Restored plant populations frequently fail to establish or don’t persist over short to intermediate periods of time. These unsuccessful restoration attempts may be the result of strong selection and a high degree of maladaptation within restored populations. There are various potential evolutionary causes of maladaptation within restored systems, which may ultimately lead to extirpation. Here, I investigated whether current restoration practises systematically lead to stronger selection and a greater magnitude of maladaptation, by comparing restored prairie populations of Monarda fistulosa to naturally occurring populations. Phenotypic selection and maladaptation analyses were conducted on nine ecologically important traits in three restored and three natural tall grass prairie populations. Significant differences in selection and maladaptation were detected among the six study populations; however there was no significant difference between restored and natural populations. The lack of difference may indicate that the restored populations are well adapted to their environment or that natural populations are less well adapted than assumed.

Adaptation in professional sport is the professional athlete’s capacity to act and react effectively to destabilizing stress episodes so that an internal sense of emotional and psychological balance is restored (Schinke, Tenenbaum, Lidor & Battochio, 2010). Professional ice-hockey players must overcome numerous stressors throughout their careers in the National Hockey League (NHL). Though sport researchers have conducted preliminary studies about the stress and adaptation processes of NHL players, small participant numbers and the use of a structured interview guide limited to rookie and veteran career stages limit the conclusions. Based on these limitations, the purpose of the present dissertation was to provide a comprehensive depiction of the stress episodes and processes that lead to adaptation and maladaptation in the NHL. Twenty-three current and former NHL players were recruited for individual interviews, which were then analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) inductive thematic analysis. As a result, stress episodes and the subsequent strategies attempted to reach adaptation or maladaptation could be housed either within a career stage or across an NHL player’s career. Career stages were (a) entry into the NHL, (b) remaining in the NHL, and (c) becoming an All-Star. Across-career stress involved (a) high profile team, (b) injury, and (c) relocation. Subsequently, the participants identified pathways designed to alleviate or manage the stressors situated within each stress episode. Through retrospection, the participants decided whether their pathways taken during various stress episodes were adaptive. Recommendations were then proposed by these athletes for aspiring NHL players or maladaptive. Implications for sport researchers and practitioners (e.g., coaches, mental performance consultants) are also provided within the conclusion.

Evolution frequently plays out over ecological timescales. Local adaptation under the joint action of evolutionary and ecological processes frequently leads to novel outcomes, as is evidenced by the theoretical work on adaptation at species' borders. However, to date this body of work does not have a theory for the effect of stochastic processes on local adaptation. The primary goal of this thesis is to show that demographic and genetic fluctuations can significantly impact upon local adaptation. In addition, the effect of polygenic evolution is also analysed. Specifically, three types of models are considered. First a deterministic mainland-island, subject to hard directional selection, maladaptive gene flow and density regulation is solved for two different trait architectures: an explicit multilocus trait and a quantitative trait. The maladaptive and adaptive steady states can be bistable. This depends on the underlying architecture of the trait, as well as locus number and ploidy. Sourcesink structure can emerge, accompanied by a novel, upper critical threshold above which maladaptation occurs. The most favourable condition for local adaptation occurs for few loci and low migration. Second, a stochastic version of the mainland-island model is analysed as a diffusion process. This is the central premise of the thesis and is explored by examining properties of the stationary distributions of both trait architectures, and the first-passage properties of the single locus case. It is found that across a range of migration rates that depend on locus number and migrant polymorphism, local adaptation may be reversed or escape from maladaptation becomes possible at varying transition rates. The diffusion model is compared to a similar discrete model. The continuous model is in good qualitative agreement with the discrete model. Third, the stochastic model is generalised to the infinite island model, which evolves deterministically. Under deterministic dynamics a range of equilibria are possible, depending on whether habitat size varies or is fixed. Multilocus dynamics restrict the conditions for polymorphism. Stochastic dynamics can have potentially detrimental consequences for the persistence of the island population when drift is strong. The relevance of the stochastic model to border populations is discussed. Although the diffusion process imposes severe constraints on the permissible parameter ranges, it is still able to provide a good qualitative understanding of the impact demographic and genetic fluctuations have on local adaptation.

The primary objectives of this study are to understand if and how cities are adapting to heat and water stress and to characterize their understanding of the potential tradeoffs associated with vegetation-based strategies. I address these objectives using two approaches: a comparative analysis of climate adaptation and sustainability planning documents in cities vulnerable to heat and water stress and an in-depth case study of the response to heat and water threats in Los Angeles. The comparative analysis of city plans builds a broad understanding of how cities are planning to adapt to heat and water stress and the degree to which they articulate an understanding of, and mitigate the potential for, maladaptive measures. The Los Angeles case study provides the opportunity to more deeply trace how the process of adapting to heat and water stress has unfolded in a single city. To do so, I locate the city’s contemporary policies in an historical continuum with previous municipal environmental policy efforts, in local patterns of urban development and their entailing political and economic foundations, and in regional, state, national, and international environmental policy hierarchies.

Introduction Wrestling is a competitive and intermittent combat sport characterised mainly by strength components. Few researchers have examined nonfunctional overreaching in strength-based athletes, such as wrestlers, despite being prevalent. To prevent the more severe condition of overtraining syndrome, it is important to detect early maladaptation, i.e., nonfunctional overreaching. Due to its complex nature, most studies have not managed to develop nonfunctional overreaching conditions in athletes. The purpose of this review is to broadly summarize previous research on functional overreaching, nonfunctional overreaching, and overtraining syndrome to examine useful methods to assess nonfuntional overreaching in wrestlers. Method Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science were used with various combinations of nonfuntional overreaching OR overreaching OR overtraining syndrome. Subjective and objective methods that could be useful to adapt to wrestling to assess nonfunctional overreaching were summarized and discussed. Studies conducted on athletes or physically active individuals in various sports engaging in seasonal training or a moderate to high-intensity training intervention of at least six days or are nonfunctionally overreached were included. Included studies are published original articles and reviews. Results There are few studies on wrestlers regarding nonfunctional overreaching. Biochemical and physiological factors have been inconsistent, a relation between nonfunctional overreaching and decrements in maximal muscular strength and vertical jump height have been reported. Profile of Mood States, Perceived Recovery Status, and Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes have been successfully used to detect nonfunctional overreaching, only the latter being a comprehensive enough monitoring tool. Conclusion To adequately assess nonfunctional overreaching in wrestlers, psychological tools together with performance testing with baseline and follow-up values are emphasised. As specific objective or subjective markers seem to be lacking, coaches should use an individual approach when monitoring wrestlers. Consequently, more studies are needed to determine the validity and reliability of these methods in assessing nonfunctional overreaching in wrestlers.

Au-delà des variables climatiques, d’autres facteurs non climatiques sont à considérer dans l’analyse de la vulnérabilité et de l’adaptation au changement et variabilité climatiques. Cette mutation de paradigme place l’agent humain au centre du processus d’adaptation au changement climatique, notamment en ce qui concerne le rôle des réseaux sociaux dans la transmission des nouvelles idées. Dans le domaine de l’agriculture, le recours aux innovations est prôné comme stratégie d’adaptation. L’élaboration et l’appropriation de ces stratégies d’adaptation peuvent être considérées comme des processus d’innovation qui dépendent autant du contexte social et culturel d’un territoire, de sa dynamique, ainsi que de la stratégie elle-même. Aussi, l’appropriation et la diffusion d’une innovation s’opèrent à partir d’un processus décisionnel à l’échelle de l’exploitation agricole, qui à son tour, demande une compréhension des multiples forces et facteurs externes et internes à l’exploitation et les multiples objectifs de l’exploitant. Ainsi, la compréhension de l’environnement décisionnel de l’exploitant agricole à l’échelle de la ferme est vitale, car elle est un préalable incontournable au succès et à la durabilité de toute politique d’adaptation de l’agriculture. Or, dans un secteur comme l’agriculture, il est reconnu que les réseaux sociaux par exemple, jouent un rôle crucial dans l’adaptation notamment, par le truchement de la diffusion des innovations. Aussi, l’objectif de cette recherche est d’analyser comment les exploitants agricoles s’approprient et conçoivent les stratégies d’adaptation au changement et à la variabilité climatiques dans une perspective de diffusion des innovations. Cette étude a été menée en Montérégie-Ouest, région du sud-ouest du Québec, connue pour être l’une des plus importantes régions agricoles du Québec, en raison des facteurs climatiques et édaphiques favorables. Cinquante-deux entrevues ont été conduites auprès de différents intervenants à l’agriculture aux niveaux local et régional. L’approche grounded theory est utilisée pour analyser, et explorer les contours de l’environnement décisionnel des exploitants agricoles relativement à l’utilisation des innovations comme stratégie d’adaptation. Les résultats montrent que les innovations ne sont pas implicitement conçues pour faire face aux changements et à la variabilité climatiques même si l’évolution du climat influence leur émergence, la décision d’innover étant largement déterminée par des considérations économiques. D’autre part, l‘étude montre aussi une faiblesse du capital sociale au sein des exploitants agricoles liée à l’influence prépondérante exercée par le secteur privé, principal fournisseur de matériels et intrants agricoles. L’influence du secteur privé se traduit par la domination des considérations économiques sur les préoccupations écologiques et la tentation du profit à court terme de la part des exploitants agricoles, ce qui pose la problématique de la soutenabilité des interventions en matière d’adaptation de l’agriculture québécoise. L’étude fait ressortir aussi la complémentarité entre les réseaux sociaux informels et les structures formelles de soutien à l’adaptation, de même que la nécessité d’établir des partenariats. De plus, l’étude place l’adaptation de l’agriculture québécoise dans une perspective d’adaptation privée dont la réussite repose sur une « socialisation » des innovations, laquelle devrait conduire à l’émergence de processus institutionnels formels et informels. La mise en place de ce type de partenariat peut grandement contribuer à améliorer le processus d’adaptation à l’échelle locale. / Other than climatic variables, non-climatic factors should be considered in the analysis of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability. This shift in paradigm places the human agent at the centre of the process of adaptation to climate change, particularly with regard to the role of social networks in the transmission of new ideas. In agriculture, the use of innovations is advocated as a coping strategy. The development and adoption of these coping strategies can be considered innovative processes that depend as much on the social and cultural context of a country, its dynamics, and the strategy itself. Also, the ownership and dissemination of an innovation are taking place from a decision-making across the farm, which in turn requires an understanding of the multiple forces and external and internal factors in operation and the multiple objectives of the operator. Thus, understanding of the farmer’s decision- making environment at the farm level is vital because it is a prerequisite for the success and sustainability of any agricultural adaptation policy. However, in a sector like agriculture, it is recognized that social networks for example, play a crucial role in adaptation in particular, through the diffusion of innovations. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyze how farmers take ownership and design strategies to adapt to climate change and variability from the perspective of diffusion of innovations. This study was conducted in Montérégie- West, a region located in the southwestern part of Quebec and which is known to be one of its most important agricultural regions, due to favorable climatic and soil factors. Fifty-two interviews were conducted with various stakeholders in agriculture at local as well as regional levels. The grounded theory approach is used to analyze and explore the contours of farmers’s decision-making environment regarding the use of innovation as a coping strategy. The results show that innovations are not implicitly designed to cope with climate change and variability even if climate change affects their emergence. The decision to innovate is largely determined by economic considerations. Moreover, the study also shows a weakness of social capital within farmers groups related to the overriding influence of the private sector, which are the main supplier of materials and agricultural inputs. The influence of the private sector has resulted in the dominance of economic considerations over environmental concerns and the temptation of short-term profit from the farmers, which raises the issue of sustainability of interventions in adaptation of Quebec’s agriculture. The study also highlights the complementarity between informal social networks and formal structures of support for adaptation, as well as the need to build partnerships. In addition, the study places the adaptation of Quebec’s agriculture from the perspective of private adaptation whose success is based on a "socialization" of innovations, which should lead to the emergence of formal and informal institutional processes. The establishment of such partnerships can greatly help improve the adaptation process at the local level.

In this study, the environmental work of 6 municipalities is examined and analyzed. Through collected data and theories about sustainable innovation, a table with various recommendations is produced to hopefully help and support the municipalities with their environmental work and this is done to achieve the environmental goals of Agenda 2030. A qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interview was used to collect data for this study. Based on the collected data that was analyzed, the researchers could find what the municipalities need help with, what deficiencies each municipality has and factors that affect the execution and results of the environmental work. The researchers used an abductive method in the study, where they continuously compare the empirical chapter with the theory in order to come up with different recommendations. The results of this study show recommendations that the municipalities can use to improve environmental work and that can hopefully lead to achieving the environmental goals. / I denna studie undersöks och analyseras 6 kommuners miljöarbete. Genom insamlade data och teorier om hållbar innovation kommer en  tabell med olika rekommendationer tas fram för att förhoppningsvis hjälpa och stödja kommunerna med deras miljöarbete och detta görs för att uppnå miljömålen till Agenda 2030. En kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer användes för att samla in data till denna studie. Utifrån den insamlade data som analyserades vad kommunerna behöver mest hjälp med, vilka brister och hinder varje kommun har men även faktorer som påverkar utförandet och resultatet av arbetet. Vi använde en abduktiv metod i studien, där de kontinuerligt jämför empirin med teorin för att kunna ta fram olika rekommendationer. Resultatet från denna studie visar rekommendationer som kommunerna kan använda sig av för att förbättra miljöarbetet och som förhoppningsvis kan leda till att uppnå miljömålen.

The object of the study was adaptation as a socio-psychological phenomenon. The subject of the study was psychological adaptation of fifth graders to high school education in the context of new and old teaching groups. / В работе проведено исследование адаптации пятиклассников в условиях нового коллектива.

Title of the thesis: Selected diagnostic procedures during the annual macrocycle of the floorball season which are used to demonstrate a specific asymmetry in floorball players Aims of the thesis: The aim of this work is to identify and analyze the specific time period during the floorball season, which is characteristic with the biggest muscle asymmetry caused due to a specific exercise load that floorball demands. Methods: The research was conducted among elite floorball teams of the top men's floorball competition in the Czech Republic and the tested research group included only male professional athletes. The probands (n = 18 input measurements, n = 10 output measurements) took a total of four complex measurements. Testing was held once before the pre-conditioning period, once during the main course and twice before the playoff. Missing data was supplemented and approximated by the method of multiple imputations in Mplus software. Selected body composition parameters were evaluated, tested and measured on various measuring instruments and machines such as Tanita MC-980MA. The footscan® systems were used to measure postural stability. The explosive force was measured using Kistler force plates and the Cybex Humac Norm isokinetic dynamometer was used to determine the muscle strength of the lower...

<p>  </p> <p>Rapid climate change on a global scale is posing a considerable threat to forest biodiversity. Assessing physiological and genomic backgrounds of each tree is crucial for informing conservation and mitigation strategies to evaluate species or populations' vulnerability and adaptive capacity under climate change. The goal of my dissertation research was to use morpho-physiological and molecular approaches in combination with genomic background, as a backbone knowledge for enhancing the restoration and conservation of different hardwood tree species. The same approaches also led to a better understanding of mitigation strategies of tree species to evaluate their vulnerability and adaptability under climate change. To do so, the native <em>Juglans</em> species (<em>J. cinerea</em> and <em>J. nigra</em>), local species (Arizona walnut<em>; J. major, </em>California walnut; <em>J. hindsii</em>), exotic species (Persian walnut, <em>J. regia</em>) and its F1 interspecific hybrids were used as a case study to evaluate the level of cold hardiness in <em>Juglans</em>. Hybridization can integrate biotic and abiotic tolerance in plants and could be a potential forest restoration and conservation tool. Evidence from past studies in some F1 interspecific hybrids indicates that naturalized hybrids of Persian walnut with black walnut or butternut have higher level of tolerance to lower temperature than Persian walnut. The potential cold tolerance of native, local, exotic <em>Juglans</em> species and F1 interspecific hybrid using field, electrolyte leakage, qPCR, and genome analysis was investigated, and results presented in chapter 2. Differences in cold hardiness were observed in tested <em>Juglans</em> species, <em>J. regia</em> as an exotic species and <em>J. major</em> from Arizona maladapted in West Lafayette, Indiana. No sign of cold damage was observed in F1 interspecific hybrids or native species. Using morpho-physiological, molecular, and genome data, we confirmed that molecular and morpho-physiological data were highly correlated and thus can be used to characterize cold hardy trait in <em>Juglans</em> species. </p> <p>Although the native <em>Juglans</em> species are cold tolerant, with current trend of climate change and rapid tree migration to the northern range, it is not easy to predict how <em>Juglans</em> species may adapt to new environments and response to other biotic and abiotic stresses in future. A reference-genome assembly for nuclear and chloroplast genomes and cold hardy genes is presented in chapter 3. We used re-sequence genomes of 170 individuals collected from 20 <em>Juglans</em> species and <em>Carya</em> (as an outgroup) of the Juglandaceae family distributed in temperate-tropical forests of America and Asia. We integrate genome and temperature variables to identify a set of associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), structural variations, and the geographical distribution of the variants in the genes related to local adaptation of <em>Juglans</em> across latitudes. Phylogeny analyses revealed that <em>Juglans</em> species were sorted based on their origin using the nuclear genome, cold-hardy genes, and organellar genome. <em>Juglans regia</em>, a native species of Asia and Europe, was distinct from other species and exhibited less genetic diversity than <em>Juglans</em> spp. of North America, based on whole genome and cold-hardy gene analysis. We identified the black walnut as a more diverse species and the California walnut and Persian walnut (<em>J. regia</em>) as less diverse species using selective sweep and heterozygosity analysis. Within <em>Juglans </em>species, those from colder areas exhibited higher diversity of cold hardy genes compared to the ones from warmer regions. Differences in genetic diversity among continents and latitudes did not follow a clear trend. Still, the level of gene diversity of <em>Juglans</em> from North America is higher than the species that originated in eastern Asia. We can use 65,000 nuclear SNPs variants in an ecological modeling system to predict genetic diversity and spatiotemporal shift of <em>Juglans</em> species in response to future climate change. These SNPs variants are helpful for forest tree breeding programs with aims such as marker-assisted selection (MAS), conservation or assisted migration in future.  </p> <p>Based on the findings of chapter 2 and 3, black walnut is the most diverse species with high genetic diversity in comparison with other <em>Juglans</em> species distributing across eastern forest of the USA. However, deeper knowledge of how this genetically diverse species will be affected by climate change is crucial. In chapter 3, we projected black walnut's current and future basal area. Utilizing machine learning, we tested different models using more than 1.4 million tree records from 10,162 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) sample plots and 42 spatially explicit bioclimate and other environmental attributes. Ultimately, we used random forests (RF) model to estimate the basal area of black walnut under climate change. The mean of annual temperature and precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, topology, and human footprint were the most significant variables in prediction of basal area. Under two emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 and 8.5), the RF model projected that black walnut stocking will increase in the northern part of the current range in the USA by 2080, with a potential shift of species distribution range. However, uncertainty remains due to unpredictable events, including extreme abiotic (heat, drought) and biotic (pests, disease) occurrences. Our models can be adapted to other hardwood tree species to predict tree changes in the basal area based on future climate scenarios.  </p> <p>A similar approach of chapter 2, with a slightly different freeze test (whole plant freezing test) and use of cold-acclimated seedling was used in chapter 4. For cold acclimation, seedlings exposed to air temperatures progressively lowered for eight weeks (from 25.6/22.2 ºC to 8/4 ºC, day/night) and non-acclimated seedlings from sea level to 2,300 m, in tropical Hawaiʻi, USA to evaluate cold tolerance of koa. We also investigated gene expression using qPCR and wideseq sequencing in this study. Freezing tolerance varied significantly in non-acclimated versus cold-acclimated treatments across the elevation cline using the whole plant physiology-freezing test and gene expression. The level of freezing tolerance and the elevation at which seeds were collected were consistent with the frequency of freezing tolerance genes to facilitate variation interpretation in cold-hardy phenotypes. Findings of physiology and molecular data analysis for freezing tolerance of koa across the elevation gradient of the Hawaiian Islands provides insight into natural selection processes and will help to support forest restoration efforts. </p> <p>  </p>