Cities have tended to be treated by ecologists as essentially physical entities unconnected to the concerns of historical geographers. In contrast, urban morphologists have tended to focus on how urban physical expressions of culture have changed over time: such an approach has stimulated research on the characteristics and planning of the form of cities that has been largely divorced from concerns about ecosystem services. This is somewhat paradoxical in light of the significant areas of most cities that are vegetated and the increasing evidence of the value to society of these green spaces. This thesis examines the connection between urban morphological research on the fringe-belt concept, as developed by M. R. G. Conzen and others, and the character and distribution within cities of major areas of green space. The principal focus is on how green spaces within fringe belts that are embedded within cities (for example, parks, allotment gardens, golf courses, and land attached to educational and medical institutions) have changed over time, especially during the past 100 years. Detailed studies of fringe-belt sites in Birmingham reveal a decline in green space over time but maturation of surviving green space towards mature wood-grassland. Comparisons are made with residential areas.

The reliance on firewood leads people to be affected by indoor air pollution, which has negative impact on human health. Hence, a reduction on households using traditional fuels, through providing cleaner fuels, is imperative. Indonesia was before 2007 one of the Asian countries with a high proportion of people relying on traditional energy for cooking. However, in 2007, the government of Indonesia aimed to increase the usage of LPG for cooking through the Energy Conversion Program from Kerosene to LPG (ECPKL) policy. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of the policy on the development of access to modern energy between 2007 and 2011. Data from Statistics Indonesia and interviews with government and members of the public were collected. The statistical data was obtained to analyse the broader pattern of use of modern energy and traditional fuel in Indonesia over 2007-2011. Thematic maps of fuel use were produced and analysed in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The effect of the policy on the change of fuel use in Indonesia was investigated through non-parametric statistical analyses. The effects of household income and rural-urban location on change in fuel use were also investigated. Interviews with central government and local government were conducted to identify the role of government in ECPKL policy and their aims in instigating the change in fuel use from kerosene to LPG. Interviews with members of society were also conducted to investigate societal acceptance of LPG and the factors that influence willingness or reluctance to use LPG. Results of the study show that, in terms of quantity of energy, share of expenditure and source of energy measures, the number of households using firewood in Indonesia from 2007 to 2011 was reduced. In 2011, more households had access to LPG in comparison to 2007, and households using kerosene in 2011 were in smaller number than those in 2007. This indicates that the implementation of policy to replace kerosene with LPG had achieved the target of improving LPG use and reducing kerosene on one hand and only had a small influence on the reduction of traditional fuel for cooking use on the other hand, because there was no attempt from the government through the ECPKL to reduce firewood and other traditional fuel use. It was also found that injustice in the distribution of cleaner fuel for cooking use in Indonesia was apparent, but it reduced from 2007 to 2011. Similarly, the policy implementation led to a reduction in the difference between rural and urban areas in proportions of modern and traditional users, between 2007 and 2011. Interview analysis revealed that there are three levels of adoption of LPG, i.e. full adopters, partial adopters and non-adopters. The factors affecting adoption of LPG include price and the market for LPG and kerosene; trust; the tangible and intangible characteristics of appliances; the campaign for LPG by family and neighbours, and kitchen architecture. Some people decided not to adopt LPG and continued to rely on firewood. There are four main factors that were connected with continuing firewood use: behaviour and life style, economic reasons, being elderly in a rural area, and living in a location that had plentiful firewood resources.

This thesis presents new micro palaeontological and geochemical palaenvironmental proxy data through the late Eocene into the earliest Oligocene from a clay-rich succession from the US Gulf Coast. It is based on samples from the Yazoo Clay Formation, recovered in the Mossy Grove Core near Jackson, Mississippi. This represents an apparently continuous section of relatively uniform lithology, clay-rich deposits that host very well preserved assemblages of calcareous nannofossils, foraminifera and organic biomarkers. This thesis makes use of these to generate a detailed calcareous nannofossil taxonomy, high-resolution calcareous nannofossil assemblage data and coccolith-fraction bulk isotope data, as well as pilot planktonic foraminifera abundance and isotope records. It also develops pilot data for organic biomarkers that demonstrate the presence and utility of biomarker proxies for ancient sea surface temperatures within the Yazoo Clay. The results of this project characterize the late Eocene US Gulf Coast as a sub-tropical shelf sea environment that experiences several stages of sea surface cooling and increasing nutrient contents - potentially linked to sea level fall - in the late Eocene and earliest Oligocene. The most important finding of this project is evidence for cooling and major perturbations to the climate-carbon cycle significantly before the onset of the major phases of Antarctic glaciation.

The high floristic biodiversity value of ancient woodland is widely acknowledged, as is its status as a fragmented habitat of limited spatial extent. The distinctive vegetation of ancient woodland is an important factor in its conservation. Specifically, Ancient Woodland Indicator (AWI) species have been shown to be poor dispersers and incompatible with a fragmented habitat that is subject to environmental change. In recognition of their ecological importance, both Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) and Ancient Replanted Woodland (ARW) are protected by legislation. This thesis took the novel approach of examining the distinctiveness and community ecology of vegetation communities in all three woodland types of ASNW, ARW, and recent woodland. Importantly, analyses were based on new high-granularity primary vegetation and soil data. To address questions raised in the literature regarding the accuracy of ancient woodland and AWI identification, this research examined the metrics used to distinguish these habitats and species. Increasingly, the literature calls for further understanding of the ecological drivers of ancient woodland vegetation distinctiveness. In response, this research tested for differences in species composition of canopy, shrub, herb layer, AWI, and moss communities across all three woodland types. For AWI species, biotic, abiotic, and biogeographical variables were analysed for their contribution to community distinctiveness. Results highlighted the importance of consistency in metric selection when assessing the distinctiveness of ancient woodland and determining indicator species. In addition to the usual alpha scale measure of distinctiveness, assessing richness and community composition at the beta and gamma scales is recommended to inform conservation. Life traits and dispersal mechanisms were important differentiators for herb layer community composition among the woodland types. AWI richness was equally strongly explained by biogeographical variables as by ASNW, ARW, and recent status. Overall, this thesis supported ecological and biogeographical explanations for the distinctiveness of ancient woodland vegetation.

The Christian church in the southeast United States is a dominant institution that, if mobilised, has the potential to be a powerful force for environmental engagement and the promotion of pro-environmental behaviour. In an effort to advance understanding of the barriers to such engagement and behaviour change in the region, this thesis considers, in the context of religious Bible Belt communities, 1) the relative influence of different forms of social power on grassroots pro-environmental behaviour change, 2) the alignment of environmental and prosocial engagement, and 3) the characteristics of effective programmes for stimulating grassroots pro-environmental behaviour change. It approaches these areas of research from three different angles: an interdisciplinary review of the literature on behaviour change models, social power, framing and environmental communication more broadly; a Multi-Grounded Theory analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews with leaders in environmental and Christian organisations in the southern US; and a statistical analysis of a web-based survey of self-identified Christians across the politically and religiously conservative region (N = 400, across eleven states) regarding participants’ attitudes towards, participation in and beliefs about environmental and prosocial issues. Key findings include the identification of the ‘champion’ and ‘bridge’ models of action in religious organisations, as well as evidence for distinct (and opposing) influences of religious beliefs (orthodoxy) and religious practices (religiosity) on the gap between prosocial and environmental engagement. The thesis also introduces a new researcher reflexivity methodology for use in qualitative research. Based on the findings, the thesis argues that reducing the liberal stigma of environmentalism is paramount in mobilising Christians for climate change action. To this end, a sustained focus on encouraging specific pro-environmental behaviours framed in terms of altruistic concerns should be undertaken to encourage pro-environmental actions in southern Christian populations.

Terrestrial invertebrates are small poikilothermic ectotherms and are thus susceptible to chronic cold, rapid temperature change and desiccation. In the polar regions, where buffered microhabitat temperatures regularly fall below 0°C and water availability is low, they are particularly vulnerable. However, polar terrestrial invertebrates successfully exist within these climes. Using whole organism experimental techniques, this thesis aims to further understand the capacity of invertebrates to tolerate different stressors, the underpinning physiological adaptations, and the potential impact of continued climate change. For just the second time in a freeze-tolerant polar insect, rapid cold hardening is observed. Acclimation to sub-lethal low temperatures is also demonstrated, through depression of the critical thermal minimum (CTmin) and chill coma temperature. Contrasting strategies of desiccation tolerance vs. resistance are noted, as well as evidence of cross-tolerance to temperature stress. At the opposite extreme, water submergence experiments confirm the first example of an amphibious terrestrial midge. A remarkable capacity to tolerate high temperatures, including those that may occur as a result of climate change, is also observed. This body of work underscores the physiological flexibility of polar invertebrates, which allows them to flourish in environments considered too extreme and inhospitable for most terrestrial species.

Urban areas have well documented effects on climate, such as the urban heat island effect, reduction of wind speeds, enhanced turbulence and boundary layer heights, and changes in cloud cover and precipitation. This PhD examines the impact of the urban surface on the major agglomeration of London on local and regional climate by means of the numerical mesoscale model METRAS (Schlünzen 1988) coupled for the first time with the sophisticated urban canopy scheme BEP, developed by Martilli et al. (2002). The robustness of the new model is demonstrated through a series of simulations and sensitivity studies for an idealised urban domain. The model is then configured for the London region, and evaluated using data from a range of meteorological monitoring sites. Implementation of the urban canopy scheme results in a marked improvement in model performance. Under ideal meteorological conditions, peak urban heat island intensities of up to 2.5 K are found during night time hours, with the timing and magnitude of the peak showing good agreement with previous experimental studies for London. The new model is then used to investigate how growth of the Greater London urban area affects the urban heat island intensity. The results show that the relative fractions of urban land cover and of vegetation within the urban area have important implications for the near surface temperature, diurnal temperature range, wind speed and urban heat island intensity. The results also suggest that extensive future growth of the London urban area has the potential to increase temperatures, with significant increases for both daytime and night time. The specific forms of urban development, such as densification and spatial expansion, have an impact on these fields. These results have important implications for the design of cities and the management of urban climate.

The gas-phase reactions of ozone with alkenes can be significant sources of free radicals (OH, HO2 and RO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere. While there are a number of quantitative indirect OH and HO2 yield measurements from ozonolysis in the literature, obtained, for example, through the use of radical tracer / scavenger species, few direct observations have been reported. This thesis presents the first direct measurements of OH and HO2 by Laser Induced Fluorescence for a homologous series of alkenes. The radical and stable products from ethene, propene, 1-butene, 2 methylpropene, cis-2-butene, trans-2-butene and 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene ozonolysis have been observed. The experiments were carried out in the EUPHORE atmospheric simulation chamber, utilising various instrumentation including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Peroxy Radical Chemical Amplification. The alkene-ozone reaction systems were investigated with and without an OH radical scavenger and as a function of humidity. The results were interpreted through detailed chemical chamber box modelling, incorporating the Master Chemical Mechanism degradation scheme for each specific alkene, supplemented with a more explicit representation of the alkene-ozone reaction mechanism. The observed yields are interpreted in terms of branching ratios for each channel within the postulated alkene ozonolysis mechanism, and their implications for atmospheric radical production were considered.

This is the first study undertaken in a controlled environment to understand the kinetics of the release of soluble reactive phosphorus and copper from sediments of natural systems with an associated biofilm, and to identify which of the size compartments affected those fluxes most. It was found that of the sediment size fractions in the system, the stones that had a substantial biofilm growth attached had the greatest influence. Differences in the responses were observed between the sediment size fractions and the two sites, where contaminant concentrations varied. The equilibrium phosphate concentration and a phosphorus transfer index were used to establish if there was a net uptake or release of phosphorus by the sediment size at the time of sampling. The sediment having a biofilm and associated particulate material resulted in a greater flux than fine sediment, which does not support a filamentous biomass. The kinetic results imply a different mechanism than diffusion being involved. It was demonstrated that both gravel and stone substrates can have an important control over the release of soluble reactive phosphorus due to their role as firm substrate for a biofilm growth. Changes in the steady-state concentration of dissolved copper suggest that the bed sediment is responding to reduced river water concentration and setting a new steady-state. The kinetics of the reaction of the sediment to copper were of a similar order, and rate constants increased through the season, but were of a similar magnitude for both sites. The differences in the n and rate constant values indicate a difference in the mechanisms (i.e. the order of the kinetics) of uptake of copper through the seasons. The kinetics are described by a rate law which yields a method of estimating the flux to the sediment for recovery time after a pollution incident and how far downstream the copper concentration would remain elevated after a pollution incident or sediment.

This study sought to discover whether summer cutting of fenlands changes the biodiversity of invertebrates in managed areas as compared to control areas. Following preliminary sampling reedbeds were chosen for the investigation. The invertebrates studied were Mollusca, Araneae and Coleoptera. Species level changes were investigated in order to identify any specific level responses to management. All the groups studied were shown to be habitat specific and sensitive to management at the species level, for some, but not all species. Overall biodiversity and similarity, in terms of presence and absence of species within each group, and in terms of numbers of individuals, was not shown to be affected by cutting management. All three groups studied contained species which reacted positively to cutting management, increasing in abundance. There were also species in each group which responded negatively to cutting management, decreasing in abundance. Overall response was positive in the short term.