The purpose of this study is to 1: Get an updated population estimate for the regionally endangered alpine specialist plant Phippsia concinna in Sweden and 2: Explore the ecological dependencies that limits the distributions of this species to late melt-out alpine snowbeds on calcareous soils, and 3: Explore if climate change in the southern part of the Scandes mountain range is causing a decline in the population numbers of P. concinna. The majority of the sites in Sweden where P. concinna occurred historically was inventoried in 1992. This study presents the results of a re-inventory of the same snowbeds after 22 years, along with measurements of abiotic soil factors and records of abundance and composition of associated vegetation at the sites. The main findings are 1: Population number of P. concinna has increased but one third of the original populations has disappeared since 1992, and 2: Soil pH appears to limit the distributions of P. concinna while slope aspect and soil Nitrogen concentrations affects this species competitive abilities in the Swedish Scandes. 3: Presence of P. concinna is negatively correlated to cover of other graminoids and bryophytes. These results suggests that snowbeds are melting earlier following increased temperatures and precipitations in summer, resulting in longer vegetation periods that favours plant species with stronger competitive abilities over specialised snowbed species. The observed rate of change in P. concinna populations during 22 years is evidence of fast occurring vegetation changes and highlights the need to monitor rare plant species in alpine environments.

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<p> In the United States public discourse, climate change is often framed as a polarized and intractable issue. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore deliberation about climate action, and to evaluate whether effective responses to climate change can be facilitated through new structures and processes that enable and encourage dialogue on the subject of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Working with sustainability leaders at the University of Montana and in the community of Missoula, Montana, the author convened three public deliberations, in which a variety of solutions to climate change were discussed. Three questions guided this study: 1) what motivated individuals to engage in deliberation about climate action; 2) how did individual engagement vary and affect the quality of the deliberation; and 3) how effective were the deliberations in building a sense of individual agency and generating collaborative action strategies to address climate change. Based on a rigorous statistical analysis of survey responses combined with qualitative data, this action research study offers a holistic exploration of the three deliberative events convened. The deliberative processes generated collaborative action strategies and increased participants' sense of agency to take action on climate change; the findings also revealed differences in the ways individuals engaged and affected the quality of the overall group deliberation. This dissertation contributes to the literature on collaborative responses and collective action on climate change, broadens understanding of deliberative processes, and provides new insight into opportunities for leading deliberation about climate action.</p>

The global climate is predicted to go through great changes in the 21st century, which will have impacts on ecosystems all over the world. Aquatic ecosystems will be affected by higher annual temperatures and increased runoff from surrounding terrestrial areas. The increased runoff will cause more terrestrial organic matter (TOM) to reach the waters, which will elevate levels of dissolved organic carbon and nutrients. The higher temperature, changed water color and increased nutrient concentration are together bound to affect aquatic systems, but exactly how the systems will respond is yet unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate how periphyton and benthic grazers will react to higher temperatures and elevated amounts of TOM in the water. This was done by measuring production of periphyton and growth rates of the snail species Gyraulus acronicus when placed in treatments with higher temperature, more TOM or a combination of these two. Higher temperature was found to have a negative effect on periphyton production, while increased amounts of TOM alone had a positive effect, and the combination of these two lowered production. The results on snail performance were in most cases non-significant, but the results still suggest that possible future effects of more TOM and higher temperature on the snails will be negative.

<p> This thesis examines resilience among the Point Lay I&ntilde;upiat in the context of climate change. Resilience is manifest in the ability of community members to maintain meaningful subsistence practices and activities despite ongoing changes in weather, ice, and resource conditions. Twenty-one Point Lay I&ntilde;upiat were interviewed for this thesis. Respondents were divided into three cohorts: youths (ages 18-29), adults (ages 30-49), and elders (ages 50-70+). Respondents shared changes in weather, ice, and resource conditions. Respondents also shared community concerns, including concerns not attributable to climate change. Received responses were sorted and compared by cohort to identify trends in weather, ice, and resource conditions, as well as to identify adaptive and maladaptive strategies for coping with climate change and other stressors impacting the community. Whether the community can maintain meaningful subsistence practices and activities if local changes in weather, ice, and resource conditions remain unchanged or intensify is also questioned.</p>

<p> This research seeks to understand how people in the Denver metropolitan area perceive and remember weather, climate, and climate change and how social, demographic, and environmental factors might influence these perceptions and memories. To do this, an online survey was completed in 2006 and in-person interviews were conducted in 2010 and 2011. The online survey and the in-person interviews both asked questions about recent weather, seasonal climate for specific years, beliefs about climate change and human impact on climate change, and social and demographic information. During the 2010&ndash;2011 in-person interviews, ambient meteorological conditions were recorded. For climate recollections, overall accuracy was about 20%. In general, women who were politically liberal, majored in a science field, believed in climate change, and were in a good mood were the most accurate for past climates. However, this accuracy was still only about 30%. For recent weather memories, the accuracy was about 50%. Time was the biggest indicator of accuracy, with the most recent weather being remembered the most accurately. When asked to rate the weather from positive to negative for specific events, respondents reported the weather with a negative bias for extremely negative flashbulb memory events. For perceptions about climate change, over 80% of the respondents in the Denver metropolitan area believed global warming was occurring and that humans had an impact on global warming. Over 80% of respondents believed that global warming will impact the Denver metropolitan area, however not all of these people knew how climate change would impact them personally. </p>

This dissertation explores the role of cognition—the elements, structures and processes of individual and collective thought—in finding effective, cooperative solutions to climate change. It makes three contributions—theoretical, empirical, and methodological—to international relations scholarship. First, it explores cognition as a significant variable in international political life, developing an analytical framework that not only links a cognitive framework of analysis to major IR theories but bridges current theoretical divides between rationalism and constructivism. Second, by identifying and visualizing current belief systems of participants in global climate negotiations, the thesis offers insights regarding cognitive obstacles to multilateral cooperation. The most important obstacle is a clash of substantively and emotionally different belief systems. Depending on the specific constellation of a person’s beliefs about collective identity, perceptions of climate-change threat, and associated emotions, some belief systems contain normative beliefs about justice (i.e., a dominant logic of appropriateness), while others do not. The latter belief systems reflect the national-interest logic of consequences. Focusing in particular on the “wicked” characteristics of climate change, the analysis further reveals a neglect of scientific knowledge (in particular knowledge of the possibility of climate tipping points), a serious under-valuation of the distant future, and perceptions of a number of constraints on agency, some of which cannot be resolved within the negotiations. The study also identifies six distinct belief systems among climate negotiators, which I label The International Community, A Minilateral Club, The Market, Individuals, The Developed World, and The Irresponsible West. The key element distinguishing these belief systems is actor type, which affects problem definitions, proposed solutions, political strategies, and more generally an actor’s role in global climate governance. Third, this dissertation expands the methodological toolbox available to IR scholars by demonstrating the value and synergistic power of cognitive-affective mapping and Q Method. These are powerful tools to reveal individual and collective belief systems respectively.