An Experiential Analysis of Environmental Entrepreneurship

The prevailing definition of environmental entrepreneurship comes from a 2007 study that synthesizes economic and entrepreneurship literature: “the process of discovering, evaluating, and exploiting economic opportunities that are present in environmentally relevant market failures.” This definition provides a lens through which the environmental entrepreneur’s activities can de defined, evaluated, and differentiated. The entrepreneurial process is by no means a formulaic process, however. It is necessarily iterative and is characterized by time and financial limitations; one sketches a business strategy and then executes on that strategy. If and when something does not work, one adjusts accordingly and hopefully before money runs out or a competitor garners market share. My three years of startup experience at Duke reflect the “art of the start,” in the words of Guy Kawasaki, much more than the science of entrepreneurship. Through this process I developed 10 key insights that may be useful for other environmental entrepreneurs

Two Years of Aerosol Properties and Direct Radiative Effects Measured at a Representative Southeastern U.S. Site

The southeastern U.S. is one of only a small number of regions worldwide which has not exhibited warming over the past century. Recent studies (Goldstein et al., 2009) show that negative aerosol direct radiative effects are consistent with a warm-season regional cooling effect linked to secondary organic aerosol loading. Two years of NOAA-ESRL supported aerosol measurements made at the Appalachian Atmospheric Interdisciplinary Research (AppalAIR) facility at Appalachian State University (36.214 N, 81.693 W, 1080m ASL) are presented, along with satellite-based measurements (MODIS-Aqua) of aerosol optical depth, cloud fraction, and surface albedo. Aerosol optical property statistics are placed in the context of those made at other U.S. ESRL stations. Direct aerosol radiative effect calculations reveal high seasonal variability, with negative broadband summer forcing values of ~ -10 W/m2 (-4W/m2) when actual (standard) cloud fraction, surface albedo, and single-scattering albedo values are used. Hierarchical cluster analyses were used to broadly classify the aerosol source types that influence the Southeastern U.S. aerosol optical properties. Recently-added aerosol hygroscopic growth measurements (a sample of which are presented) will facilitate improved aerosol source type classification and aerosol light scattering humidity dependence scaling of direct radiative effect calculations

Color phenotypes are under similar genetic control in two distantly related species of Timema stick insect

Ecology and genetics are both of general interest to evolutionary biologists as they can influence the phenotypic and genetic response to selection. The stick insects Timema podura and Timema cristinae exhibit a green/melanistic body color polymorphism that is subject to different ecologically based selective regimes in the two species. Here, we describe aspects of the genetics of this color polymorphism in T. podura, and compare this to previous results in T. cristinae. We first show that similar color phenotypes of the two species cluster in phenotypic space. We then use genome-wide association mapping to show that in both species, color is controlled by few loci, dominance relationships between color alleles are the same, and SNPs associated with color phenotypes colocalize to the same linkage group. Regions within this linkage group that harbor genetic variants associated with color exhibit elevated linkage disequilibrium relative to genome wide expectations, but more strongly so in T. cristinae. We use these results to discuss predictions regarding how the genetics of color could influence levels of phenotypic and genetic variation that segregate within and between populations of T. podura and T. cristinae, drawing parallels with other organisms

Evolution of Anolis Lizard Dewlap Diversity

BACKGROUND: The dewlaps of Anolis lizards provide a classic example of a complex signaling system whose function and evolution is poorly understood. Dewlaps are flaps of skin beneath the chin that are extended and combined with head and body movements for visual signals and displays. They exhibit extensive morphological variation and are one of two cladistic features uniting anoles, yet little is known regarding their function and evolution. We quantified the diversity of anole dewlaps, investigated whether dewlap morphology was informative regarding phylogenetic relationships, and tested two separate hypotheses: (A) similar Anolis habitat specialists possess similar dewlap configurations (Ecomorph Convergence hypothesis), and (B) sympatric species differ in their dewlap morphologies to a greater extent than expected by chance (Species Recognition hypothesis). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that dewlap configurations (sizes, patterns and colors) exhibit substantial diversity, but that most are easily categorized into six patterns that incorporate one to three of 13 recognizable colors. Dewlap morphology is not phylogenetically informative and, like other features of anoles, exhibits convergence in configurations. We found no support for the Ecomorph Convergence hypothesis; species using the same structural habitat were no more similar in dewlap configuration than expected by chance. With one exception, all sympatric species in four communities differ in dewlap configuration. However, this provides only weak support for the Species Recognition hypothesis because, due to the great diversity in dewlap configurations observed across each island, few cases of sympatric species with identical dewlaps would be expected to co-occur by chance alone. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite previous thought, most dewlaps exhibit easily characterizable patterns and colorations. Nevertheless, dewlap variation is extensive and explanations for the origin and evolution of this diversity are lacking. Our data do not support two hypothesized explanations for this diversity, but others such as sexual selection remain to be tested

Opportunities for increasing ecological quality in an urban creekshed

Master of ScienceLandscape ArchetectureUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97680/1/39015043190720.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97680/2/39015043190720.pd