Understanding the impact of warming on organisms, communities and ecosystems is a central problem in ecology. Although species responses to warming are well documented, our ability to scale up to predict community and ecosystem properties is limited. Improving understanding of the mechanisms that link patterns and processes over multiple levels of organisation and across spatial and temporal scales promises to enhance our ability to predict whether the biosphere will exacerbate, or mitigate, climate warming. In this thesis, I combine ideas from metabolic theory with a variety of experimental approaches to further our understanding of how warming will impact photosynthesis and respiration across scales. Firstly, I show how phytoplankton can rapidly evolve increased thermal tolerance by downregulating rates of respiration more than photosynthesis. This increased carbon-use efficiency meant that evolved populations allocated more fixed carbon to growth. I then explore how constraints on individual physiology and community size structure influence phytoplankton community metabolism. Using metabolic theory, I link community primary production and respiration to the size- and temperature- dependence of individual physiology and the distribution of abundance and body size. Finally, I show that selection on photosynthetic traits within and across taxa dampens the effects of temperature on ecosystem-level gross primary production in a set of geothermal streams. Across the thermal-gradient, autotrophs from cold streams had higher photosynthetic rates than autotrophs from warm streams. At the ecosystem-level, the temperature-dependence of gross primary productivity was similar to that of organism-level photosynthesis. However, this was due to covariance between biomass and stream temperature; after accounting for the effects of biomass, gross primary productivity was independent of temperature. Collectively, this work emphasises the importance of ecological, evolutionary and physiological mechanisms that shape how metabolism responds to warming over multiple levels of organisation. Incorporating both the direct and indirect effects of warming on metabolism into predictions of the biosphere to climate futures should be considered a priority.

The continued growth of aviation poses a major challenge to climate change mitigation. Many argue that absolute reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will not be possible without restricting demand and call for fundamental changes in travel patterns, particularly flying shorter distances. However, research shows that voluntary behaviour change in this area is unlikely: even those who express concern over aviation emissions are unwilling to sacrifice their travel plans for the sake of the environment. It has been argued, therefore, that researchers and policy makers should direct their attention to the collective nature of unsustainable air travel, rather than blaming individual passengers for their “choices”. This thesis provides an in-depth and socially situated understanding of long-haul flying within the gap year context, which is an increasingly popular activity for the British youth. Drawing on Giddens’s structuration theory and using data from a study, which employed a variety of qualitative research methods, this thesis first positions the gap year as a social practice, characterized by shared social meanings, norms and resources; second, it explores factors influencing its current long-haul character; and third, examines the role of agency in gap year participation and mobility decisions. The findings suggest that travel to (often several) long-haul destinations is a particularly desirable, appropriate and convenient way of “doing a gap year” and that opportunities for making more sustainable choices, whilst not completely absent, are constrained. Moreover, the rules and resources that form the terrain for action for prospective gap year takers are shaped by numerous networked agents. As such, this thesis joins the calls for redefining the problem of unsustainable mobility from that of individual “choice” to collective travel practices. Strong structuration is suggested as a particularly useful conceptual framework to study non-routine forms of travel, such as gap years. Policy implications are discussed, specifically potential interventions that could shift the gap year practice into a more sustainable trajectory, or substitute it for a less carbon-intensive equivalent.

The study examines and identifies the perceived favourable conditions needed for employees readiness to support improvements. In the context of Brunei, readiness research in public service organisations is underrepresented if not, non-existent. There is a need for a more comprehensive study that integrates the combined perspective of the interrelated conceptual elements of readiness, its climate and the organisation. Four key findings were identified based on 119 interviews and 665 surveys. Firstly, it was found that as employees self-organise to cope with chaos, an unintended conducive climate that is specific to the Brunei context evolves out of employees readiness to adapt and survive. Secondly, the essential climatic factors that trigger the minimum level of employee readiness are identified. Thirdly, the influential climatic factors that further amplify a higher level of employee readiness are identified. Finally, based on the shared multilevel perspective of employees, the statistical analysis result confirm the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between the identified climatic factors and employees readiness in terms of the way employees believe in, feel about and act towards improvement. Supported by qualitative findings, the essential climatic factors were identified as being communication, participation, clear task roles and responsibility, and top management s trust in subordinates. Similarly, the influential climatic factors were identified as being efficacy, organisational trust, organisational trusts in top management and top management support and participation. It is concluded that employees readiness can be incrementally developed towards improvement success; however, the contextual conditions need to be recognised and well-tailored. The development of a novel conceptual framework and model demonstrates how employees multidimensional readiness can be triggered and influenced to support improvements in a complex and adaptive organisation.

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The focus of this thesis is the effect of planetary curvature on the heat transfer efficiencyaccross latitudes in planetary atmospheres and oceans. We investigate both theoreticallyand numerically a physically-based parametrization of baroclinic turbulence inthe Boussinesq Eady model to include variations of the Coriolis parameter with latitude.In this model, a rapidly rotating density-stratified fluid is subjected to a meridional temperaturegradient in thermal wind balance with a uniform vertically sheared zonal flowand the effect of planetary curvature is captured by the parameter β.A normal mode projection of the Eady model with β was inconclusive to properlydescribe meridional heat transfers and the zonal structures usually observed in planetaryflows. However, the DNS solver CORAL allows us to perform 3D high-Reynolds numericalsimulations to seek an extension of the ’vortex-gas’ scaling theory for baroclinic turbulence.Planetary curvature reduces heat transfer between latitudes through the emergenceof coherent zonal structures while the flow remain mainly quasi-geostrophic. The meridionalbuoyancy flux displays the same functional dependence on the control parametersthan for the two-layer model within the framework of quasi-geostrophy.With similar arguments than for the Eady problem, it is shown that in a perturbativefashion for small β, the vertical profiles of meridional buoyancy flux are no longer depthinvariant.The flux decreases at least exponentially with height. The buoyancy transportis shown to be along mean isopycnals, whereas potential vorticity is transported onlyalong instantaneous isopycnals. Overall, the vortex-gas theory and its extension to theβ-plane lead to good predictions for heat transfer in the quasi-geostrophy limit for 3Dflows and weak β. The theory becomes less precise as we increase β. / Fokus för denna avhandling är effekten av planetarisk krökning på värmeöverföringseffektivitetenöver breddgrader i planetariska atmosfärer och hav. Vi undersöker båda teoretisktoch numeriskt en fysiskt baserad parametrisering av baroklinisk turbulens iBoussinesq Eady-modellen för att inkludera variationer av Coriolis-parametern med latitud.I denna modell utsätts en snabbt roterande densitetsskiktad vätska för en meridional temperaturgradient i termisk vindbalans med ett jämnt vertikalt klippt zonflödeoch effekten av planetarisk krökning fångas av parametern β.En normallägesprojektion av Eady-modellen med β var inte övertygande till korrektbeskriv meridionala värmeöverföringar och de zonstrukturer som vanligtvis observeras i planetariskaflöden. DNS-lösaren CORAL tillåter oss dock att utföra 3D high-Reynolds numeriskasimuleringar för att söka en förlängning av skalningsteorin för 'virvelgas' för baroklinisk turbulens.Planetarisk krökning minskar värmeöverföringen mellan breddgrader genom uppkomstenav koherenta zonstrukturer medan flödet förblir huvudsakligen kvasi-geostrofiskt. Meridionalenflytkraftsflöde visar samma funktionella beroende av styrparametrarnaän för tvåskiktsmodellen inom ramen för kvasi-geostrofi.Med liknande argument än för Eady-problemet visas det i ett störandeFör små β är de vertikala profilerna för meridional flytkraft inte längre djupvarianta.Fluxet minskar åtminstone exponentiellt med höjden. Flyttransportenhar visat sig vara längs genomsnittliga isopycnals, medan potentiell vorticitet endast transporteraslängs momentana isopycnals. Sammantaget, vortex-gasteorin och dess utvidgning tillβ-plan leder till goda förutsägelser för värmeöverföring i kvasi-geostrofigränsen för 3Dflyter och svagt β. Teorin blir mindre exakt när vi ökar β.

Climate Science Communication is an important tool for helping organizations set strategies to reduce their climate impact. As a major contributor to global climate warming emissions, the food industry needs to take stronger action to reduce their climate impact if the world wants to achieve the global climate goals committed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement. To ensure they meet the climate commitments in their Corporate Social Responsibility strategies, corporations in the food industry should use science-based targets, which research shows are more effective and ambitious. Through the context of Sweden, a country which has set strong emissions reduction policy, this thesis investigates the role that Climate Science Communication and stakeholder communication play in the actions that corporations in the food industry are taking to help achieve the global climate goals. This qualitative study analyzes the firsthand accounts of ten professionals across the food, science communications, and science research industries. Interviews with the participants explore stakeholder management in science communication, the role of collaboration within the science and food industries, and what gaps they see between the science community and the food industry when establishing corporate climate strategies. Results suggest that there is a necessary, and often missing, link between the food industry’s climate strategies and the climate research that informs them. Using principles from Stakeholder Theory, Communications Accommodation Theory, and Cross-Sector Collaboration can help bridge this gap. Improved stakeholder collaboration, better efforts to help decision makers understand climate science, changes to corporate behaviors, and systemic changes in both the corporate world and academia can improve the relationship between the science community and food industry, leading to more effective and impactful climate strategies and results.