Sciences. Discipline of Zoology, 2019)An exceptionally diverse group of shrimp species in the genera Atyella, Caridella, Limnocaridina and Macrobrachium is found in Lake Tanganyika, Africa, while the region is otherwise relatively poor in shrimp species. In ...