Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-61).

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1965 W281

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The interannual variability of tropical climates, including the tropical Marine climate, is best reflected in the rainfall activity of a given area. The effects of such variability are manifested in a number of ways on the physical landscape. However, this study focused on the ways in which the variability of the rainfall received on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, influenced the resulting streamflow discharges for different basins on the island. Various techniques such as time series analysis and spectral analysis, were used to identify the physical mechanisms, both local and non-variations in the regimes, such that the effects of easterly waves were observed in the rainfall; the Madden-Julian wave was identified in both the precipitation and streamflow regimes; there was evidence of a faster 14-25 day oscillation; and finally, the migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone was found to be quasi-periodic in nature.

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Environments are changing rapidly, which renders many local populations susceptible to extinction unless they can adapt to these changes. Studies of rapid adaptation commonly document the evolution of individual traits. Overall adaptation however, is a function of fitness itself, rather than the individual traits that contribute to fitness. Although numerous studies provide evidence for the evolution of specific traits on contemporary time scales, no published studies of wild animal populations have examined the evolution of a major fitness component following environmental change. My research demonstrates that an introduced population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) has adapted to its new environment in less than ten years (13-26 generations). This adaptation consists of several phenotypic traits that have changed in the expected direction. Most critically, the introduced population now has higher survival than its ancestral source population when both are tested together in the introduction site. These results show that important components of fitness can evolve rapidly in populations, and that this evolution might influence the persistence of populations in the face of environmental change.