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Pemban Farmer Agency In Adapting To Climate Change, Rachael Hood Oct 2018

Pemban Farmer Agency In Adapting To Climate Change, Rachael Hood

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As a result of climate change, agricultural societies will be challenged by a variety of altered conditions, including increased severe weather events, saltwater intrusion, pest and disease outbreaks, and higher temperatures. The island of Pemba, in the Zanzibar archipelago, is home to many small-scale agriculturalists. During this study, I interviewed Pemban farmers in the districts of Wete and Micheweni about their awareness of the impacts of climate change and the mitigation strategies that they have implemented. The results from Pemba were compared to relevant academic literature regarding climate change to explore whether disparities exist between models of climate change in …


A Catalog Of Orchid Species And Their Distribution In Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Tanga Region, Tanzania, Sierra Loomis Oct 2018

A Catalog Of Orchid Species And Their Distribution In Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Tanga Region, Tanzania, Sierra Loomis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although orchids are common in Mazumbai Forest Reserve (MFR), there are limited resources on where they grow and how to identify them. The primary objective of this study is to create an updated catalog of orchids in MFR, using species abundance, richness and diversity of the orchids as indicators of where orchids prefer to grow in MFR. Orchid species vary greatly as altitude changes, making it important to survey orchids across different altitudes. Therefore, Mazumbai Forest was split into five different altitudinal bands spanning 1400 – 1900m and six 100 x 20m plots in each band were surveyed for both …


He Effects Of Climate Change On Native Icelandic Plants: A Morphometric Analysis, Maia Jones Oct 2018

He Effects Of Climate Change On Native Icelandic Plants: A Morphometric Analysis, Maia Jones

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study seeks to evaluate the morphology of three native Icelandic plant species, Alchemilla alpina, Arabidopsis petraea, and Silene uniflora, in order to determine if changing climatic conditions have had an effect on Icelandic vegetation during the twentieth century. I measured herbarium specimens collected during a time period before 1950, and during the period from the late 1960s to the present. Using traditional morphometrics methods, I searched for changes in morphological traits such as plant height, leaf length to width ratio, and leaf size, then performed two-tailed t-tests to analyze the results of the analyses. I found significant changes …


The Effects Of Seawater Temperature On Photosynthesis In Crustose Coralline Algae, Alexander Carlson Oct 2018

The Effects Of Seawater Temperature On Photosynthesis In Crustose Coralline Algae, Alexander Carlson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Crustose Coralline Algae (CCA) are prolific reef builders and primary producers that play a key role in maintaining the structural integrity of coral reef systems (Littler and Littler, 2013). They are also highly important in increasing reef resilience by serving as a substrate for the recruitment and metamorphosis of coral larvae (Chisholm, 2000). Little is known about the way in which increasing seawater temperatures due to climate change might affect metabolic rates like photosynthesis in CCA. Therefore, a study was carried out in November, 2018, in the lab at Lizard Island Research Station to explore the photosynthetic performance of a …


Water Capacity Of Paramo Soils, Rafael Robert Apr 2018

Water Capacity Of Paramo Soils, Rafael Robert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The pȧramo ecosystems in the high Ecuadorian Andes are grasslands characterized by challenging abiotic factors such as low temperatures and high solar radiation. Another key feature of pȧramos is the humidity and water availability in the ecosystem. Pȧramos are very important to the hydrology of the inter-Andean valley because they are water reserves that distribute fresh water to lower elevations. These hydrologic properties are made possible by the porous volcanic ash soils formed by the volcanic arc along the mountain range. This study is focused in the region of Chimborazo approximately 20 km from Riobamba the capitol city of the …


Ethically Sourced Vanilla: Certifications In The Production Of Vanilla In The Sava Region Of Madagascar, Maisie Campbell Apr 2018

Ethically Sourced Vanilla: Certifications In The Production Of Vanilla In The Sava Region Of Madagascar, Maisie Campbell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Vanilla is an orchid whose beans are harvested after ten months on the vine. About eighty percent of the world’s vanilla is produced in Madagascar and the SAVA region is the capital of vanilla production within the country. The changing demand of vanilla, damage from cyclones, and the three-year development of the vanilla plants before they begin producing beans causes a boom and bust cycle of prices of vanilla. Some organizations have tried to ameliorate the problems these cycles and low prices pose to vanilla farmers by creating certifications for companies that promise that they will not pay less than …


Plant Poetics And Politics Of The West Usambaras: Power And Memory Of Narrative Botanical Science In Kizanda, Sagara, And The Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Cameron Daddis Apr 2018

Plant Poetics And Politics Of The West Usambaras: Power And Memory Of Narrative Botanical Science In Kizanda, Sagara, And The Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Cameron Daddis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This is a story about people and plants. About the power of relationships between floral organisms and human lives. Using narrative botanical science as a methodological framework, this study highlights the power of local people’s ecological knowledge from the villages of Kizanda and Sagara in the West Usambara Mountains. Building from semi-structured interviews and personal conservations with thirty residents of these villages—voices of local healers, farmers, and forest guides—this work unfolds through a series of vignettes. Its aim is to identify both the precise yet diverse ways in which these people have developed botanical knowledge of their local environment. From …