Digital Commons Network^™

Landscape-Scale Differences Among Cities Alter Common Species’ Responses To Urbanization, Mason Fidino, Travis Gallo, Elizabeth W. Lehrer, Maureen H. Murray, Cria Kay, Heather A. Sander, Brandon Macdougall, Carmen M. Salsbury, Travis J. Ryan, Julia L. Angstmann, J. Amy Belaire, Barbara Dugelby, Chris Schell, Theodore Stankowich, Max Amaya, David Drake, Sheryl H. Hursh, Adam A. Ahlers, Jacque Williamson, Laurel M. Hartley, Amanda J. Zellmer, Kelly Simon

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Understanding how biodiversity responds to urbanization is challenging, due in part to the single-city focus of most urban ecological research. Here, we delineate continent-scale patterns in urban species assemblages by leveraging data from a multi-city camera trap survey and quantify how differences in greenspace availability and average housing density among 10 North American cities relate to the distribution of eight widespread North American mammals. To do so, we deployed camera traps at 569 sites across these ten cities between 18 June and 14 August. Most data came from 2017, though some cities contributed 2016 or 2018 data if it was …

Trail Impact Monitoring In Forest Park, James Mitchell

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Forest Park is an appropriately named 5,200 acre natural area located in northwest Portland, Oregon. A recent study estimated park usage near half a million annual visits and found "trails" to be the park’s most highly valued feature. Unfortunately, many trails were not designed for such traffic as evidenced by slipping hazards, erosion and other ecological impacts. In response to these observations, I partnered with Portland Parks & Recreation to conduct an objective trail impact assessment prescribed by the Forest Park Natural Resource Management Plan. I modified methods from past studies to expand on a recently completed trail condition class …

Book Review: Blue Infrastructures: Natural History, Political Ecology And Urban Development In Kolkata, Dana E. Hellman, Melissa Haeffner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

What role does a river play in shaping urban justice and resilience? Jenia Mukherjee tackles this provocative question with an equally provocative answer: rivers are critical infrastructures with biophysical and social histories, both of which inform their physical condition and socio-ecological assets. In Blue Infrastructures, Mukherjee masterfully illuminates the intersection of materiality and history in the urban environment, exploring its implications for a just and resilient future city. Tracing the uses and evolution of Kolkata's “blue infrastructures”—rivers, wetlands, seas, etc.—from the colonial period to the present, Mukherjee's analysis addresses a pressing question in this era of the Urbanocene: How …

Kudos And K.O.M.'S: The Effect Of Strava Use On Evaluations Of Social And Managerial Conditions, Perceptions Of Ecological Impacts, And Mountain Bike Spatial Behavior, Noah E. Creany

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Smartphone based self-tracking fitness applications (apps) like Strava are increasingly becoming a part of recreation experiences in parks and protected areas (PPAs). Recreation research has employed smartphone GPS tracking (SGT) and volunteered geographic information (VGI) to study visitor behavior in PPAs, but little is understood about how smartphones or fitness apps affect visitor perceptions and behavior during their experience.

The first chapter of this thesis is a literature review of recreation survey and behavior research, social-psychology and technology use theory, gamification, and mountain bike social science and recreation-ecology research. The second chapter is formatted for submission to the Journal of …

Road Development In Asia: Assessing The Range-Wide Risks To Tigers, Neil Carter, Alexander Killion, Tara Easter, Jodi Brandt, Adam Ford

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Roads are proliferating worldwide at an unprecedented rate, with potentially severe impacts on wildlife. We calculated the extent and potential impacts of road networks across the 1,160,000-km², 13-country range of the globally endangered tiger (Panthera tigris)—a conservation umbrella species. We found that roads were pervasive, totaling 134,000 km across tiger conservation landscapes (TCLs), even in tiger priority sites and protected areas. Approximately 43% of the area where tiger breeding occurs and 57% of the area in TCLs fell within the road-effect zone. Consequently, current road networks may be decreasing tiger and prey abundances by more than …

Original Environmental Education Lessons And Curriculum, Waverly Shreffler

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This project is a culmination of my learning through Huxley and the Honors Program designed with the intent of exercising creativity, reflection, and resourcefulness to better myself as a future educator. I have designed a curriculum with five unique units and several coinciding lesson plans with ninth and tenth grade learners in mind. This work reflects my educational philosophy of bringing traditional curricular disciplines into relation through interdisciplinary teaching and multimodal learning. As an Environmental Education student, it has become my duty to acknowledge Place, Indigenous Knowledge, and social justice as integral to the future of education. I try to …

Cats And Conservationists: The Debate Over Who Owns The Outdoors, Dara M. Wald, Anna L. Peterson

Purdue University Press Book Previews

Cats and Conservationists is the first multidisciplinary analysis of the heated debate about free-roaming cats. The debate pits conservationists against cat lovers, who disagree both on the ecological damage caused by the cats and the best way to manage them. An impassioned and spirited conflict, it also sheds light on larger questions about how we interpret science, incorporate diverse perspectives, and balance competing values in order to encourage constructive dialogue on contentious social and environmental issues.

On one side of the cat debate stand many environmentalists, especially birders and conservation organizations, who believe that outdoor cats seriously threaten native wildlife. …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of Gisd Parkside School Tract City Of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, Caitlin Gulihur, Ann M. Scott

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Georgetown Independent School District (GISD) has proposed the Parkside School Tract project where school facilities will be constructed southwest of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. GISD retained Terracon Consultants, Inc. to conduct a systematic, intensive pedestrian survey of the approximate 18.3-acre project area. Because GISD, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, sponsored the project, the proposed undertaking is subject to compliance with the Antiquities Code of Texas and oversight from the Texas Historical Commission (THC). In addition, the survey meets the standards for compliance under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, should federal …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of Gisd Proposed High School City Of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, Caitlin Gulihur

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Georgetown Independent School District (GISD) has proposed the Proposed High School project where school facilities will be constructed in western Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. GISD retained Terracon Consultants, Inc. to conduct a systematic, intensive pedestrian survey of the approximate 93.5-acre project area. Because the GISD, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, sponsored the project, the proposed undertaking is subject to compliance with the Antiquities Code of Texas and oversight from the Texas Historical Commission (THC). In addition, the survey meets the standards for compliance under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, should …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of Gisd Proposed Middle School City Of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, Caitlin Gulihur, Ann M. Scott

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Georgetown Independent School District (GISD) has proposed the Proposed Middle School project where school facilities will be constructed in western Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. GISD retained Terracon Consultants, Inc. to conduct a systematic, intensive pedestrian survey of the approximately 31.4-acre project area. Because the GISD, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, sponsored the project, the proposed undertaking is subject to compliance with the Antiquities Code of Texas and oversight from the Texas Historical Commission (THC). In addition, the survey meets the standards for compliance under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, should …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of Gisd Parkside School Tract City Of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, Caitlin Gulihur, Ann M. Scott

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Georgetown Independent School District (GISD) has proposed the Parkside School Tract project where school facilities will be constructed southwest of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. GISD retained Terracon Consultants, Inc. to conduct a systematic, intensive pedestrian survey of the approximate 18.3-acre project area. Because GISD, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, sponsored the project, the proposed undertaking is subject to compliance with the Antiquities Code of Texas and oversight from the Texas Historical Commission (THC). In addition, the survey meets the standards for compliance under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, should federal …

Archaeological Documentation At Kallison Square,San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, José Zapata

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

On June 4, 2019, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted an archaeological assessment of four excavation pits located at the south side, or rear, of three historic buildings that are owned by GrayStreet Partners and are being rehabilitated. The buildings are part of a group of historic buildings located at the southwest corner of Dolorosa and S. Flores streets known as Kallison Square. Since it is a privately funded project on privately owned property, the project is not subject to regulatory review by the Texas Historical Commission (THC). The three …

Diet Of A Recently Reintroduced River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Population In Taos County, New Mexico, Gabriela Alexandra Wolf-Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

North American river otters (Lontra canadensis), native to every U.S. state and Canada, experienced extensive population decreases and range reduction until the mid-20th century as a result of overexploitation and habitat loss during European colonization. The last known river otter in New Mexico was killed on the Gila River in 1953, although unverified reports continued thru 2008. After a nearly 60-year absence from New Mexico, 33 adult river otters were reintroduced to the Rio Pueblo de Taos in the northern part of the state between 2008-2010; however, they were not subsequently monitored or studied. I characterized diet of …

Anthropogenic Impacts And Influence On African Painted Dogs (Lycaon Pictus), Tammy Cloutier

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Anthropogenic activity has been documented to have negative impacts on wildlife that include altered behaviors, lower body mass, and decreased reproductive success. Although wildlife viewing provides support for conservation efforts, it is also one of many human recreational activities that pose a threat to wildlife. The painted dog (Lycaon pictus) is a popular species for viewing by tourists, and one of Africa’s most endangered carnivores. Anthropogenic-based actions such as persecution, snaring, diseases transmitted via domestic dogs, and habitat fragmentation contribute to their decline, and human disturbance at den sites, primarily via tourism, is an emergent threat for this species. I …