Nowadays, it is of great importance in ecological and environmental studies to investigate some prominent features in environmental determinants using appropriate statistical approaches. The initial motivation of this work was provided by the enthusiasm of the limnologist, biologist and statistician, interested in exploring and investigating certain features of time series data at different temporal resolutions to environmental parameters in freshwater. This thesis introduces a variety of statistical techniques which are used to provide sufficient information on the features of interest in the environmental variables in freshwater. Chapter 1 gives the background of the work, explores the details of the locations of the case studies, presents several statistical and ecological issues and outlines the aims and objectives of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides a review of some commonly used statistical modelling approaches to model trend and seasonality. All the modelling approaches are then applied to low temporal resolution (monthly data) of temperature and chlorophyll measurements from 1987-2005 for the north and south basins of Loch Lomond, Scotland. An investigation into the influence of temperature and nutrients on the variability of log chlorophyll is also carried out. Chapter 3 extends the modelling for temperature in Chapter 2 with the use of a mixed-effects model with different error structures for temperature data at a moderate temporal resolution (1 and 3 hourly data) in the north, mid and south basins. Three approaches are proposed to estimate the positions of a sharp change in gradient of temperature (thermocline) in deeper basins, using the maximum relative rate of change, changepoint regression and derivatives of a smooth curve. Chapter 4 investigates several features in semi-continuous environmental variables (15 and 30 minutes data). The temporal pattern of temperature, pH, conductivity and barometric pressure, and the evidence of similarity of the signals of pH and conductivity is determined, using wavelets. The time taken for pH and conductivity to return to `baseline levels' (recovery period) following extreme discharge is determined for different thresholds of `extreme discharge' for the Rivers Charr and Drumtee Burn, Scotland and models for the recovery period are proposed and fitted. Model validation is carried out for the River Charr and the occurrence of clusters of extreme discharge for both rivers is investigated using the extremal index. Chapter 5 summarises the main findings within this thesis and several potential areas for future work are suggested.

Biosecurity is the term used to refer to the management of risks to human, animal and plant health and safety from cross-border movement of living organisms and goods. The implementation of national legal and regulatory frameworks for Biosecurity will be affected by the various international agreements and standards to which a state is a member. In particular, agreements introduced by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) impose certain restrictions on measures that member countries can adopt for Biosecurity. Furthermore, uncertainties arise from contradictions and conflicts between important Multilateral Environmental Agreements and WTO requirements and these create difficulties for developing countries in particular. The research reported in this thesis focused primarily on the implementation of national Biosecurity frameworks in this context. This was an important departure from much of the literature, in which existing work as well as the identified need for research has focused on apparent conflicts at the international level. The present research sought not to pursue strict hypotheses but to identify the actual challenges and limitations, as well as successes, of Biosecurity frameworks in Belize. The methodology adopted to achieve this was grounded theory. Key characteristics of this were a departure from the traditional legal-centralist approach and the investigation issues at the ground level, through consultation with a broad range of stakeholders. The adaptation of qualitative data analysis procedures, and the application of these using specialist software, was a further important development, allowing for improved evaluation of the interview data. The investigation of Belize's pesticides control and agricultural health frameworks provided substantial empirical data highlighting not only the difficulties concerning implementation of international agreements but also to a range of other important issues. Whereas the burden associated with international agreements was clearly a restraint, the apparent conflicts and tensions between trade and environment agreements, which have been the focus of so much literature, were not seen to be significant. The extent to which the regulatory authority interacts with the regulated community was, however, seen to be an important influence on the success of both frameworks, affecting levels of stakeholder awareness and support for regulation. Enforcement is also important. Although sanction-based enforcement might not commonly be necessary there is a need for a clear distinction between enforcement and other (assistance-based) activities. Other bodies ('third parties') including regulatory agencies, private sector bodies and regional institutions play an important role, either official or de facto, in these frameworks. Governance was also an issue for the regulatory authorities. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

This research examines factors influencing avian reproductive biology in three co-occurring woodland passerines, Cyanistes caeruleus (blue tit), Parus major (great tit), and Ficedula hypoleuca (pied flycatcher), breeding in nestboxes at Nagshead Nature Reserve (Gloucestershire, U. K. ). The study uses breeding data on the study species collected by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) between 1990 and 2004, together with site-based ringing records for F. hypoleuca and primary data from field and laboratory work undertaken during 2005 and 2006. Breeding productivity of C. caeruleus and P. major declined over the study period, despite breeding populations that were increasing (C. caeruleus) and stable (P. major). The breeding population of F. hypoleuca declined by 73% (much more severely than nationally). Decline was apparently driven by decreasing productivity and changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation cycle. Phenological changes in lay date were apparent for C. caeruleus (mean lay date advanced by five days in 15 years) and P. major (increased within-season variability in clutch initiation). No change was apparent for F. hypoleuca, possibly due to migration constraining phenological adjustment. The relationship between lay date and clutch size was found to be annually variable, rather than a constant as hitherto assumed. The strength of this relationship correlated with breeding density (C. caeruleus and P. major), the "earliness" of the breeding season (P. major), and mean May temperature (F. hypoleuca). The potential influence of nestbox orientation on nest-site selection and reproductive success was investigated. Orientation correlated with nestling survival for F. hypoleuca and offspring quality for P. major (both lowest in boxes oriented south-southwest). In the case of P. major, boxes facing south-southwest were avoided by adult birds, suggesting adaptive nest-site selection. Microbial load (specifically the abundance of the fungus Epicoccump urpurascens)was related to both orientation and P. major offspring quality, providing a possible explanation for observed patterns of nest-site selection behaviour. Ectoparasite load was not linked to nestbox orientation or P. major offspring quality. These findings provide insights into aspects of population biology (relationship between phenology and productivity), evolutionary ecology (adaptive nest-site choice to maximise offspring fitness) and the interactions between species and their abiotic and biotic environments (influence of orientation and microbial load on breeding success). Relevance of these results to conservation and in situ species management is discussed. Recommendations for optimal siting of nestboxes are given.

This doctoral study explores the learning that occurs in higher education institutions within differing social and informal contexts, and how this learning can contribute to shifting thinking and actions (within the institution) towards sustainability. The research refers to this learning as ‘social learning’ and acknowledges its potential to influence the sustainability performance of a higher education institution. The study proposes indicators as a key research outcome to assist institutions in improving their contribution to social learning for sustainability. The study is unique in that social learning for sustainability in the higher education sector has been subject to little scrutiny. The originality of the research is underpinned by its focus on staff learning in higher education, but also by the research methodology used which has not been employed in this context or with this focus before. The empirical study was undertaken between 2008 and 2011 at three higher education institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) which were chosen for their explicit commitment to improving the university’s sustainability performance. The pilot study was conducted at the University of Gloucestershire and the main findings were derived at the Universities of Bradford and Bristol. Located within a critical social theory paradigm, the study used innovative research methods such as collective memory-work to capture staff experiences of social learning for sustainability. In each university, the research involved a group of members of staff in (i) writing and critically reflecting on their stories of social learning for sustainability within their institutions; and (ii) identifying contextual factors influencing this learning process. The data generated was triangulated with information captured through institutional documentary reviews, semi-structured interviews with members of staff and a research journal. The research demonstrates that social learning for sustainability in higher education tends to occur as both a facilitated and unfacilitated process. The first includes staff participating in extra-curricular activities, partnerships and networks, multi-stakeholder dialogues, mentoring, or action and participatory research. The latter tends to occur as a spontaneous face-to-face process or through online social networks. There is evidence that social learning processes which are non-hierarchical, involving learning from each other and occurring within comfort zones, are more effective in shifting the thinking and actions of staff in the area of sustainability. The study identifies physical space and academic cultures as key determinants of the frequency and quality of these processes. It also suggests that opportunities in this area need to be provided to all the different sub-cultures which exist in a higher education institution. Finally, whereas the research identifies how institutional culture influences social learning for sustainability, it concludes that a longitudinal study is needed to establish whether this learning process can shape the culture of a higher education institution.

Volunteers have been collecting ecological data for centuries. However, volunteercollected data are frequently challenged because they lack the precision and rigour of scientific studies. This thesis evaluates the advantages of volunteer‐collected data and the importance of such data for the study of ecology and conservation, and considers methods to verify data to avoid or reduce inaccuracies. Different case studies aimed to answer questions relating to species’ ecology, habitat selection, and behaviour. Charismatic mammals were selected in order to increase volunteer participation (Water voles Arvicola terrestris; dormice Muscardinus avellanarius; North American otters Lontra canadensis; hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus). Simple, rapid data collection methods were used so that volunteers and citizen scientists could easily follow instructions. The findings show that simple methods such as scales and estimates can be an effective way of studying water vole habitat associations; however, inter‐observer variability was highly problematic when volunteers collected data based on subjective estimations. A volunteer‐collected long‐term dataset on dormouse nestbox occupancy provided excellent information on habitat selection despite some irregularities when the data were recorded. Untrained citizen scientists could not record activity budgets for captive otters despite simple instructions, whereas citizen scientists were able to record habitat variables within their gardens, but false absences were found to be an issue when they recorded hedgehog sightings. Overall, this thesis suggests that volunteer‐collected data can provide useful insights into various aspects of ecology, for example, for studying distributions and species‐habitat interactions. Encouraging volunteers to collect ecological data has additional benefits such as increasing the health and wellbeing of participants, and it also raises public awareness of conservation issues. Recommendations on how to increase participation rates while minimising sources of error and bias are given.

This study seeks to determine the extent to which chemostratigraphy can supplement other stratigraphic tools in determining the effects of climate change in loess-palaeosol sequences. Geochemical change has been used to illuminate the effects of glacial/interglacial climate change in Chinese loess-palaeosol sequences; less work has been done to examine the effects of stadial/interstadial climate change and little work has been carried out in Europe on either aspect. Two loess-palaeosol sites were selected in northwestern Europe that were known to provide good records of the last ice age. This study has produced detailed descriptions of variation in concentrations of the major, minor and rare-earth elements. These are compared with variation in the standard sedimentological parameters (grain size, organic carbon content and carbonate content) and in enviromagnetic characteristics, which are accepted as palaeoclimate proxies. The existing polymineral-based luminescence chronology at each site has been enhanced using a quartz-based approach,which broadly confirms the accuracy of previous ages and generates estimates of increased precision. That chronology facilitates comparison of these analyses with evidence for palaeoclimatic: change in the wider record, including GRIP ice-core data. Grain size is shown to be a strong proxy for variation in mean wind strength and in accumulation rates which can be correlated in detail with GRIP. The study has established that geochemical heterogeneity now apparent at the sites has been imposed by weathering. Carbonate weathering is a reliable indication of major pedogenic episodes but its detailed interpretation is tempered by carbonate mobility. Silicate weathering occurs at lower intensity than carbonate weathering but is a permanent record since silicates are not subject to reprecipitation under these conditions. The study concludes that chemostratigraphy is a climatological proxy, detecting periods of significant amelioration. It is not a replacement for conventional proxies, it complements them and provides additional evidence upon which climatic reconstructions can be made.

The root cause of the majority of environmental problems lies not in surface manifestations such as carbon dioxide and ozone, but with social and cultural factors that encourage people to consume far more than they need. Environmental education can be divided into two main kinds: micro approaches, which the majority of current approaches fall under, and macro approaches, which are currently emerging. Micro environmental education considers environmental problems in terms of surface manifestations, and proposes micro-changes such as recycling to address them, without questioning the possibility of a cultural shift away from consumerism. This form of environmental education typically seeks to change the behaviour of social actors by building and appealing to their environmental consciousness in the expectation that they will act rationally. It is argued here that this expectation fails to recognise that social actors are subject to plural rationalities and that their behaviour is driven by complex interrelationships with other social actors. As a result, micro environmental education, despite its best intentions, often fails to adequately address and change the environmentally unsustainable behaviour of the social actors it targets. This thesis firstly aims to uncover why micro approaches to environmental education exist and persist. Primary qualitative research with environmental educators drawn from formal, free-choice and accidental channels of environmental education was conducted and is presented alongside a review of the historical development of environmental education. The second aim of this thesis is to argue against a reliance on micro approaches to environmental education and environmentalism in general and propose instead that environmental education becomes embedded within a wider macro approach. Macro approaches seek to change behaviour through the development of a critical understanding of interrelationships among social actors, leading ultimately to environmentally positive changes in them. Findings from the primary research also help reveal the conditions necessary for macro approaches to emerge from the current environmental education infrastructure. The thesis concludes that macro environmental education is both necessary and possible and calls for further research into its development and practice.

This research is concerned with the dynamic relationship between agricultural advisers, knowledge and soil in England. On the basis that agricultural advisers have always played a central role in linking research and farming practice and implementing policy on the farm, the thesis explores the role of the adviser in facilitating a shift towards sustainable soil management (which encompasses a range of complex and knowledge intensive practices) and to the realisation of policy objectives in this domain. Specifically it aims to provide detailed empirical evidence of the role that agricultural advisers play in the acquisition, utilisation, generation and transfer of knowledge about soil best management practice and to elicit the factors that enable and constrain these knowledge processes. Conceptually, the research draws on approaches to knowledge and knowledge processes in agriculture from the allied disciplines of rural geography, rural sociology and extension science. An actor-oriented Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS) approach provides the basis for examining adviser interactions with both the research and farming communities. While the AKIS describes the factors that enable and constrain how advisers engage in knowledge processes in terms of connections across institutional interfaces between research, advice and farming, an actororiented approach, which understands knowledge processes as social processes operating across social interfaces, enables exploration of how individual advisers behaving as autonomous agents resolve these constraining and enabling factors. The- study, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, employs an extensive postal questionnaire survey of a 163 agricultural advisers from across England and three detailed case studies where sustainable soil management is a central theme, namely: the Landcare Project; the UK Soil Management Initiative; and the SUNDIAL Fertiliser Recommendation System. The data describe an advisory community with a range of involvement, concerns and competence in soil management. Patterns of acquisition and utilisation of knowledge about soil best management practice revealed by the questionnaire data suggest that advisers are actively seeking and using knowledge about soil management, although some are more constrained than others in accessing it. These patterns, however, only provide a partial understanding of the complex knowledge processes in which advisers engage as they operate at the boundaries between science and practice. As such, qualitative data from the case studies are used to reveal that, in bridging the different institutional cultures and life worlds of research and practice, advisers encounter different understandings and expectations of soil best management practices. Rather than simply acquiring, utilising and transferring knowledge, the data reveal that advisers negotiate, adapt, transform, generate and integrate knowledge about soil as they struggle to reconcile the principles of research-based soil best management practice with the practical and business constraints of the farm. In doing this advisers, and agronomists in particular, tend to closely align themselves with the interests of the farming community and as such are more likely to reject or question soil best management practice. In addition the apparent lack of advisers' competence and skills in certain knowledge intensive soil best management practices and their reliance on experiential knowledge further explains their reluctance to engage in soil best management practices derived from national research. Integration of knowledge through dialogue and understanding emerges as key to overcoming these tensions and providing the basis for facilitating sustainable soil management. Advisers are shown to have a central role in integrating knowledge from research and from farmers. The processes and relationships that enable this integration are identified. The thesis concludes with some policy relevant suggestions to improve the effectiveness of advisers' participation in the transition to sustainable soil management in England. These include: exploiting a diverse and flexible advisory community; improving advisers' skills and expertise; instilling in them confidence to provide credible and practical soil best management practice; and improving the quality of communication between the advisers, researchers and farmers. Future research directions are reviewed in the context of the proposed implementation of Soil Management Plans on all farms in England as a component of cross compliance within CAP reforms.

This thesis develops a chronology of ice retreat in the Monadhliath Mountains (Scotland) and Rodna Mountains (Romania) during the late Pleistocene using glacial geomorphology and surface exposure dating with cosmogenic 10Be. In the Monadhliath Mountains, 10Be exposure ages indicate deglaciation of the Last Devensian ice sheet at 15.1 ka (n = 2). Boulders from moraines in three Monadhliath cirques yielded exposure ages between 11.8 ka and 9.8 ka (470 – 600 m), suggesting that a Late Glacial readvance occurred during the Younger Dryas stadial (n = 9). The limited extent of these YD glaciers in the Monadhliath Mountains is explained in terms of the drier climate experienced by the eastern part of the Central Highland ice cap, but also in terms of local factors such as topography and snow blow. The resulting glacial reconstruction largely confirms that a SW to NE precipitation gradient dominated Scotland during the Younger Dryas. In the Romanian Carpathians, located at the southern periphery of the NW European ice sheet, there was only limited coverage of ice, mostly at higher elevations in the form of mountain glaciers. Field evidence suggests that during the last local maximum glaciation ice reached lower elevations than previously suggested in the Rodna Mountains. Glacially transported boulders were abandoned at 37.2 – 26.6 ka (n = 4) at an elevation of ~900 m. Glacial erratics and bedrock samples (n = 27) provide a consistent chronology for deglaciation during the Lateglacial, suggesting that ice retreated towards higher ground between 18.3 – 13.2 ka (1100 – 1800 m altitude). Final deglaciation took place at 12.5 - 11.2 ka (n = 9). These new chronologies are compared to other climate archives in Europe and the climatic oscillations recorded in the North Atlantic region. This analysis increases our understanding of past atmospheric circulation across Europe, and gives insights into the climatic forcing mechanisms during the last maximum extent of ice sheets and glaciers. During the last glacial episodes, the pattern of climate cooling from the western high latitudes towards the eastern mid latitudes was complicated, triggering different responses in local climates that appear to have been out of phase with the broader north-western European trend. Located in the NW Europe, Scotland was influenced by the wetter and colder conditions from the Atlantic which led to the expansion of the British Ice sheet during the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, smaller ice masses located further southwards and south-eastwards of the European ice sheet responded faster to the climatic oscillations in the North Atlantic region. During the LGM, the southward repositioning of the Polar Front and the presence of the ice sheet changed the atmospheric circulation across Europe. There was limited supply of moisture to the Rodna Mountains, especially because of blocking by the eastern Siberian high pressure system, and the glaciers experienced a slow retreat in a very cold and dry environment. However, a more synchronous Younger Dryas is likely to have occurred due to a more northern position of the Polar Front. This allowed for stronger wet and cold westerly winds to reach most of Europe at the same time.

The ways in which climate change is understood by members of the UK public, are considered across a fifteen year period spanning 1997-2011. Qualitative datasets from six separate projects are analysed to trace commonalities and variation over time in the conceptualisation of climate change as a physical, social and personal phenomenon. Ways of understanding are presented as a series of discourses. These relate to people’s appraisal of climate science, the apprehension of climate change through informal evidence, and how climate is seen in relation to natural systems; as well as the means by which climate change is contextualised to social systems, to cultural and historical conditions, and with respect to daily life. Climate discourses across all domains are found to be relatively stable over time, though with subtle shifts in meaning and emphasis. Emergent trends include recent evidence of climate ‘fatigue’ and an increased tendency to question the anthropogenic component to climate change, but also the view that action on climate change has become normalised in recent years. Survey data are also used to explore the prevalence of identified ways of understanding, and to examine longitudinal changes in these. There is some evidence of decline in climate change concern and increase in scepticism over the past decade, though these trends are not pronounced. Cold weather events from 2009/2010 are interpreted by people as evidence of the veracity of climate change (more so than as disconfirming it). Cultural worldviews are found to underlie perceptions. Findings are interpreted in the context of cultural theoretical and discursive frameworks. These present the opportunity to explain the recurrent, patterned and socially-shared nature of public perspectives, and the ways in which these are used both to understand climate change and to account for the actions of oneself and others. The development of combined secondary and longitudinal qualitative analytic techniques is a central methodological concern of the thesis. The advantages and drawbacks, practicalities, and epistemological considerations of such an approach, are outlined in detail.