Superhydrophobic fabrics have gained a huge interest in the industries recently. New legislation pushes the industries to eliminate the use of fluorinated materials in the production of these type of fabrics. Hydrophobic and self-cleaning garments textiles can deliver stable water repellent properties without the need for fluorinated chemicals and reduce the consumption of detergents. New methods that could be implemented in current textile industry processes without major changes in instruments or materials is essential to move this industry to the next level. Filament development with the hydrophobic structure without coating could be strategic on one side and tricky on the other side. It has been proved that a stable hydrophobic self cleaning surface needs a hierarchical micro-nano structure to present sustainable properties. In this thesis, we used common materials in the textile industry for filament production which are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high molecular weight polystyrene (PS) and low molecular weight polystyrene (LMPS) to shape the microstructures on the surface of filaments. By adding the common compatibilizer polystyrene-co-maleic anhydride (PSMA) to the blend, PS in the matrix of PET could migrate to the surface. Even 1% wt. of PSMA boosted the migration of PS polymer droplets to the surface. The blend including compatibilizer was compounded, melt-spun into the monofilament, drawn, and annealed for various time durations in the furnace. Next, the filaments were immersed in tetrahydrofuran(THF) to remove the PS component obtaining the rough surface. We investigated the effect of mixture components content and different process parameters such as draw ratio and annealing time on hydrophobicity by the aid of statistical design. Applying the Wilhelmy method for contact angle measurement, we could achieve an advancing contact angle (ACA)of 114º and the average ACA of 96º by making micro-size structure on raw PET with an average ACA of 80º and the intrinsic contact angle of around 70º.

Resource variation and species interactions require organisms to respond behaviorally, physiologically, and morphologically within and among generations to compensate for spatial and temporal environmental variation. One successful evolutionary strategy to mitigate environmental variation is phenotypic plasticity: the production of alternative phenotypes in response to environmental variation. Phenotypic plasticity yields multiple characters that may enable organisms to better optimize phenotypic responses across environmental gradients. In this thesis, I trace the development of thought on phenotypic plasticity and present two empirical studies that implicate phenotypic plasticity in producing morphological variation in response to resource variation. The first empirical study addresses trophic plasticity, population divergence, and the effect of fine-scale environmental variation in western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis). Offspring from two populations were fed either attached or unattached food items offered in three orientations: (1) water surface, (2) mid-water, (3) benthic, and (4) a daily rotation of the former three (fine-grained variation). Attached food induced wide heads, blunt snouts and rounded pectoral fins relative to morphology in the unattached treatment. Mid-water feeding induced elongated heads and deeper mid-bodies relative to benthic and surface feeding induced morphologies. The rotating treatment produced intermediate morphologies. Population divergence seemed related to both trophic and predation ecology. Ecomorphological consequences of induced morphologies and the need for inclusion of greater ecological complexity in studies of plasticity are discussed. The second study examines induced morphological plasticity and performance in red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). I fed hatchery fish either hard or soft food for two months. Performance trials were designed to measure their ability to manipulate and consume hard food items. External morphology and the mass of pharyngeal crushing muscles were assessed for variation among treatments. A hard food diet induced deeper bodies and larger heads, more massive pharyngeal muscles, and initially more efficient consumption of hard food than fish receiving soft food. The observed morphological variation is in accordance with variation among species. Determining evolutionary mechanisms operating within red drum populations should eventually aid in developing and optimizing conservation efforts and ease the transition from hatchery facilities to estuaries.

Resource variation and species interactions require organisms to respond behaviorally, physiologically, and morphologically within and among generations to compensate for spatial and temporal environmental variation. One successful evolutionary strategy to mitigate environmental variation is phenotypic plasticity: the production of alternative phenotypes in response to environmental variation. Phenotypic plasticity yields multiple characters that may enable organisms to better optimize phenotypic responses across environmental gradients. In this thesis, I trace the development of thought on phenotypic plasticity and present two empirical studies that implicate phenotypic plasticity in producing morphological variation in response to resource variation. The first empirical study addresses trophic plasticity, population divergence, and the effect of fine-scale environmental variation in western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis). Offspring from two populations were fed either attached or unattached food items offered in three orientations: (1) water surface, (2) mid-water, (3) benthic, and (4) a daily rotation of the former three (fine-grained variation). Attached food induced wide heads, blunt snouts and rounded pectoral fins relative to morphology in the unattached treatment. Mid-water feeding induced elongated heads and deeper mid-bodies relative to benthic and surface feeding induced morphologies. The rotating treatment produced intermediate morphologies. Population divergence seemed related to both trophic and predation ecology. Ecomorphological consequences of induced morphologies and the need for inclusion of greater ecological complexity in studies of plasticity are discussed. The second study examines induced morphological plasticity and performance in red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). I fed hatchery fish either hard or soft food for two months. Performance trials were designed to measure their ability to manipulate and consume hard food items. External morphology and the mass of pharyngeal crushing muscles were assessed for variation among treatments. A hard food diet induced deeper bodies and larger heads, more massive pharyngeal muscles, and initially more efficient consumption of hard food than fish receiving soft food. The observed morphological variation is in accordance with variation among species. Determining evolutionary mechanisms operating within red drum populations should eventually aid in developing and optimizing conservation efforts and ease the transition from hatchery facilities to estuaries.