The emergence of giving circles and their relationships with nonprofit organisations : a case study

This thesis explores the relationships that exist between a giving circle and the nonprofit organisations it supports. The case study focusses on a formal giving circle operating in Austin, Texas, United States and includes embedded case studies of nonprofit organisations that had received funding from the giving circle. Findings provide insights to nonprofit experiences with the giving circle phenomenon stimulating further conversation for fundraising practitioners in how they engage with not only giving circles but donors who may wish to be engaged at a different level, compared to the more traditional means adopted by nonprofit organisations.

Responses, relationships and responsibility : examining influences on organisational assets during crisis

This thesis explains how an organisation's relationships with its key stakeholders influence the public's view of its responsibility for a crisis event and how this subsequently influences the protective and reparative powers of its crisis response on its reputation and legitimacy. From the results, a continuum of the influencing effect of relationship history was developed which demonstrates the positive and negative frames through which stakeholders view an organisation in crisis and its response. Organisational age and the evaluative character of its relationships with key stakeholders were considered in the experimental design as descriptors of an organisation's relationship history. The findings provide guidance to crisis managers on effective crisis response selection.

Growing biodiverse carbon-rich forests

Regrowing forests on cleared land is a key strategy to achieve both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation globally. Maximizing these co-benefits, however, remains theoretically and technically challenging because of the complex relationship between carbon sequestration and biodiversity in forests, the strong influence of climate variability and landscape position on forest development, the large number of restoration strategies possible, and long time-frames needed to declare success. Through the synthesis of three decades of knowledge on forest dynamics and plant functional traits combined with decision science, we demonstrate that we cannot always maximize carbon sequestration by simply increasing the functional trait diversity of trees planted. The relationships between plant functional diversity, carbon sequestration rates above-ground and in the soil are dependent on climate and landscape positions. We show how to manage ‘identities’ and ‘complementarities’ between plant functional traits in order to achieve systematically maximal co-benefits in various climate and landscape contexts. We provide examples of optimal planting and thinning rules that satisfy this ecological strategy and guide the restoration of forests that are rich in both carbon and plant functional diversity. Our framework provides the first mechanistic approach for generating decision-making rules that can be used to manage forests for multiple objectives, and supports joined carbon credit and biodiversity conservation initiatives, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation REDD+. The decision framework can also be linked to species distribution models and socio-economic models in order to find restoration solutions that maximize simultaneously biodiversity, carbon stocks and other ecosystem services across landscapes. Our study provides the foundation for developing and testing cost-effective and adaptable forest management rules to achieve biodiversity, carbon sequestration and other socio-economic co-benefits under global change.

Predicting invasion in grassland ecosystems: is exotic dominance the real embarrassment of richness?

Invasions have increased the size of regional species pools, but are typically assumed to reduce native diversity. However, global-scale tests of this assumption have been elusive because of the focus on exotic species richness, rather than relative abundance. This is problematic because low invader richness can indicate invasion resistance by the native community or, alternatively, dominance by a single exotic species. Here, we used a globally replicated study to quantify relationships between exotic richness and abundance in grass-dominated ecosystems in 13 countries on six continents, ranging from salt marshes to alpine tundra. We tested effects of human land use, native community diversity, herbivore pressure, and nutrient limitation on exotic plant dominance. Despite its widespread use, exotic richness was a poor proxy for exotic dominance at low exotic richness, because sites that contained few exotic species ranged from relatively pristine (low exotic richness and cover) to almost completely exotic-dominated ones (low exotic richness but high exotic cover). Both exotic cover and richness were predicted by native plant diversity (native grass richness) and land use (distance to cultivation). Although climate was important for predicting both exotic cover and richness, climatic factors predicting cover (precipitation variability) differed from those predicting richness (maximum temperature and mean temperature in the wettest quarter). Herbivory and nutrient limitation did not predict exotic richness or cover. Exotic dominance was greatest in areas with low native grass richness at the site- or regional-scale. Although this could reflect native grass displacement, a lack of biotic resistance is a more likely explanation, given that grasses comprise the most aggressive invaders. These findings underscore the need to move beyond richness as a surrogate for the extent of invasion, because this metric confounds monodominance with invasion resistance. Monitoring species' relative abundance will more rapidly advance our understanding of invasions.

Using strategically applied grazing to manage invasive alien plants in novel grasslands

Introduction Novel ecosystems that contain new combinations of invasive alien plants (IAPs) present a challenge for managers. Yet, control strategies that focus on the removal of the invasive species and/or restoring historical disturbance regimes often do not provide the best outcome for long-term control of IAPs and the promotion of more desirable plant species. Methods This study seeks to identify the primary drivers of grassland invasion to then inform management practices toward the restoration of native ecosystems. By revisiting both published and unpublished data from experiments and case studies within mainly an Australian context for native grassland management, we show how alternative states models can help to design control strategies to manage undesirable IAPs by manipulating grazing pressure. Results Ungulate grazing is generally considered antithetical to invasive species management because in many countries where livestock production is a relatively new disturbance to grasslands (such as in Australia and New Zealand as well as Canada and the USA), selective grazing pressure may have facilitated opportunities for IAPs to establish. We find that grazing stock can be used to manipulate species composition in favour of the desirable components in pastures, but whether grazing is rested or strategically applied depends on the management goal, sizes of populations of the IAP and more desirable species, and climatic and edaphic conditions. Conclusions Based on our findings, we integrated these relationships to develop a testable framework for managing IAPs with strategic grazing that considers both the current state of the plant community and the desired future state—i.e. the application of the principles behind reclamation, rehabilitation, restoration or all three—over time.

Rating defence major project success : the role of personal attributes and stakeholder relationships

In this paper we develop and test a model of the associations between major project managers' personal attributes and project success in the context of the Australian Defence industry. In our model, emotional intelligence, cognitive flexibility and systemic thinking were hypothesised to relate to project success, mediated by internal and external stakeholder relationships. The model was tested in an online survey with 373 major project managers. Emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility were found to be related to the development, quality and effectiveness of major project managers' relationships with both internal and external stakeholders; and these in turn were associated with their ratings of project success. Systemic thinking, however, had no relationship with either stakeholder relationships or project success. Additional research is needed to examine the contribution of a wider range of personal attributes to stakeholder relationships and project success, and to assess whether this model is applicable in other industries and types of projects.

Differentiation of isomeric N-glycan structures by normal-phase liquid chromatography-MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem mass spectrometry

The detailed characterization of protein N-glycosylation is very demanding given the many different glycoforms and structural isomers that can exist on glycoproteins. Here we report a fast and sensitive method for the extensive structure elucidation of reducing-end labeled N-glycan mixtures using a combination of capillary normal-phase HPLC coupled off-line to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and TOF/TOF-MS/MS. Using this method, isobaric N-glycans released from honey bee phospholipase A2 and Arabidopsis thaliana glycoproteins were separated by normal-phase chromatography and subsequently identified by key fragment ions in the MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem mass spectra. In addition, linkage and branching information were provided by abundant cross-ring and "elimination" fragment ions in the MALDI-CID spectra that gave extensive structural information. Furthermore, the fragmentation characteristics of N-glycans reductively aminated with 2-aminobenzoic acid and 2-aminobenzamide were compared. The identification of N-glycans containing 3-linked core fucose was facilitated by distinctive ions present only in the MALDI-CID spectra of 2-aminobenzoic acid-labeled oligosaccharides. To our knowledge, this is the first MS/MS-based technique that allows confident identification of N-glycans containing 3-linked core fucose, which is a major allergenic determinant on insect and plant glycoproteins.

Description of plant tRNA-derived RNA fragments (tRFs) associated with argonaute and identification of their putative targets

tRNA-derived RNA fragments (tRFs) are 19mer small RNAs that associate with Argonaute (AGO) proteins in humans. However, in plants, it is unknown if tRFs bind with AGO proteins. Here, using public deep sequencing libraries of immunoprecipitated Argonaute proteins (AGO-IP) and bioinformatics approaches, we identified the Arabidopsis thaliana AGO-IP tRFs. Moreover, using three degradome deep sequencing libraries, we identified four putative tRF targets. The expression pattern of tRFs, based on deep sequencing data, was also analyzed under abiotic and biotic stresses. The results obtained here represent a useful starting point for future studies on tRFs in plants. © 2013 Loss-Morais et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Defense and counterdefense in the plant world

An important role of RNA interference (RNAi)-like pathways in plants is defense against viral infection. Viruses can overcome this defense by expressing proteins that suppress the pathway. A new study of Agrobacterium tumefaciens infection reveals that this plant pathogen, although a bacterium, also induces and then suppresses the host RNAi response. © 2006 Nature Publishing Group.

Exploring plant genomes by RNA-induced gene silencing

The nucleotide sequences of several animal, plant and bacterial genomes are now known, but the functions of many of the proteins that they are predicted to encode remain unclear. RNA interference is a gene-silencing technology that is being used successfully to investigate gene function in several organisms - for example, Caenorhabditis elegans. We discuss here that RNA-induced gene silencing approaches are also likely to be effective for investigating plant gene function in a high-throughput, genome-wide manner.

Viruses face a double defense by plant small RNAs

Plants fight viral infections with enzymes that digest viral RNA, but viruses retaliate with proteins that suppress these enzymes. To boost their antiviral response plants deploy enzymes with redundant functions.

Small RNA viruses of insects : expression in plants and RNA silencing

Interest in insect small RNA viruses (SRVs) has grown slowly but steadily. A number of new viruses have been analyzed at the sequence level, adding to our knowledge of their diversity at the level of both individual virus species and families. In particular, a number of possible new virus families have emerged. This research has largely been driven by interest in their potential for pest control, as well as in their importance as the causal agents of disease in beneficial arthropods. At the same time, research into known viruses has made valuable contributions to our understanding of an emerging new field of central importance to molecular biology-the existence of RNA-based gene silencing, developmental control, and adaptive immune systems in eukaryotes. Subject to RNA-based adaptive immune responses in their hosts, viruses have evolved a variety of genes encoding proteins capable of suppressing the immune response. Such genes were first identified in plant viruses, but the first examples known from animal viruses were identified in insect RNA viruses. This chapter will address the diversity of insect SRVs, and attempts to harness their simplicity in the engineering of transgenic plants expressing viruses for resistance to insect pests. We also describe RNA interference and antiviral pathways identified in plants and animals, how they have led viruses to evolve genes capable of suppressing such adaptive immunity, and the problems presented by these pathways for the strategy of expressing viruses in transgenic plants. Approaches for countering these problems are also discussed. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gene silencing: Fleshing out the bones

Genetic studies are revealing the pathway for RNA-mediated gene silencing. Short RNA molecules are the key, giving sequence specificity for RNA degradation and mediating communication within and between cells; these short RNAs are common to transcriptional and post-transcriptional silencing pathways. The expression of transgenes in plants varies between independent transformants and there are many examples where the transgenic trait is not expressed, or disappears in subsequent generations, despite the presence of the transgene. This loss of a trait, but not of the transgene, has become known as gene silencing and can take two forms, transcriptional or post-transcriptional. As their names imply, transcriptional gene silencing occurs when a transgene is not transcribed, whereas in post-transcriptional gene silencing, the transgene mRNA is produced but degraded before it is translated (reviewed in [1]). Both forms of silencing seem to be the result of inherent mechanisms for protecting plants against mobile or invading DNA — for example, transposable elements or the T-DNA of Agrobacterium — or RNA viruses. Plants are not alone in their capacity for transgene silencing; both forms of silencing occur in flies and fungi, where it is known as RIP or quelling, while nematodes exhibit post-transcriptional silencing, generally referred to as RNA interference (RNAi). A clearer picture of the mechanisms and relationships of the different types of transgene silencing is beginning to emerge from a number of recent studies [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] and [8]. Some of these studies [2], [3], [4] and [5] have enhanced our understanding of the steps within the post-transcriptional silencing pathway, and others [6], [7] and [8] have demonstrated that the two forms of silencing may be mechanistically linked.

Synthesis of complementary RNA by RNA-dependent RNA polymerases in plant extracts is independent of an RNA primer

RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) activities were readily detected in extracts from cauliflower and broccoli florets, Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh callus tissue and broccoli nuclei. The synthesis of complementary RNA (cRNA) was independent of a RNA primer, whether or not the primer contained a 3′ terminal 2′-O-methyl group or was phosphorylated at the 5′ terminus. cRNA synthesis in plant extracts was not affected by loss-of-function mutations in the DICER-LIKE (DCL) proteins DCL2, DCL3, and DCL4, indicating that RDRs function independently of these DCL proteins. A loss-of-function mutation in RDR1, RDR2 or RDR6 did not significantly reduce the amount of cRNA synthesis. This indicates that these RDRs did not account for the bulk RDR activities in plant extracts, and suggest that either the individual RDRs each contribute a fraction of polymerase activity or another RDR(s) is predominant in the plant extract. © CSIRO 2008.

The roles of plant dsRNA-binding proteins in RNAi-like pathways

Dicers are associated with double-stranded RNA-binding proteins (dsRBPs) in animals. In the plant, Arabidopsis, there are four dicer-like (DCL) proteins and five potential dsRBPs. These DCLs act redundantly and hierarchically. However, we show there is little or no redundancy or hierarchy amongst the DRBs in their DCL interactions. DCL1 operates exclusively with DRB1 to produce micro (mi)RNAs, DCL4 operates exclusively with DRB4 to produce trans-acting (ta) siRNAs and 21nt siRNAs from viral RNA. DCL2 and DCL3 produce viral siRNAs without requiring assistance from any dsRBP. DRB2, DRB3 and DRB5 appear unnecessary for mi-, tasi-, viral si-, or heterochromatinising siRNA production but act redundantly in a developmental pathway. © 2008 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.