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Amphibians are influenced by climate change, but we do not have a clear understanding of how changes in temperature, precipitation, or both, may influence amphibian larvae in temperate regions. Do amphibian larvae have similar developmental responses to increased temperature and increased drying rates of wetlands - both plausible effects of climate change? What influence do the interactive effects of temperature and drying have on the relationships between the larval responses themselves (e.g., survival, body size, and time to metamorphosis)? To address these questions, we studied larval responses of two amphibian species, wood frogs (<em>Lithobates sylvaticus</em>) and spring peepers (<em>Pseudacris crucifer</em>), to simulated warming and drying in experimental ponds. Over 13 weeks, we manipulated temperature and water levels in ponds to produce 4 treatments: control, drying, warming, and drying + warming. Our manipulations created warming treatments that were on average 2 ° C higher than controls, and our drying treatments decreased in water depth by 2.5 cm each week compared to warming and control treatments that held a consistent amount of water. In both species, warming treatments resulted in significantly earlier timing of metamorphosis, and drying treatments resulted in significantly reduced body size. We saw a negative relationship between body size and time to metamorphosis (i.e., individuals that metamorphosed faster generally had larger body sizes), indicating an unexpected decoupling of the typical positive relationship between time to- and size at metamorphosis. The strength of the relationship between responses also varied by treatment for wood frogs but not spring peepers, indicating that the responses of larval amphibians to climate change may vary among species. Our study reveals complex relationships among larval survival, body size, and time to metamorphosis and highlights the need for considering not only the role of interacting climate-related pressures on amphibians but also the mechanisms underlying coupling of larval responses to these pressures. We encourage future research and discussion on a better understanding of why different climate pressures caused different responses, and if these patterns may be consistent in other aquatic species. / Master of Science / Across the globe, shifts in temperatures and the availability of freshwater habitats due to climate change are presenting challenges as well as opportunities for many species, particularly those that rely on freshwater habitats to complete their life cycle. Climate change is leading to warmer water temperature and accelerated drying of wetlands and ponds. Warming and drying often occur simultaneously, yet our understanding of how warming and drying may interact and affect sensitive aquatic species is limited. Amphibians with an aquatic life stage (for example, frog tadpoles) are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change on wetlands and ponds because they must transform from swimming larvae to land-dwelling adults before aquatic habitats dry out. Warming and drying help amphibian larvae determine when to start that process, called metamorphosis. For this reason, amphibian larvae in aquatic habitats are especially vulnerable to shifts in water temperature and the timing of drying. In this thesis, I explore how warming and drying influence amphibian survival, body size, and time to metamorphosis. To better understand the responses of amphibian larvae to warming and drying, I tested the effects of warming and drying on three response variables: amphibian survival, body size, and time to metamorphosis. I used two different species, wood frogs and spring peepers, to determine whether frogs' responses vary among species. I created an artificial pond experiment where I filled large tanks to represent natural ponds in a controlled, outdoor setting. In these artificial ponds, I measured wood frog and spring peeper growth under experimentally increased water temperatures and accelerated drying levels over 13 weeks. I found a negative relationship between body size and time to metamorphosis, suggesting individuals who spent less time in the water as larvae were more likely to be larger than individuals who spent more time in the water as larvae. Additionally, ponds with higher larval survival were associated with larger body size and a shorter time to metamorphosis. Warmer water temperatures led to a shortened time to metamorphosis but did not always lead to higher body sizes. Accelerated drying did not lead to a shortened time to metamorphosis, but it did lead to smaller body sizes in both species compared to control and warming ponds. Overall, I found complex relationships among larval responses with the directions of responses varying between treatments and species. This highlights the need for considering the role of climate-related changes in the environment (warming and drying) as well as the interactions between specific larval responses to those environmental changes. By understanding how warming and drying influence amphibian larval success, we can make a more direct link between climate change and its effects on aquatic larvae. Incorporating the responses between survival, body size, and time to metamorphosis to gain a more complete understanding of amphibian larval responses to the changing climate is an important step toward conserving and protecting freshwater aquatic species.

Este trabalho se propõe a realizar uma análise da mudança recente no ecossistema de inovação e seus reflexos no movimento de incubação de empresas no estado de São Paulo. Foi realizado estudo do cenário das incubadoras de empresas no Estado de São Paulo analisando, quantitativamente, dois momentos de comparação intertemporal e os efeitos que essas mudanças representaram no desenvolvimento de empresas que se utilizaram da inovação como estratégia competitiva. As informações quantitativas relativas às incubadoras e suas empresas foram tratadas com a aplicação de métodos estatísticos multivariados tais como a técnica Fatorial em Componentes Principais e a de Agrupamento (cluster). Ao final, busca-se contribuir para a discussão do estado da arte neste campo de conhecimento, frente às mudanças de ambiente negocial que ocasionaram um novo paradigma de funcionamento para as incubadoras e empresas, em função das ameaças e oportunidades experimentadas no passado recente. / The present work aims at analyzing recent changes in the innovation ecosystem and how these changes affected business incubators in the State of São Paulo. Studies were made to analyze, quantitatively, two time periods that were compared to check the effects of these changes in the development of companies that used innovation as a competitive strategy. The quantitative data related to the business incubators were be dealt with applying multivariate statistical methods, like Fatorial and Cluster techniques. Concisely, the goal of this work is contributing to the discussion about the state of the art in this knowledge field, considering changes in the business environment that resulted in a new paradigm of work for the business incubators because of threats and opportunities experienced in the recent past.

Este trabalho se propõe a realizar uma análise da mudança recente no ecossistema de inovação e seus reflexos no movimento de incubação de empresas no estado de São Paulo. Foi realizado estudo do cenário das incubadoras de empresas no Estado de São Paulo analisando, quantitativamente, dois momentos de comparação intertemporal e os efeitos que essas mudanças representaram no desenvolvimento de empresas que se utilizaram da inovação como estratégia competitiva. As informações quantitativas relativas às incubadoras e suas empresas foram tratadas com a aplicação de métodos estatísticos multivariados tais como a técnica Fatorial em Componentes Principais e a de Agrupamento (cluster). Ao final, busca-se contribuir para a discussão do estado da arte neste campo de conhecimento, frente às mudanças de ambiente negocial que ocasionaram um novo paradigma de funcionamento para as incubadoras e empresas, em função das ameaças e oportunidades experimentadas no passado recente. / The present work aims at analyzing recent changes in the innovation ecosystem and how these changes affected business incubators in the State of São Paulo. Studies were made to analyze, quantitatively, two time periods that were compared to check the effects of these changes in the development of companies that used innovation as a competitive strategy. The quantitative data related to the business incubators were be dealt with applying multivariate statistical methods, like Fatorial and Cluster techniques. Concisely, the goal of this work is contributing to the discussion about the state of the art in this knowledge field, considering changes in the business environment that resulted in a new paradigm of work for the business incubators because of threats and opportunities experienced in the recent past.

Stress can be defined as factors which reduce an individual’s survival and/or reproductive ability. Certain stressors strike harder against individuals the more harmful mutations they carry, thus increasing selection against harmful mutations. The aim of this project is to test if exposure to stress, during many generations, decreases the frequency of harmful mutations and lead to more adapted individuals, or if specific adaptations to the stressor override this effect and results in reduced adaptation in the original environment through trade-offs. To test these hypotheses, I use selection lines of Drosophila melanogaster, where the flies during the larval state either have been exposed to media with reduced nutritional value or a heat shock treatment over 22 generations. The results from this experiment show that the selection lines have adapted to their novel environments, since survival of the larvae had increased in the novel environment they had been exposed to for 22 generations. However, survival of selection lines were if anything decreased rather than elevated in the original environment. A plausible explanation to these results is that adaptations to stressors occur both through trade-offs and reduced frequency of generally harmful mutations, but that the effect of the former possibly is larger than the latter. / Stress kan definieras som faktorer som minskar en individs överlevnad och/eller reproduktiva förmåga. Vissa stressmiljöer slår relativt hårdare mot individer ju fler skadliga mutationer de bär, och ökar därför selektionstrycket mot skadliga mutationer. Detta projekt har som mål att testa om exponering mot sådana stressmiljöer, under flera generationer, minskar frekvensen av skadliga mutationer och leder till generellt bättre anpassade individer, eller om specifika anpassningar till stressmiljön överskuggar denna effekt och via trade-offs leder till individer som är sämre anpassade till ursprungsmiljön. För att testa dessa hypoteser använder jag mig här av selektionslinjer av Drosophila melanogaster, där flugorna under larvstadiet antingen utsatts för en näringsfattig miljö eller en värmechock under 22 generationer. Resultaten från detta experiment visar en tydlig evolutionär respons, i och med att larvöverlevnaden ökat för de selekterade linjerna i den stressmiljö de utsatts för efter 22 generationer. Test av överlevnad i ursprungsmiljön visar dock ingen signifikant skillnad mot kontrollinjerna, men om något att de selekterade linjerna klarade sig något sämre. Dessa resultat tyder om något på att anpassningar som skett till den nya miljön på bekostnad av anpassningar i ursprungsmiljön (via trade-offs) överskuggar ökad anpassning via en minskad frekvens av generellt skadliga mutationer.

Maternal effects are important mechanisms by which mothers’ may influence the phenotype of their offspring. Females may vary in the resources they can provide during offspring development and understanding the factors responsible for this variation is key to understanding offspring success- in early life as well as later life. Differential allocation has been reported to occur, however how it impacts on offspring and mother’s future reproduction still remains unclear. This is also true for maternal transferred substances like maternally transferred immunity. Contributions to date have been limited to snapshots in time, mean level of transfer and/or limited information regarding other maternal traits. For my thesis, I aim to further the understanding of maternal allocation effects and explore the transfer of maternal antibodies over an immune response of a mother, across multiple breeding attempts and accounting for embryo, maternal and paternal traits. Furthermore, I determine the effect of key male traits on general egg traits along with maternal antibodies. I examine this at the individual level using Chinese painted quail (Coturnix chinensis) who are prolific layers and sexually dimorphic. To date the majority of differential allocation studies have not necessarily addressed the assumptions of differential allocation theory. In Chapter 2 of this thesis I attempt to address some of these assumptions and explore the impact of male characteristics across a number of clutches and find separate effects of initial pairing and subsequent pairings. I found that mothers can create, by differential allocation, clutches of varying size but egg components (egg mass) appears to be largely influenced by initial clutch pairing and not by paternal traits. Furthermore, the effect on egg mass appears to be a secondary effect mediated by females adjusting their condition based on their initial pairing. I demonstrate that unlike general clutch traits (clutch size, egg mass) maternal antibodies are not affected by male characteristics (Chapter 3) carry-over effects of egg size means antibody levels may be influenced throughout life by early experiences. However, maternal immune response may be detrimentally linked to viability of offspring. Whereas maternally transferred antibodies appear to have no relationship with maternal or paternal traits, oocyte yolk antibodies during development were found to correlate with female antibodies up to 48hr prior to lay. In Chapter 4, I examine a neglected area regarding maternal effect- exploring variation between female in their transfer of antibodies. Individual females were highly consistent in the relative level of specific blood antibodies transferred to eggs across different phases of their immune response, across challenge types (bacterial and viral) and that some females consistently transfer significantly more than others. The relative level of circulating antibody transferred was independent of the individual’s overall strength of antibody response and related to the female’s body condition (while the individual’s own antibody responses were not). We found no evidence for any trade-offs between the amount transferred and overall reproductive investment in this chapter. In Chapter 5, I discuss the wider implications of my findings and suggest future research directions.

Animals trade-off limited resources among competing demands. Trade-offs are difficult to quantify because it is challenging to measure investment into disparate physiological systems using a common scale. Additionally, biologists desire methods to more precisely measure energy status in wild animals. I used stable isotopes to help solve both of these problems. I examined natural spatial and temporal variation in stable isotope signatures of wild lizards and found significant variation. In the lab, I was able to demonstrate the utility of nitrogen stable isotope ratios of uric acid pellets for measuring nutritional stress. By tracing labeled amino acids through the bodies of gravid female lizards, I demonstrated that vitellogenesis and wound healing compete for amino acids and quantified the direction and magnitude of the trade-offs. I showed that reproductive-immune trade-offs vary based on reproductive stage and energy availability, have effects on metabolism and immune function, and are influenced by hormonal mechanisms. My findings shed light on the interconnectedness of stable isotope endpoints and key physiological systems in animals. I showed that isotopic signatures of physiological stress can be reflected at a large scale in natural populations, and I made novel measurements of the size and direction of trade-offs, which were formerly limited to physiological and performance outcomes.

Persistent conflicts between stakeholders and complex trade offs among forest values have created a difficult decision environment for sustainable forest management. Tools developed for decision support in land use planning are essential for managing these challenges. This research study is an interactive assessment of a land use planning Decision Support Tool (DST) in the Invermere Timber Supply Area (TSA), located in the East Kootenay area of British Columbia. The aim of this study is to explore whether stakeholders' initial stated preferences change and whether trade-offs are made between various forest values upon observation of a long-term forecast of these values using a DST. Representatives from various stakeholder groups in the area were assembled for individual sessions to interact with the multi-criteria DST. Participants were required to state their preferences for six forest values using a weighting scheme. The DST developed an output for each forest value based on the participants' preferences. Upon review of the DST output, the participant had the opportunity to alter their initial preferences iteratively until a desirable output was found. The results indicate that participants' preferences changed after reviewing the DST outputs and that participants are willing to make trade-offs between various forest values using a DST to find a desirable solution. However, the preference order of the forest values changed only slightly from the participants' initial to preferred scenarios; instead participants made drastic changes to the weighting of each value to find a desirable output. Participants also stated their willingness to use DSTs for land use planning decision-making, although underlying assumptions built into the model must be improved before stakeholders can trust the tool as an aid for decision-making. Studies such as this can further the development of DSTs to help find desirable decisions for sustainable resource management and to help create a productive and engaging process.

Sustainable development is concerned with acknowledging economic, social and environmental development aspects, catering for the current needs of society without damaging the well-being of future generations. Ecotourism is a niche market that emerged because of increased market demands for sustainable tourism practices. It serves to provide tourism products and services while accommodating for the economic, social and environmental aspects of society. However, earlier research suggests that it is difficult to handle the three dimensions of sustainable development, indicating that trade-offs may occur. Furthermore, as tour operators are able to affect local development prospects, it is of interest to examine how they handle sustainable development, and more specifically, contribute to trade-offs between the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development. This thesis was aimed at answering the following research question; “How do ecotourism tour operators contribute to trade-offs between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development?”, with the objective of examining how ecotourism tour operators handle the dimensions of sustainable development, and what trade-offs that may occur between economic, social and environmental concerns. This qualitative research was carried out in the context of ecotourism tour operators in Costa Rica through semi-structured interviews. Nine respondents participated in this research, representing seven local ecotourism tour operators. The data collected on the trade-offs of ecotourism and sustainable development has in turn been analysed with reference to a pre-established theoretical framework. This study has revealed that ecotourism tour operators are actively engaging in initiatives supporting the idea of sustainable development. The tour operators handle the economic, social and environmental concerns through different initiatives. One conclusion that can be derived from this research is that all pillars of sustainable development are important to acknowledge. However, this is difficult as the three dimensions are somewhat contradicting. Therefore, depending on how ecotourism tour operators prioritise different initiatives, trade-offs are inevitable as both inter- and intragenerational needs are difficult to align.

<p>Background: A spin-off is strategic instrument used to restructure an organisation and thereby maximize shareholder value. Theory and advocates argue that engaging in spin-offs will generate improved financial performance of the parent company as well as for the divested unit. Previous studies on the topic have primarily focused on the perspective of the parent com-pany and little attention has been given to the post spin-off performance of the divested unit, in particular on the Swedish market. Consequently this study will focus on the performance of divested units of spin-offs performed on the Swedish market.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the financial performance of the divested unit prior versus post the spin-off event in order to find poten-tial performance alterations.</p><p>Method: The study is conducted through an inductive approach based on quanti-tative data. In order to fulfil the purpose of comparing the financial per-formance, four financial ratios are used; Return on Assets, Market-to- book ratio, Sales Growth and Share Price. Statistical sign-tests are subse-quently conducted in order to find possible significant alterations in the financial performance.</p><p>Results: The results of the statistical tests all show unified findings in which no statistical significant change in performance post the spin-off event can be found. However negative tendencies are found for Return on Assets and positive tendencies were found for the variables M/B ratio and Sales Growth. The fourth variable, Sales Growth does not show a tendency in any direction. Similar results were found when classifying the sample into relative size and timing of the spin-off event.</p><p>Conclusion: Spin-offs on the Swedish market do not on average perform better as stand alone units. Vague positive tendencies could however be found on the variables connected to market expectations, and negative tendencies could be found for the variables measuring efficiency and profitability.</p>