Coral reefs are found within a limited range of environmental conditions or tolerance limits. Estimating these limits is a critical prerequisite for understanding the impacts of climate change on the biogeography of coral reefs. Here we used the diagnostic model ReefHab to determine the current environmental tolerance limits for coral reefs and the global distribution of potential coral reef ha...

The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, native to South East Asia, is listed as one of the worst invasive vector species worldwide. In Europe the species is currently restricted to Southern Europe, but due to the ongoing climate change, Ae. albopictus is expected to expand its potential range further northwards. In addition to modelling the habitat suitability for Ae. albopictus under curren...

most of the analyses and modeling concerning the mountain physical and human environmental changes have been based on theoretical speculation rather than scientific field observations. lack of standard observations and measurements in scattered and case specific monitoring programs offer only partially useful results for planning and management. all propositions and conclusions are hence mingle...

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been very successful as a mechanism for resolving environmental conflict in the United States. Although it has rarely been used in Europe, European social scientists still have high expectations of its potential to achieve consensual, fair solutions and, in so doing, to increase the general welfare. The promised outcome, it is hoped, can be accomplished ...

OF DISSERTATION STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE DATA SUBJECT TO DETECTION LIMITS In this dissertation, we develop unified and efficient nonparametric statistical methods for estimating and comparing environmental exposure distributions in presence of detection limits. In the first part, we propose a kernel-smoothed nonparametric estimator for the exposure distribution without imp...

There has recently been great interest in applying theoretical quantitative genetic models to empirical studies of evolution in wild populations. However, while classical models assume environmental constancy, most natural populations exist in variable environments. Here, we applied a novel analytical technique to a long-term study of birthweight in wild sheep and examined, for the first time, ...

We sampled shrub canopy volume (height times area) and environmental factors (soil wetness, soil depth of thaw, soil pH, mean July air temperature, and typical date of spring snow loss) on 471 plots across five National Park Service units in northern Alaska. Our goal was to determine the environments where tall shrubs thrive and use this information to predict the location of future shrub expan...