Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating Drivers Of High Wetland Loss Rates In Brackish Marshes Of The Mississippi River Delta, Natalie M. Matherne

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal wetlands provide numerous ecological services, but high rates of wetland loss have been seen, especially within the Mississippi River Delta. The erodibility of the marsh, which depends on its strength, can be affected by waterlogging-impacted factors. This study focused on investigating factors influencing soil shear strength in brackish to intermediate salinity marshes along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast using a comparative field study and a controlled greenhouse experiment to test the hypothesis that soil waterlogging reduces soil strength. I predict species-specific responses such that marshes dominated by the Sporobolus pumilus (formerly, Spartina patens), which is less flood …

Time, Place, & Purpose: The Performance Of Creole Identity In Louisiana, Rachel N. Aker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Though much of the early development of Louisiana Creole culture can be found in New Orleans, the culture spread and continued to grow throughout the rest of South Louisiana in both similar and different ways. Expanding beyond Joseph Roach’s treatment of Creole cultural performances in New Orleans in Cities of the Dead (1996) and journeying across land and water, this project identifies more Creole cultural performance as they emerge across place and time. I present Louisiana and the Gulf South as a kind of inland archipelago, with the currents of culture-creation moving in and around distinct community enclaves. The flow …

Work Hard For The Money: Performance-Based Funding In The State Of Louisiana, Victoria C. Lloyd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine in what ways, if any, the introduction of the equity incentive portion of Louisiana’s performance-based funding model impacted the underserved student groups it was designed to support. I employed a quantitative quasi-experimental design for this study by running three outcome variables (Adult Learner Enrollment, First-Time Enrollment for Racially Minoritized Students, and Low-Income Student Enrollment) by sector (two- and four-year public institutions) and employing a differences-in-differences regression with panel data. In my analysis I uncovered two main findings: 1) Louisiana’s equity incentive is showing early signs of success for all three underserved groups …

Molecular Identification Of Oomycete Species Associated With Woody Plants In Louisiana And Survey Of Oomycete Species Associated With Live Oak Trees Planted On The Louisiana State University Campus, Hamilton Crockett

LSU Master's Theses

Three Oomycetes genera, Phytophthora, Phytopythium and Pythium, contain many important plant pathogens. Historically, Phytophthora infestans, responsible for the great Irish potato famine, and Phytophthora ramorum, causal agent of sudden oak death disease, are the two better-known high impact pathogens. The LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Center (PDC) has been isolating putative Phytophthora and related species from combined root and soil samples collected from various woody ornamentals and trees for over a decade. In August of 2016, Louisiana received torrential rains, which resulted in historic flooding in several southern parishes. During subsequent years, the PDC staff isolated a …

"The Second Side" A Historic Retelling Of African American Life In Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Breighlynn Polk

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

In 1834, new living quarters emerged in the Main Street District of New Iberia for the Weeks family, who were prominent white sugar cane planters that owned a fully operating plantation twenty-five miles away. With their sixteen-room home sited twenty feet above the banks of the bayou, the Weeks family earned the reputation of flamboyant community members whose wealth was accumulated through the exploitation of enslaved African Americans. However, the ability to savor riches generated through the institution of slavery was short lived as the Union Army’s strategy of “Total War” threatened the prosperity of slave-owning families in the South. …

The Great Unlearning, Catherine Mccrory Pears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Great Unlearning is a conceptual exploration: sifting through experiences and objects to overcome psychological pain, expectations of society, individual upbringing, and outside influences in an ongoing quest for authenticity. To both embrace personal history and honor loved ones while letting go of lingering negativity is challenging. Using objects culled from my life, examining the past, and incorporating items gathered along my path through nature, the work seeks personal healing while promoting the power of all people to break from indoctrination, group think, and mob mentality to make better choices to live a satisfying and peaceful existence…hopefully in a democratic …

The Beast Lives Here, Kelli Kirkland

Honors Theses

A staple of the bildungsroman, or coming-of-age, genre is a loss of innocence, often through trauma, so it is only natural for our protagonist to grasp at whatever coping mechanism may offer them comfort. As a coming-of-age novel, The Beast Lives Here asks: How does folklore and the supernatural interact with young, impressionable protagonists who are desperate to find explanations for their pain? The Beast Lives Here follows teenage narrator August (Aggie) Cain as she and her best friend move from junior to senior year of high school. Her excitement, however, is cut short by her best friend's lengthy trip …

Turmoil On The Mississippi River: Harnessing Green Infrastructure To Accommodate Drastically Changing Environmental Patterns, Edouard Ballett

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Mississippi River is one of the most important commercial waterways in the world. It connects the United States’ agricultural and manufacturing centers with the rest of the country and the global supply chain while also being the economic engine for developments up and down the river. Over the past four years, the Mississippi River has experienced its worst drought and flood on record. Climate change is increasing the commonality of extreme weather events, and we must alter outdated concrete or “gray” infrastructure. Traditional river engineering of levees, locks, and dams increases the severity of river flow or lack thereof, …

An Analysis Of Hurricane Laura's Storm Surge In Cameron Parish Using Synthetic Storm Tracks, Climatology, And Statistics, Cameron Goff

LSU Master's Theses

Cameron Parish is a large coastal parish in southwest Louisiana that has been impacted by several powerful tropical cyclones. In 2020, the strongest hurricane in recorded history to ever hit this region, Hurricane Laura, set a state record for the highest storm surge measurement at 6.34 meters. I examine the climatology of tropical cyclone landfalls in this parish, looking for trends in intensity and frequency with time. I then compare the extreme surge of Hurricane Laura with a dataset of 645 synthetic tropical cyclones generated and used by the Coastal Hazards System for Louisiana. Plots comparing various meteorological statistics to …

Erosion: Landscape Reveals Us, John Alexander Mcbride

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis explores the connective tissue between the land on which we stand and the body we inhabit. Through the lens of climate change and erosion, this research unveils the lasting effects of severe and traumatic weather patterns on the psychology and physiology of those who continue to endure them. How bodies (capitalistic bodies, collective bodies, and our personal bodies) treat the land and each other affects us all—we are all part of the eroding ecosystem, linked together by the soil beneath our feet. The soil that has been scorched and stolen, mined and massacred. The soil that is fertile …

Assessing The Current State Of Louisiana's Crawfish Fishery: Trends And Challenges In Wild Capture And Aquaculture, Mahala G. Gambill

LSU Master's Theses

Crawfish are found throughout the southern U.S.; however, Louisiana is by far the largest producer. The state’s industry includes harvesting wild crawfish from natural habitats such as bayous, swamps, and marshes, and crawfish reared in outdoor ponds. Although commercial harvest records are available, characterization of Louisiana’s wild capture crawfish fishery in recent years is undocumented, and analysis of environmental variables that could be correlated with annual harvest totals have not yet been explored. Using trip ticket data from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, I characterized monthly and annual trends within Louisiana basins to assess changes in crawfish harvest …

Aphid Herbivory On Industrial Hemp, Cannabis Sativa L., And The Impact Of Plant-Soil Feedbacks On Hemp Performance In Louisiana, Alex Leede

LSU Master's Theses

Industrial hemp, Cannabis sativa L., is defined as having less than 0.3% delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol by dry weight. It can be grown for fiber, food, oil, and cannabinoids. As a newly legalized crop, little research exists regarding the cultivation or pest management practices in Louisiana. The versatility of industrial hemp may allow for substantial future production in Louisiana. This project set out to understand the impact of previous crops on hemp performance and soil microbial communities. Soybean, Glycine max L. (Merr), grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, and sweetpotato, Ipomeae batatas (L.) Lam, were selected as soil conditioning crops because they are …

An Evaluation Of Hemp Cultivation Practices And Cannabinoid Analysis In South Louisiana, Kaylee M. Deynzer

LSU Master's Theses

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivation research did not exist in Louisiana prior to 2020 (LSU AgCenter Therapeutic Cannabis Committee, 2020). Therefore, nine cultivars of essential oil-type hemp were evaluated in 2020 and 2021 to determine optimum planting dates, in-row plant spacings and THC compliancy for organic field production in south Louisiana. Until suitable genetics for Louisiana’s environment can be identified, an in-row spacing of three feet is recommended for field-grown hemp. Cultivars Berry Blossom, Queen Dream and Stormy Daniels produced sufficient biomass for commercial production. While Berry Blossom, Queen Dream, Oregon White and Putin’s Problem were high-yielding, Oregon White …

Katrina Vs. Ida: A Comparative Analysis Of Fema Housing Recovery Efforts With Regard To Vulnerable Populations, Alyssa Harrynanan

Honors Theses

When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005, it revealed disparities in the way that recovery efforts are handled after storms. For example, it demonstrated flaws in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s attempt to provide housing for disaster survivors. The agency failed to adequately accommodate vulnerable populations, including communities of color, low-income individuals, the elderly, and people with disabilities, in its housing recovery process. Since then, efforts have been made to reform the agency and ensure that all individuals, regardless of race, income, education or disability level, are accommodated by FEMA. However, when Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana exactly 16 years later …

Acknowledgement, Education, Memory: Reframing The Cemetery Landscapes Of The Enslaved, Aubrey L. Phillips

LSU Master's Theses

The landscape holds onto the nearly imperceivable cemeteries of the formerly enslaved population that have been erased through time, development, and censure of historical narratives in Louisiana. Immediate action is necessary to retie censured chronicles of enslavement to the landscape, educating the public on deep-rooted systemic racism in the contemporary environment. This thesis aims to provide reparations to the Black and descendant communities of southern Louisiana. This work acknowledges the remaining cemetery fragments, reframing and knitting them together as a network of spaces that uphold a more holistic memory of the past.

The role of landscape architecture extends beyond site …

Louisiana Certified Child Life Specialists’ Perspective On The Effects Of Covid-19 On Child Life Services, Abby Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

The medical field has faced challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly changing the ways hospitals function and healthcare professionals serve patients and families. Healthcare professionals, specifically Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLSs), have continuously adapted their roles, programs, and services to ensure they adhere to the ever-changing infection control policies and mitigation efforts put in place by government officials and institutions. CCLSs provide pediatric patients and their families with interventions, hospital normalization, and opportunities to engage in play, contributing to pediatric patients’ healing environment during hospitalization. This study focuses on pediatric healthcare in the state of Louisiana, gaining insight from CCLSs’ …

Bat Habitat Use And Activity In Forests Of Central Louisiana, Jane M. Kunberger

LSU Master's Theses

In the southeastern U.S., where forests are the primary land cover type and trees are often harvested for production purposes, understanding how forestry practices influence bat distributions is critical for bat conservation and management. It is also important for researchers to quantify and report variation in the performance of automated recordings units (ARUs) used to survey for bats because several key features of ARUs (e.g., microphone sensitivity, triggering thresholds) can influence an ARUs ability to detect bat calls. My goals were (1) to examine the influence of forest management practices on seasonal bat species occurrence and activity in central Louisiana, …

Analysis Of Regulatory Options To Reduce Ethylene Oxide Emissions In Southern Louisiana, Claire Oyler

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Toxic chemicals are dangerous when exposed directly to humans but are often vital for the production of goods and services. Ethylene Oxide is a carcinogenic gas used as a commercial sterilizer and emitted during the manufacturing process of common household goods. The term fence-line communities describes the residents living adjacent to facilities emitting toxic chemicals into the air. Several predominately minority, low-income fence-line communities in Southern Louisiana are exposed to higher than average levels of Ethylene Oxide from nearby manufacturing facilities. This raises environmental justice and overall public health concerns in the area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged …

Deep Roots In Eroding Soil: Building Decolonial Resilience Amidst Climate Violence And Displacement In A Louisiana Bayou Indigenous Community, Lia Mcgrath Kahan

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Pointe-au-Chien Indigenous community of coastal Louisiana is fighting for survival as climate change and socio-political factors threaten to displace them from their ancestral home. This project takes an ethnographic and historical approach to exploring how colonization and climate change have influenced Pointe-au-Chien tribal members’ ability to stay on their ancestral land. Climate projections estimate that the bayou this community has lived alongside of for generations will soon be unrecognizable, leading to potential displacement and devastating cultural loss. Due to the increasing severity of climate change, it is crucial to look to the experiences of frontline Indigenous communities to support …

The Race To Fifty Feet: An Effort To Determine The Benefits Of Deepening The Mississippi River, Brian Miles

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the benefits and drawbacks of deepening the Lower Mississippi River to fifty feet. It established that the deepening of the Lower Mississippi River will impact not only the local area but also the inland regions that rely on the river systems and lower river ports for product movement. The perspectives of vessel operators, maritime industry experts and charterers are provided to offer insight. The sources for the research include educational literature, maritime research and interviews of industry experts. Based on this research, it is clear that this project will benefit many parties. The beneficiaries will include both …

Investigating Local Adaptation To Hypoxia Stress In The Eastern Oyster Through Comparative Transcriptomics, Heather Nichole Smith

LSU Master's Theses

Climate change represents one of the most important challenges to biodiversity, therefore it is important to understand the mechanisms that allow species to respond to rapid environmental change. Here, we compared two populations of eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica, from the Gulf of Mexico to study the mechanisms underlying hypoxia tolerance. Using a common garden experiment and comparative transcriptomics, we identified sets of genes involved in the hypoxia response and found differences in both the timing and baseline expression of hypoxia-responsive genes between tolerant and sensitive populations, consistent with a scenario of local adaptation. These genes include the signaling transcription factor …

Assessment Of Long-Term Performance Of Pavements Containing Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies In Louisiana, Kwadwo Ampadu Boateng

LSU Master's Theses

This study focused on the assessment of long-term performance of asphalt pavements containing warm mix asphalt technologies in Louisiana. A total of five rehabilitation projects were studied in the state of Louisiana. The study consisted of engineering desk analyses of field performance indicators, indices and the initial laboratory performance indicators measured for five rehabilitation projects.

The engineering desk study consisted of a review of literature from previous WMA technology projects done in Louisiana. Additionally, data was acquired and validated from the Louisiana Pavement Management System (PMS). Pavement performance indicators (i.e., cracking (transverse, longitudinal, and fatigue cracking), roughness, rutting, and pavement …

A Geospatial And Statistical Analysis Of Dropout In Louisiana Public High Schools, Michael D. Stein

LSU Master's Theses

Students dropping out of high school is a nationwide problem, plaguing communities and often greatly reducing the prospects of a quality life for those students who do not complete their high school educations. Louisiana consistently has among the highest public high school dropout rates in the United States, and often the highest. This geospatial and statistical study aims to identify the factors that correlate with high school dropout in Louisiana public high schools, specifically, and to produce detailed maps of the dropout rates across the state to identify the schools most afflicted.

Extensive school-level data from five academic years (2014-15 …

Effects Of Salinity On Eastern Oysters: Locating Lower-Salinity Tolerant Populations And Defining Resource Zones Suitable To Restoration, Fisheries, And Aquaculture., Lauren Swam

LSU Master's Theses

Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) provide valuable ecosystem services and support a productive commercial industry in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Declining abundance from water quality changes and other factors drives development of management and restoration strategies focused on a comprehensive, metapopulation approach. Identifying oyster resource zones based on water quality combined with selective breeding of oysters adapted to specific conditions provides strategies to support aquaculture development and ensure resilient oyster populations and high production. Using 2015-2019 satellite-derived continuous salinity and temperature data for coastal Louisiana, this work created maps defining oyster resource zones supportive of (1) broodstock sanctuary …

“The Very Class For Our Country”: How The Cuban Exploitation Of Chinese Coolie Laborers Inspired Louisiana Sugar Planters, Joseph Ledesma

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sugar planters in Louisiana during Reconstruction needed to replace the enslaved labor force that had fled the plantation system after the Civil War. These Louisiana planters took inspiration from the system of coolie labor in Cuba, wherein exploited Chinese indentured servants would work on sugar plantation alongside enslaved Africans. The white Cuban planters’ goal was to ethnically diversify their plantation labor force, thus making the existing power structures easier to maintain while avoiding slave uprising by manufacturing racial divisions among the labor force. Sugar planters in Louisiana intended to recreate the Cuban system to compel Freedmen to work for less …

“The Very Class For Our Country”: How The Cuban Exploitation Of Chinese Coolie Laborers Inspired Louisiana Sugar Planters, Joseph Ledesma

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sugar planters in Louisiana during Reconstruction needed to replace the enslaved labor force that had fled the plantation system after the Civil War. These Louisiana planters took inspiration from the system of coolie labor in Cuba, wherein exploited Chinese indentured servants would work on sugar plantation alongside enslaved Africans. The white Cuban planters’ goal was to racially dilute their plantation labor force, thus making the existing power structures easier to maintain while avoiding Haitian-style slave uprising. Sugar planters in Louisiana intended to recreate the Cuban system to compel Freedmen to work for less than their worth by importing Chinese laborers, …

Power Structures, Michael A. Whitehead

LSU Master's Theses

Power Structures is a series of drawings and prints inspired by my fixation with the intricate utilitarian architecture and dystopian atmosphere of Louisiana’s petrochemical corridor. The architectural forms within this body of work juxtapose components of disparate industrial sites to form ruinous monuments to power and progress. The Power Structures are composites of photographs, technical drawings, and memories I have made in my time studying Cancer Alley. I introduce machined aircraft components, gate valves, and various fasteners into the architectural forms of petrochemical plants as elements of misdirection, blurring the line between reality and memory, fact and fabrication.

Examining The Sustainability Of Restored Sub-Tidal Oyster Reefs In Coastal Louisiana, Sarah C. Leblanc

LSU Master's Theses

Climate related alterations and anthropogenic disturbance threaten the ecological integrity and sustainability of coastal estuaries. Many activities seek to restore and sustain these at-risk areas with the goal of restoring systems to historic patterns of succession and community development; however long-term monitoring of restoration projects remains limited. Additionally, restoration efforts aim to achieve certain success thresholds, however, these thresholds are often vague, absent, or inconsistent, and receive little long-term analyses following restoration. A key coastal engineer, the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), provides multiple ecosystem services, but recent population decline has prompted investment in restoration. Restoration activities include cultch …

Evaluation Of Food Safety Practices At Louisiana Summer Feeding Sites And Food Safety Communication Via Social Media During Crises, Peyton E. Haynes

LSU Master's Theses

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provided children under the age of 18 in low-income areas 145 million free meals in 2018 through summer feeding sites. Food safety issues arise for Louisiana feeding sites due to time-temperature controlled foods served, weather patterns in Louisiana, seasonal staff and short operation time, and lack of equipment. The purpose of this study was to assess food safety practices at Louisiana feeding sites through observational study with intention to compare food practices at institutional and noninstitutional sites. A rubric following USDA food safety guidelines based on categories: hot holding, …

Sleeping With Storyville: The Influence Of Media, Race, And Morality In New Orleans’ Red Light District, Tiffany R. Nelson

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In 1897, the red-light district of Storyville was officially consecrated in New Orleans, Louisiana. Storyville encapsulated centuries’ worth of Southern cultural, social, and political values that culminated in the creation of a legally recognized district of vice. New Orleans was an economically situated city, profiting from the business and tourist routes provided by the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River. Known throughout the nation for a plethora of negative attributes, such as disease, prostitution, and murder, New Orleans developed a national reputation as a city of immorality, which was only furthered by the creation of a red-light district.

In exploring …