A diverse cocktail of pharmaceuticals is spreading via water treatment plants’ effluent to surface water with known and unknown consequences of individual organisms and the ecosystem. In prior research on what consequences the pharmaceutical discharge can have, the antihistamine diphenhydramine has been found in surface waters and has been linked to alteration in organisms’ behaviours. In this study, Dytiscidae larvae were filmed before and after being exposed to diphenhydramin with a concentration of 1 µg/l. The exposure was done using four different treatments: no diphenhydramine, diphenhydramine in water, in their food or in both water and food. This was done to observe whether the behaviour, specifically activity and boldness, of Dytiscidae larvae would change with the exposure of the antihistamine and therefore potentially be a problem in aquatic ecosystems exposed to effluent. The experiment showed a significant difference (P = 0.015) between larvae in the control group and larvae only exposed to diphenhydramine through water, where exposed larvae were less active than the control group. Also, a trend pointed to a potential difference in exploration between the same groups, where the group exposed to diphenhydramine explored more than the control group. No behavioural change was found when larvae was exposed via food or food and water. The changed behaviour found here could influence fitness of the larvae and potentially also other parts of the ecosystem through cascading effects. Further research is required to confirm the dangers and consequences of diphenhydramine in surface waters, but my results suggest that it can alter the organism’s behaviour in aquatic ecosystems.

Esta tese investiga a ação empreendedora a partir de um ângulo pouco explorado na literatura: a gestão de incertezas interdependentes que afetam a ação empreendedora e de outras organizações que cocriam e codesenvolvem inovações. Pesquisas sobre ação empreendedora, planejamento, modelo de negócios e gestão de projetos sob incertezas focam no gerenciamento de incertezas presentes em um projeto de inovação ou que afetam uma empresa específica. Essas pesquisas não investigam casos nos quais as incertezas extrapolam o ciclo de vida de um projeto, ou seja, as incertezas que não podem ser equacionadas durante o processo de desenvolvimento do produto ou serviço, embora exerçam influência significativa no desempenho deles, no futuro. Essas pesquisas também não exploram conceitualmente e empiricamente as incertezas que afetam diversas organizações em um mesmo ecossistema. Para preencher essas lacunas, propomos uma abordagem alternativa para ecossistemas. Um ecossistema empreendedor pode ser descrito como uma rede interdependente de incertezas individuais (aquelas que afetam um ator específico) e coletivas (as que afetam um grupo de atores). A partir dessa proposição, a seguinte pergunta dirige este trabalho: como empreendedores gerenciam incertezas coletivas e individuais, presentes no ecossistema empreendedor, durante o advento de corridas tecnológicas? Nosso interesse é responder a essa pergunta em contextos envolvendo corridas tecnológicas, ou seja, situações em que diferentes ecossistemas disputam a liderança ou pioneirismo nas fases iniciais de uma nova trajetória tecnológica ou de um novo mercado nascido a partir de uma tecnologia. Para responder a essa pergunta, esta pesquisa constrói o seu quadro conceitual a partir de diferentes literaturas, tais como gestão estratégica com foco em ecossistemas, ação empreendedora, modelo de negócios, gestão de projetos sob incerteza e incertezas. Empregando uma abordagem de pesquisa empírica baseada em estudos de casos longitudinais e indutivos, investigamos seis ecossistemas empreendedores que nasceram para desenvolver e explorar comercialmente inovações radicais. A contribuição central desta tese é um framework que descreve como empreendedores, de forma proativa, gerenciam incertezas coletivas empregando os seguintes processos: conectando incertezas e mitigando e amplificando os efeitos da propagação de incertezas. Sugerimos que, se devidamente gerenciadas, as incertezas podem ser uma fonte de valor e vantagem competitiva para empresas empreendedoras e ecossistemas. Nesse sentido, foi desenvolvida uma abordagem holística e subjetiva de incerteza, oferecendo insights sobre a gestão de incertezas em ecossistemas. Espera-se que esta tese contribua para revigorar o debate sobre gestão de incertezas e estratégia, em empresas nascentes de base tecnológica. / This thesis investigates entrepreneurial action from an unexplored point of view in the literature: managing interdependent uncertainties that affect an entrepreneurial firm and other organizations that jointly create and develop innovations. Research on entrepreneurial action, planning, business model and project management under uncertainty focuses on managing the uncertainty present in an innovation project or affecting a specific company. It does not investigate cases in which the uncertainties extrapolate the life cycle of a project, i.e., the uncertainties that can not be equated during the process of development of the product or service and have significant influence on their performance in the future. Prior research does not explore conceptually and empirically uncertainties that affect different organizations in the same ecosystem. To fill this gap, we propose an alternative approach to ecosystems. An entrepreneurial ecosystem can be described as a network of interdependent individual uncertainties (that affects a specific actor) and collective uncertainties (that affect a group of actors). This thesis aims at understanding how entrepreneurs manage individual and collective uncertainties present in the entrepreneurial ecosystem during technological races, i.e., situations in which different ecosystems compete for leadership in the early stages of a new technological trajectory or in a new market. This research builds its conceptual framework from different literatures, such as strategic management focusing on ecosystems, entrepreneurial action, business model, and project management under uncertainty. This research proposes a framework that describes how entrepreneurs proactively manage collective uncertainties employing the following processes: \"connecting uncertainties\" and \"mitigating and amplifying\" the effects of propagation of uncertainties. We suggest that, if properly managed, uncertainties can be a source of value and competitive advantage for companies and ecosystems.

Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) turtles recruit to nearshore environments as juveniles. These often degraded habitats are associated with emerging diseases such as green turtle fibropapillomatosis (GTFP), however there are few studies on immune function in sea turtles. The objective of this research was to quantify phagocytosis of the innate immune system by flow cytometry and compare levels between animals from a degraded habitat (the Indian River Lagoon, FL) to a more pristine environment (the Trident Basin, Port Canaveral, FL), and across a range of temperatures. While in vitro temperatures did not alter rates of phagocytosis, it was higher in samples obtained in the summer than winter. Rates of phagocytosis in sea turtles with GTFP and from degraded environments with increased prevalence of GTFP were low compared to animals from the more pristine environment, suggesting that the environment can alter innate immunological function and thus contribute to the development of disease. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Changes in vegetation may influence the quality and quantity of the underlying organic peat soils and have impacts on faunal populations. My goal was to determine whether shifts from native slough communities to invasive cattail in the Florida Everglades could affect peat characteristics that could cascade to impact the dry season survival of crayfish (Procambarus fallax). I contrasted peat soils from native slough and cattail-invaded sites as alternative dry-season burrowing substrates for crayfish. Cattail peat had higher average bulk density and inorganic content within the first ten centimeters of the soil profile. Crayfish showed marginally greater initial burrowing success in slough peat than in cattail peat but survival was equivalent in both peat soils and high overall. Understanding these indirect linkages between vegetation and crayfish populations in the Everglades can provide insight on the consequences of plant invasion on ecosystem trophic dynamics. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

In recent decades, ecohydrology has received renewed attention because of the impacts of groundwater withdrawal on ecosystems. Growing population and urban expansion in Palm Beach County, FL. place pressure to eradicate natural areas, such as Florida scrub habitats, and increase groundwater withdrawal. This study presents preliminary results of soil and hydrological characterization of an ecological preserve surrounded by changing land use. Soil moisture and water levels were monitored to assess the effects of precipitation as influenced by plants and soil analysis determined the suitability of current soil conditions for hosting native vegetation habitats. Hydrologic and soil conditions on the preserve fall within values expected for native Florida scrub habitats. Hydrologic response to precipitation varied due to factors including antecedent conditions and vegetation types. These results provide a better understanding of the interactions between soil proper ties, hydrologic cycle, and plants, and assist with establishing a baseline to monitor changes over time. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Trade-offs in traits conferring success in permanent and ephemeral habitats are often at odds with few species being able to persist in both types of environments. I examined the effect of sunfish predators on two species of south Florida crayfish to establish the mechanism that limits one species, Procambarus alleni, to short-hydroperiod environments. The crayfish assemblage response to a gradient of sunfish predators and the effect of predation on P. fallax alone was examined. I also examined the effects of sunfish on crayfish growth and quantified activity levels and risky behaviors of both crayfish species. P. alleni dominated at low sunfish densities but dominance shifted with increasing sunfish density. P. alleni was more active and likely to initiate risky behaviors, suggesting that sunfish predators remove the more active P. alleni, reducing their numbers disproportionally to those of P. fallax and allowing P. fallax to dominate crayfish assemblages in long-hydroperiod wetlands. / by Christopher M. Kellogg. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Fish predation can have structuring effects in aquatic communities, but the most important fish predators are not always immediately obvious. Generalist fish predators often occupy similar habitats and consume similar prey making determination of their consumptive impacts difficult. Understanding these consumptive impacts is important for understanding complex wetland food webs. I collected warmouth (Lepomis gulosus), bluespotted sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus), and dollar sunfish (Lepomis marginatus) in two seasons from sloughs for both diet and bioenergetics analysis. Macroinvertebrates dominated diets of the three species, and nonparametric analyses revealed evidence of diet ontogeny in warmouth and potential competition for prey items among gape-matched individuals. Bioenergetics modeling revealed high levels of macroinvertebrate comsumption by these species relative to macroinvertebrate reproductive output suggesting that when combined with other sources of mortality, consumptive pressures placed by sunfish on benthic macroinvertebrates may be quite large. / by Jacob Bransky. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

A presente pesquisa apresenta um estudo das Capacidades Digitais a fim de compreende-las e examiná-las melhor, e analisar o impacto dessas capacidades digitais na performance de negócios digitais. A literatura indica que as Capacidades Digitais são um alicerce fundamental a partir do qual os negócios digitais podem transformar a experiência do cliente, os processos operacionais e os modelos de negócios. Do estudo teórico dessas capacidades emergiram as seguintes questões de pesquisa: quais são as capacidades digitais relacionadas a performance de negócios digitais? E, qual o impacto das capacidades digitais na performance de negócios digitais? Para responder essas questões os objetivos gerais estabelecidos são: entender quais são as capacidades digitais relacionadas ao desempenho dos negócios digitais e medir o impacto dos recursos digitais no desempenho dos negócios digitais. A pesquisa é apresentada em quatro artigos que foram desenvolvidos em sequência de acordo com o processo da pesquisa científica para responder à questão de pesquisa. O primeiro é uma revisão sistemática de literatura que foi desenvolvida para entender as capacidades digitais. Esta pesquisa é apresentada no artigo 1. Na sequência, foram desenvolvidos estudos qualitativos, com entrevistas e estudos de caso apresentados nos artigos 2 e 3. O segundo artigo examina as capacidades digitais e seu papel no desempenho dos negócios digitais. O terceiro trabalho foi desenvolvido para entender a relação entre os ecossistemas digitais e o valor dos negócios digitais. Após isso, o modelo de pesquisa foi ajustado e uma pesquisa quantitativa foi realizada para medir o impacto das capacidades digitais no desempenho dos negócios digitais, que é apresentado no artigo 4. Por fim, foi possível entender que um negócio digital necessita desenvolver capacidades a fim de monitorar o ambiente, ser responsiva, ter processos digitais eficientes e deve ser capaz de pertencer a outros ecossistemas, com isso ela conseguirá melhorar sua performance. Além disso, os principais resultados indicam que a capacidade de resposta é um recurso crucial que causa um impacto significativo no desempenho dos negócios digitais. / This research presents a study of digital capabilities in order to better understand these capabilities and the impact of these digital capabilities on digital business performance. The literature indicates that digital capabilities is a critical foundation from which digital business can transform the customer experience, operational processes, and business models. From the theoretical study of these capabilities emerged the following research questions: what are the Digital Capabilities that are related to digital business performance? And, what is the impact of digital capabilities on digital business performance? To answer these questions, the following general objectives were elaborated: to understand what are the digital capabilities that are related to digital business performance, and to measure the impact of digital capabilities on digital business performance. Then research started and is presented in here in four articles that have been developed in sequence in order to answer the research question. So, the first step was a systematic review that was developed in order to understand the digital capabilities state of the art. This research is presented in article 1. In the sequence, qualitative studies were developed, with interviews and case studies presented in article 2 and 3. The second paper examines digital capabilities and their role in the digital business performance. We could better understand the digital capabilities, but it was noticed that ecosystem capability needed more studies as it is a new and fundamental theme for understanding the impact of digital capabilities on the performance of the digital business. So, the third paper was developed to understand the relationship between ecosystems and digital business value. Finally, the research model was adjusted, and a survey was carried out in order to measure the impact of digital capabilities on the performance of the digital business, which is presented in article 4. Finally, it was possible to understand that a digital business should develop digital capabilities in order to be capable of monitoring, being responsive, having efficient digital process and able to belong to other ecosystems what will lead to a improve the digital business performance. In addition, the primary results indicate that responsiveness is a crucial capability that makes a significant impact on digital business performance.

Dentre as ameaças causadas pealas mudanças climáticas, é esperado um aumento na frequência e na magnitude de eventos climáticos extremos. Portanto, é de vital importância identificar características da comunidade que confiram estabilidade aos processos ecossistêmicos. Por meio de três experimentos buscamos explorar essas intrincadas relações entre alguns aspectos da biodiversidade e a estabilidade ecológica. No primeiro estudo, comparamos a produtividade primária antes e depois de uma inundação em comunidades sintéticas com diferentes valores de riqueza de espécies, diversidade e composição funcional. No segundo experimento, investigamos como alterações na intensidade de chuvas (simuladas por meio de interceptadores) afetaram os atributos funcionais, diversidade e processos ecossistêmicos de um campo nativo sob diferentes frequências de desfolhação. O terceiro estudo, consistiu em um experimento com manipulação da riqueza de espécies por meio de remoções, onde analisamos o efeito da diversidade de espécies na estabilidade nos níveis de organização de comunidade (colonizações e extinções) e ecossistema (variação na produtividade primária). Atributos funcionais e outras características da comunidade (riqueza e composição) afetaram e foram afetadas pelos distúrbios. A relação diversidade-estabilidade apresentou diferentes tendências dependendo da natureza e intensidade do distúrbio. O aumento dos recursos após a inundação favoreceu comunidades mais ricas e aquelas contendo atributos relacionados à aquisição de recursos. Além disso, a frequência de desfolhação não afetou a resposta da vegetação à manipulação de chuva. Estabilidade apresentou tendências opostas dependendo do nível de organização ecológica considerado. Maior substituição 63 de espécies em comunidades mais ricas correspondeu a uma maior estabilidade em 64 processos ecossistêmicos. / Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events. It is therefore of major importance to identify the community attributes that confer stability in ecosystem processes facing such events. By means of three experiment-based studies, we aimed to explore how plant community aspects affect ecological stability. In the first study, we compared data on biomass productivity before and after a major flood in synthetic plant communities with different values of species richness, functional diversity and community weighted means of functional traits on different measures of stability. In the second experiment, we investigate how changes in rainfall (simulated by rainout-shelters) alter functional traits and diversity and ecosystem processes of a natural grassland under different defoliation frequencies. The third study consisted on a biodiversity experiment in which we manipulated species richness by removals for studying the effects of species diversity on the stability at the community (colonization and extinction) and ecosystem levels (variation in primary productivity). Functional traits and other community features (richness, composition) affected and were affected by the disturbances. Diversity-stability relationships presented different trends depending on the disturbance nature and intensity. Resource inputs following the flood favoured rich communities and the ones characterized by traits related to resource acquisition. Also, defoliation frequency did not affect the way vegetation responded to rainfall manipulation. Stability showed opposite trends when evaluated at different levels of ecological organization. Higher turnover in rich communities corresponded to increased stability in ecosystem processes.

The research project for this PhD set out to provide a best practice example of bringing together industry (Hanson Heidelberg Cement Group), a charitable body (The Parks Trust), non-departmental public body (Environment Agency) and academia (Cranfield University). The Parks Trust (landowner) and Hanson (quarry operator) worked together with the vision of creating a new floodplain forest landscape along a 1 km reach of the River Great Ouse following extraction of gravels from the site. It was the first project of its kind in the United Kingdom where planning permission was obtained specifically for the creation of a floodplain forest habitats post quarrying. The aim of the PhD research was to determine appropriate ecological approaches to apply to the assessment and future monitoring of habitat outcomes of a floodplain forest restoration project at a mineral extraction site. A central element of the research was the design of a scientifically justified monitoring programme, with key variables determined being: soil characteristics, water quality, vegetation development, site topography and water table level data. An Adaptive Monitoring Framework (AMF) was chosen to set the proposed monitoring within which was complemented with the hypothesis - The ratio of wet/dry vegetation within the floodplain forest is determined by the site topography and water table level. The hypothesis was tested by analysis of the key variables through fieldwork and existing data sources supplemented with a study of the water table level interaction with two typical floodplain forest tree species (Salix viminalis and Populus trichocarpa x deltoides) in a glasshouse experiment. Findings from the field and experimental research were then used within a spatially based landscape ecology scenario approach to identify the most suitable areas of the study site for specific species planting according to soil-water levels and topography in the floodplain forest. Outputs of this research enhance understanding of the key aspects to consider when assessing floodplain forest re-creation/restoration and enable guidelines and recommendations to be developed for land managers based on a long-term and an adaptive ecological monitoring approach. These management guidelines and recommendations based on a systematic scientific approach applied within the research should be appropriate to other similar restoration projects. The research provides the background evidence on what should be measured to determine the environmental changes of the floodplain forest habitat restoration as it develops towards restoration success.