Digital Commons Network^™

My Backyard Garden, Hezekiah Smithstein

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis follows my attempts to create a new relationship with the land outside my house, through transforming my weed-choked backyard into a native plant garden. Through styles of memoir, essay, and literary journalism, I examine what it means to take care of the outdoor home, as a human family part of an urban ecosystem. This project explores ideas surrounding people and plants, the effects on a space of actions and interactions both past and present, and brings into conversation different ideas and philosophies from homeowner to ecologist, city park to indigenous author, that shape the way we think and …

Painting Colonialism Green: Understanding Colonial Ecology Through The Lens Of Palestinian Art, Lily Hibbard

Scripps Senior Theses

The objective of settler colonialism is, at its core, land domination and the continued subjugation of Indigenous people. I argue that this objective is achieved through four avenues of violence: consumption, extraction, manipulation of space, and severance from identity. By analyzing Palestinian resistance art, I examine the role of landscape manipulation, via destruction or creation of space, in perpetuating these four heralds of colonialism. I specifically focus on the cultural value of trees in occupied Palestine and the Israeli settler community, and the ways in which these trees have become weapons in an ongoing war of colonial design. By understanding …

Rice, Reciprocity, And Generosity: Embedded Ecologies In Hindu Women’S Rituals, Zoe Carlson

CMC Senior Theses

Hindu women’s perspectives of the more-than-human world are illuminated through ritual. Researching ecological actions millions of people of different faiths across the world partake in every day, in the context of the climate crisis of our present time, is a vital project I undertake in this thesis. I look to Hinduism, which has traditionally been called an “ecological” religion, but without a clear definition of what “ecological” means. I use Vijaya Nagarajan’s theories about Hinduism, women, and ecology as a theoretical guide. I apply her theory of “embedded ecologies” to analyze how knowledge about the environment is layered in cultural, …

Shifting Education From Theoretical To Practical, Juan Ledesma Mendoza

CGU Theses & Dissertations

My parents always emphasized the value of education and the opportunity it could breed. With this in mind, I set out within my community and hometown, teaching at the very same high school I graduated from. My background directly shapes the educator I am, the values I hold, and the biases that may impact me. Through student research, I was able to look at three case studies and glean insight as to how to better serve my specific kids. I reflected on my community, school, and classroom allowing me to inspect the different layers impacting my students and how to …

Identification Of Antibiotic Ge37468a From Pseudonocardia Symbionts Of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Ants, Krithika Rao

Scripps Senior Theses

In response to the growing rates of antibiotic resistance in human bacterial pathogens, this study explores the natural products involved in the defensive symbiosis between actinobacteria and fungus-growing ants to uncover new potential antibiotics. This study also seeks to understand the function of natural antibiotics in their ecological contexts, especially those involved in defensive symbioses. Defensive symbiosis can be a beneficial platform for discovering useful antibiotics, because antibiotics in these relationships must be able to selectively inhibit enemies without harming hosts, and are therefore likely more specific and less toxic. Pseudonocardia sp. associated with Trachymyrmex septentrionalis ants demonstrated antibiotic activity …

Ecological Influences On Dietary Behavior: The Interaction Between Person And Neighborhood Environment In A Low-Ses, Hispanic Community, Emily Kiresich

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite existing knowledge about lifestyle choices and their relationships to obesity and diabetes, the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is increasing, and the number of Americans at risk is greater than 70% (CDC, 2019). Obesity is a complex, multifactorial, and largely preventable disease, affecting, along with overweight, over a third of the world's population today. A significant factor in lifestyle management is the ecology of food choice. Literature suggests that environment and exposure can predict food-related health risk behaviors and health outcomes. The objective of this dissertation was to conceptualize and carry out a series of pilot studies …

Role Of Managed Marine Areas On The Diversity And Individual Responses Of Rocky Intertidal Shore Grazers In Central Chile, Kathy Liu

Scripps Senior Theses

Many different types of marine benthic herbivores or “grazers” inhabit coastal intertidal zones and play a crucial role in inter- and shallow subtidal ecosystems. Chile has one of the most diverse intertidal zones, but many intertidal grazers are exploited for human consumption. Marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine management and exploitation areas (MEAs) are promising tools for Chile to combat over exploitation of these grazer and other marine resources. This study surveyed the impact of sites with contrasting management on the diversity and abundance of all intertidal grazers and their impact on the size frequency and shell length-body weight allometry …

The Philosophy Of Ecology In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath, Stephanie A. Steinbrecher

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the possibilities for ecocritical study in fiction through John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. Major ecocritical interpretation has yet to gain much traction in novels; by focusing on human nature, this form’s “anthropocentric” posture seems itself to be antithetical to ecocritical efforts, which aim to unseat humans as the center of the moral universe. However, by analyzing The Grapes of Wrath’s formal, narratorial, and thematic valences, I argue that principles of social justice concurrently imply environmental justice in the philosophical currents of the text. Tenets of deep ecology and Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic” …

Public Land And Its Management: Why The Research Is Not Enough, Corinne Calhoun

Pomona Senior Theses

Ecological research, both basic and applied, can inform management decisions on public land in a number of ways. Most importantly, it can illuminate any negative effects of a given land use practice as well as the causes behind that effect. This type of information can be important to a management agency, such as the BLM, with a multi-use mission as these studies indicate under what management regimes a land use is in contradiction with other goals, such as conservation or restoration.

The current body of research, however, is flawed. In order to make fully informed decisions, land managers are in …

Family Matters: An Analysis Of Genetic Relatedness Of Tetraclita Rubescens (The Pink Volcano Barnacle) Over Several Spatial Scales At Monterey And Bodega Bay, California, Kelly N. Chang

Scripps Senior Theses

Inbreeding involves the mating of closely related individuals at a higher frequency than at random; this can decrease the average fitness of populations and individuals by reducing the presence of heterozygotes and augmenting the expression of deleterious genes. Since marine invertebrates exhibit widespread dispersal, their potential for inbreeding is often disregarded. The adult sessile state of barnacles creates the potential for inbreeding as a result of necessary copulation between neighboring individuals. Depending on the degree of mixing that occurs during dispersal, closely related individuals or siblings may settle in close proximity, generating the possibility of kin aggregation and consequent inbreeding. …

Erin Payne Mfa Thesis Statement, Erin B. Payne

CGU MFA Theses

Please see Download button in top right corner for the full statement.

Canopy Demographics At The Firestone Reserve, Costa Rica, Gizelle M. Pera

CMC Senior Theses

Though Costa Rica has suffered numerous bouts of deforestation to its valuable tropical rainforest area, especially in the 1970s, it has become a leader in its efforts to regenerate and restore its rainforest. However, studies and protocols for the assessment of forest regeneration are urgently required. Research has shown that the percentage of light penetrating the canopy floor, or light fraction, is a good indicator of rainforest maturity. In this study, digital rectilinear photography and a global positioning system receiver were used to survey the Firestone Reserve inCosta Rica in order to measure the light fraction differences between primary/riparian …

Succession, Invasion, & Coexistence: Pdes In Ecology, Simon Maccracken Stump

HMC Senior Theses

We study the behavior of diffusive Lotka-Volterra systems in environments with spatially varying carrying capacities. In particular, we use numeric and analytic techniques to study two similar models for population growth, in order to determine their qualitative differences. Additionally, we investigate competition models in the presence of periodic disasters, in order to determine what factors affect competitive dominance. We found that under conditions of high spatial heterogeneity, the model for population growth was the main factor determining coexistence. Under low spatial heterogeneity, the effect of disturbance on the stronger competitor was the main factor determining coexistence.