This thesis explores the spatial patterns in the vulnerability of the rice-wheat production systems of Punjab and Haryana to climate. Remote sensing monitoring is used to identify rice and wheat crop extents and to capture dynamics of the cropping system such as length of growing periods and cropland productivity. This remote sensing monitoring is integrated with analysis of climate datasets and other measures of the agricultural system to 1) identify the exposure of rice-wheat croplands to harmful climate drivers, 2) capture the sensitivity of the rice-wheat croplands to climate and to 3) inform targeted adaptations to improve climate resilience, ensure environmental sustainability and sufficient levels of production, the pillars of a climate-smart landscape. Across all India, including Punjab and Haryana, there was a fragmented spatial pattern in the occurrence, and sign, in trends of monsoon precipitation. This highlights the need for locally sensitive water resources management. Over 5 million ha of rice-wheat croplands in Punjab and Haryana were exposed to unfavourable trends in facets of monsoon precipitation; this was mainly exposure to increasing recurrence of drought years and increasing inter-annual variability in monsoon precipitation. However, crop yield-climate regression models indicated that precipitation is not influencing variability in rice or wheat crop production but growing season temperatures are. Average minimum and maximum temperature during the thermo-sensitive periods of crop development have a greater negative impact on wheat crop yield than exceedance of critical temperatures. The negative impact of warming on wheat crop production increased with later start-of-season dates. Through an integrated use of remote sensing datasets the spatial patterns in the magnitude and varying nature of the vulnerability of crop production to climate were captured. This enabled identification of location-specific stresses, such as later sowing dates, and targeting locally optimum adaptations.

This research investigates how adjustment to EU rules is advanced outside Europe in the absence of membership incentive. Three waves of Europeanization are identified, which explore the role of incentives, mechanisms and actors inside and outside Europe: a ‘membership’ wave among current EU members, an‘enlargement’ wave for candidate European countries and a ‘neighbourhood’ wave outside Europe for the EU’s southern neighbourhood. EU membership plays key role inside Europe because it carries various trade and growth incentives and decision-making benefits. It also secures domestic adjustment to EU rules. However, EU membership cannot be available as an incentive for non-European countries. It can be granted only to European countries. This thesis argues that, in the absence of the membership incentive, Europeanization requires policy networks to advance domestic adjustment in non-European countries. Policy networks are expected to brid ge any conflicting agendas through collaborative relations and to develop a consensus over EU rules. Stable network relations and network management at an ‘arm’s length’ can build trust, and persuade non-European actors to advance EU policies and rules in their domestic regulatory framework. This study tests how the European Commission advances Europeanization with Morocco and Algeria through climate change policy. Climate change is a policy field with differing priorities in the Mediterranean. While climate change mitigation is the main priority for the Commission, climate change adaptation is the core need for Morocco and Algeria. However, Europeanization is advanced only in the Moroccan case, where policy networks succeed in developing consensus over climate change mitigation. In Algeria, politics and past conflicts impede network relations leading to stagnant cooperation. Network insulation is upset and network actors fail to progress consensus. So, policy networks may not be able to secure stability in all circumstances and deliver expected results. In other words, the Commission finds neighbourhood Europeanization strategy difficult to pursue when conflict interferes with policy networks. This analytical and empirical research contributes to studying the European Union, Europeanization and international public policy in four ways. It compensates for the gaps in the Europeanization literature and EU studies outside Europe, which overlook the role of network actors and network management. It accords a prominent role to agency, with its focus on actor-centred policy networks, even in such challenging policy settings as climate change. It provides lessons for scholars in understanding the challenges in the diffusion of EU rules among network actors and network management outside Europe, and the role of politics and conflict during that process. Finally, it demonstrates to public administrators, politicians and supranational institutions the importance of network actors and stability in their networks for consensus building in situations where there are weak incentives and soft mechanisms of integration.

Biodiveristy is threatened globally and there is a need to monitor and understand future changes. Rigourous assessment of trends in insect populations is difficult because they are a species-rich, yet little known taxa. Butterflies are among the most practical insect group to study, given their extensive long-term, large-scale datasets. The effects of climate and habitat of butterfly populations are examined to understand the implications of environmental change for these, and other, insect taxa. It is found that first appearance (phenology) of most British butterflies has advanced in the last two decades and is strongly related to climate. Further warming is predicted to advance appearance by 2 to 6 days per 1°C temperature increase. Despite this strong relationship between appearance dates and temperature over time, a comparable geographical relationship between temperature and timing was not detected for over a third of species analysed, suggesting their populations may be adapted to their local climates. A seasonal switch in egg-laying requirements of the butterfly, Polyommatus bellargus, demonstrates an interaction between niche requirements and climate determine fluctuations in populations. The effect of climate on populations of other butterflies was studied using national weather records and indices of population change since 1976. Strong associations between weather and population fluctuations were found in 28 out of 31 species studied. Models derived from these associations predict that most species will increase in abundance under warmer climates. Large scale habitat modification is known to have profoundly affected butterfly populations over the last century. Data from a farm scale evaluation ofthe effects of management for genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) crops showed that effects on vegetation cover and flowering at this scale has marked knock-on effects for butterflies and other mobile, nectar feeding insects.

Tributyltin (TBT) is a pollutant, mainly introduced to the environment as a marine anti-fouling agent. The aim of this work was to assess and develop sustainable and cost-effective remediation technologies for TBT-contaminated dredged materials. For this purpose, analytical methods were developed for sediments and sediment leachates. For the sediments, a triple extraction followed by derivatisation and measurement by gas chromatography with pulsed flame photometric detection was employed, avoiding the lengthy concentration step of the organic layer. The TBT detection limit of ca 0.04 mg Sn/kg in sediment was below the suggested limit of 0.1 mg/kg for sea disposal of TBT-contaminated dredgings (OSPAR Commission). For the leachates, derivatisation and extraction into hexane was used. Also, a new procedure, with the potential for automation, was developed for the simultaneous analysis of multiple water samples, based on in situ extraction and derivatisation on C18 solid phase extraction cartridges. No legislative limits existed for TBT in leachates, therefore the detection limits of ca 6-10 ng Sn/L achieved were regarded satisfactory, as they were below or similar to the EQS for coastal and estuarine waters or freshwaters (2-20 ng/L TBT). A pilot investigation was carried out on a dockyard to evaluate the use of X-Ray fluorescence as a screening method for the presence of TBT in sediments. Due to tin contamination such a technique was not suitable for the site examined. Incineration was found to remove TBT but it would incur very high costs. Ultrasonic destruction was not effective enough, even on TBT-spiked water solutions. Carbon products, pure clays, organically modified clays, zero valent iron, fly ash and cements were screened for their abilities to prevent TBT leaching, using a leaching test. The best performer was a powdered activated carbon product which, even mixed with cement that increases the leaching of TBT, delivered a TBT-free (< 5 ng Sn/L) leaching test result 33 days after the mixing. The result showed that this technique could provide a solution for the immobilisation of TBT in contaminated dredgings by mixing this relatively low-cost, multi-purpose and inert additive, with or without cement according to the site specific requirements.

Changes in precipitation over the next century may impact the distribution of species, particularly in southern Europe, where droughts are predicted to increase in frequency. In forest trees, intraspecific variation in leaf size, branching architecture, and growth rate among populations are considered adaptive and likely related to climatic differences between sites. A previous common garden study of Populus nigra L. showed morphological variation to be highly heritable and significantly differentiated among populations, indicating phenotypic differences may be adaptive. This project studied the evolutionary processes that have contributed to the morphological differentiation observed in P. nigra. Examining scales ranging from landscape-level patterns of variation to cellular differences within developing leaves identified historic and developmental processes contributing to the phenotypic differences in this species. Both isolation by distance, where migrants do not move equally across the landscape, and isolation by adaptation, where genetically divergence varies with morphological differences, have influenced differentiation among populations of P. nigra in western Europe. These patterns broadly correspond to the recolonization routes following the most recent glacial event, indicating that historic vicariance and not just adaptive divergence influence phenotypic variation. Identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for insect herbivory in a common garden study of hybrid poplar indicated that leaf morphology might also be influenced by insect preference. Among individuals, differences in leaf size corresponded to variation in cell number and not cell size, indicating natural selection may have influenced the regulation of cell division. Further, variation in gene regulation across the developing leaf identified differences across the leaf lamina. Finally, simulations of demographic, genetic, and adaptive processes among populations revealed that a lack of correspondence between the optimal phenotype of colonists and the optimal phenotype and newly colonized populations significantly affects levels of phenotypic differentiation among populations. In addition, changes in phenotypic optima, as may occur due to climate change, impacted the level of genetic variance, and thus the future adaptive potential of populations. Together, these results provide insight into the evolution of phenotype in P. nigra, and contribute information for management efforts in the context of a changing climate.

The increase of carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) is the main factor in global climate change, and the atmospheric [CO2] has risen from 280 parts per million (ppm) during the pre-industrial period to the most recently estimated figure of 400 μmol mol-1 due to human activities. The increase of [CO2] could potentially have a morphological, genetic and ecological effect on vegetation. Populus is considered as a model tree to study the autumnal senescence in response to different [CO2] for several reasons. Previous studies have identified elevated [CO2] (e[CO2]) could cause delayed natural autumnal senescence on plants such as poplar and soybean. This report studied two microarrays on two Populus species– Populus. x euramericana and Populus tremuloides grown under ambient and elevated [CO2] (360ppm and 550 560ppm) from POP/EUROFACE and AspenFACE and identified that e[CO2] significantly increased the antioxidative enzyme and products (anthocyanin), thus prevented oxidative stress and therefore caused delayed natural senescence. Further study of e[CO2] effect on an evolutionary level was applied on Plantago lanceolata, a common grass species which has grown in a naturally high-CO2 spring for hundreds of years. The plants from inside and outside of the spring were collected and exposed to either ambient or elevated [CO2] (380ppm and 700ppm) for a seasonal cycle. The morphological study indicated that plant biomass traits were influenced by long term [CO2] (original site), whereas epidermal cells and stomatal traits showed more adaptation to short-term [CO2] change (elevated/ambient [CO2]). The following transcriptome sequencing on the plants from inside and outside spring supported the morphological data and identified an in-sufficient Calvin cycle in spring plants’ response to high [CO2]. However, the significant genetic evolutionary adaption to high [CO2] failed to be detected in this experiment. Furthermore research on the genetic and genomic level was required to understand whether long-term growth in different [CO2] has a selection effect on plants. This will allow the prediction of vegetation behaviour in future atmospheric [CO2].

Anthropogenic structures such as dams, weirs, sluices, and hydropower facilities fragment river networks and restrict the movement of aquatic biota. The critically endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) migrates between marine and freshwater habitats and has undergone severe population decline. Barriers to migration are one of the negative impacts to be addressed for compliance with the EC Council Regulation for recovery of eel stocks. This thesis examines measures to reduce the effects of riverine structures on eel and improve passage facilities for both juvenile upstream and adult downstream migrating lifestages of this comparatively understudied species. The influence of turbulent attraction flow on eels ascending passage facilities was quantified at an intertidal weir. Plunging flow resulted in a two-fold increase in the number of eels using a pass. The behavioural mechanisms underlying this attraction, and wider questions of how eels respond to elevated water velocity and turbulent conditions found at barriers and fish passes were further investigated within a field flume. Eels showed a similarly strong attraction to turbulent areas, though adopted an energy conservation strategy by adjusting swim path to reduce the magnitude of velocity and turbulence encountered. Compensatory swimming speed was also used to reduce exposure to energetically expensive environments. Management recommendations are made to optimise the attraction of eels to pass facilities, yet ensure hydrodynamic conditions within the pass do not deter ascent. Legislative drivers also stipulate targets for seaward escapement of adult spawner stock. The impacts of multiple low head barriers and water abstraction intakes on route choice, delay, entrainment and escapement were quantified in a heavily regulated sub-catchment using telemetry. Entrainment loss at a single abstraction point was the biggest cause of reduced escapement, and was influenced by pumping regimes and management of intertidal structures. Delays at some structures were substantial (up to 68.5days), and reflected water management practices and environmental conditions. Sub-metre positioning telemetry allowed detailed behaviour of adult eel to be further quantified in relation to physical and hydrodynamic features at a hydropower intake. There was predominance of milling and thigmotactic behaviours at lower velocities (0.15 – 0.71 m s-1), whereas rejection occurred on encountering the higher water velocities and abrupt velocity gradients associated with flow constriction near the intake entrance. Information presented has implications for wider catchment management and highlights the potential to reduce barrier impacts through manipulation of structures and abstraction regimes. Quantifying eel behaviour in response to physical and hydrodynamic environments will aid the development of attraction, guidance and passage technologies.

This thesis explores how rural social enterprises (SEs) in England and Germany pursue their environmental objectives to conserve traditional orchards. Such valuable biospheres lose money, leading their owners to replace them with more profitable land uses. SEs in both countries strive to revive commercial incentives to maintain these cultural landscapes. Policy makers have invested high expectations in SE for tackling social exclusion and strengthening civic participation in the UK, and in relation to labour market reforms following German reunification. Academic interest in the social and commercial performance of SE is not matched by research into its environmental potentials. In England semi-structured interviews with 33 people examined SEs linked to estates of the National Trust. In Germany 18 people were interviewed within six social enterprises with varied structures including associative, co-operative or unlimited/limited liability. In all cases orchard products are sold to generate money to fund orchard conservation. Analysis was framed by the concepts of field theory and market co-ordination advocated by Jens Beckert. He argues that market actors must co-ordinate three ‘problems’ - value, competition and co-operation - to secure market stability. Observing reciprocal and dynamic relationships in the market ‘field’ between networks, institutions and cognition, reveals how markets are socially structured. The appropriation of Beckert’s theories aids SE study: firstly, the intervention of SEs clearly stimulates market dynamics; and secondly, SEs attempt to re-configure market stability in favour of improved environmental results. Analysis revealed that the National Trust’s efforts to market juice increases public engagement, but fails clearly to link juice sales and orchard conservation. The German networked market is a low-risk, low-turnover model that incentivises farmers to maintain orchards without changing market structures, thereby creating an alliance between market actors. Lastly, German market-building SEs use complex, risky operations to compete with conventional firms. Both German models produce positive environmental outcomes. Key challenges linked to using Beckert’s ideas are that market power is not sought by environmental SEs, which see profit as a means to an end, and that field theory is largely aspatial, and thus unable to fully explain local variations in the environmental performance of each model. Nevertheless, Beckert’s structure for observing market interventions offers potential for practitioners/policy makers concerned with multi-functional rural development.

This thesis aims to understand the mechanisms involved in pollen transport and deposition in cave environments and the influence of different factors on the composition of the pollen assemblage, with special reference to the problem of the Neanderthal ‘Flower burial’ at Shanidar Cave, Kurdish Iraq. Limited systematic taphonomic work has been done in cave environments, with most of the studies on an ad hoc basis. However, the number of interconnected factors acting on pollen transport, deposition and accumulation in this kind of environments implies that models used for open-air sites are inadequate and demonstrates the need for further taphonomic studies. Surface samples from six caves located in the Zagros Mountains of Kurdish Iraq were collected along front-back transects and outside for comparison in order to evaluate the distribution of anemophilous and entomophilous taxa in relation to the sample location. Additional surface samples were collected from Shanidar Cave along a side to side and perimeter transects to better evaluate the pollen distribution. Water, airfall and animal dung samples were also collected to investigate the influence of those factors in pollen transport. Finally, stratigraphic samples collected during the excavation at the site were analysed for pollen and for particle size distribution. Results show that simple sac-like caves with little or no influence of factors such as water, humans and animals are characterised by broadly predictable patterns of pollen distribution with a positive correlation between anemophilous pollen and vicinity to the cave entrance and entomophilous pollen and distance from the cave entrance. Caves with active biotic vectors and/or more complex geomorphology show instead more irregular patterns. Cave SLS203 presents an inverse anemophilous/entomophilous distribution that is likely to be related to its geomorphological complexity (a second entrance at the back of the cave influencing the air circulation) and to the presence of animals. Shanidar Cave presents a very irregular distribution which is likely to reflect a combination of factors such as the mixing of surface sediments caused by the tourists visiting the site, the pollen transported by animals and that moved by the wind. Other factors, such as water input and cave entrance flora, seem not to play an important role in ii Kurdish Iraq, while they appear to strongly influence pollen distribution in caves elsewhere (e.g. Coles, 1988; Simpson, 2006). The stratigraphic samples were sterile or contained few pollen grains, probably because the aeolian nature of the sediments, deposited during stadials, with low pollen deposition and high sediment influx. Finally, clumps of pollen of both anemophilous and entomophilous taxa have been found for different taxa in all the caves. Leroi-Gourhan (1975) had suggested that similar clumps found in the vicinity of Shanidar IV remains were evidence for burial with flowers but their presence on the surface demonstrates that they can occur naturally and that other explanations should be considered. Moreover, the high amount of Lactuceae and the presence of older pollen grains in her samples suggest a strong taphonomic imprint not necessarily resulting from anthropogenic activity.

Northern peatlands play an important role in the cycling of carbon (C) globally, and contain up to one third of the world’s soil C despite only covering a small percentage of its land surface (Gorham, 1991). Changes in climate and land use are increasing the vulnerability of these vast C stocks, by altering the conditions favourable for peat accumulation and therefore C sequestration. The establishment of wind farms on peatlands is increasing in the UK, as a result of the growing need for sustainable energy and the suitably high wind speeds that are typical to these upland ecosystems (Smith et al., 2014). There is limited understanding of the impacts of operational wind farms on their host ecosystems, but evidence to suggest that wind farms create microclimate conditions by altering ground-level temperature is increasing (Armstrong et al., 2014a; Baidya Roy and Traiteur, 2010; L. Zhou et al., 2012). The sensitivity of peatland C cycling processes to wind farm-induced microclimatic changes represents a considerable gap in knowledge. Further, the role that aboveground and belowground peatland communities have in mediating the effects of wind farm microclimates on C cycling processes remains unknown. By examining plant-soil interactions across a peatland at Black Law Wind Farm and under a range of microclimate conditions in the laboratory, this thesis aimed to investigate the influence of plant functional type (PFT) and microclimatic conditions on physical, chemical and biological peatland properties, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and litter decomposition. Results show that a PFT legacy in peat plays a mediatory role in the response of CO2 and CH4 emissions to microclimatic differences in temperature and water table. Mass loss of litter is primarily driven by PFT differences in litter quality, with interactions between litter types controlling decomposition of litter mixtures via non-additive effects, and interactions between litter types and PFT legacies in peat affecting the likelihood of home-field advantage and disadvantage (HFA and HFD) litter mass loss. This thesis demonstrates that the direct effects of microclimatic changes in temperature and water table are important drivers of peatland C cycling processes; however the indirect effects of microclimate change on plant community composition e.g. the relative proportion of PFTs could influence these processes to a greater extent. Examining the importance of PFTs in C cycling processes at wind farm peatlands is important in improving predictions of peatland C sequestration under future climate change scenarios, and in calculating the C savings achieved by land-based renewable technologies.