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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Impact Of Organic Farms: Biodiversity And Climate Change Resilience In The Southeast, Josie Newton Dec 2016

The Impact Of Organic Farms: Biodiversity And Climate Change Resilience In The Southeast, Josie Newton

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

Resilience to climate change serves as an indicator of the effectiveness of organic farming practices. Resilience means that an area is able to return to a stable state after a disturbance. In this context, it means that the area is able to function regularly even in the face of climate change, an instance that affects species health and biodiversity. By mapping the locations of organic farms across the southeastern United States along with the resilience scores of areas as evaluated by The Nature Conservancy and comparing this map to farm locations and biodiversity measures, we are able to determine the …


Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Production (Hanpp) In An Agriculturally-Dominated Watershed, Southeastern Usa, C. Brannon Andersen, R. Kyle Donovan, John Quinn Jan 2015

Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Production (Hanpp) In An Agriculturally-Dominated Watershed, Southeastern Usa, C. Brannon Andersen, R. Kyle Donovan, John Quinn

Biology Publications

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) quantifies alteration of the biosphere caused by land use change and biomass harvest. In global and regional scale assessments, the majority of HANPP is associated with agricultural biomass harvest. We adapted these methods to the watershed scale and calculated land cover change and HANPP in an agricultural watershed in 1968 and 2011. Between 1968 and 2011, forest cover remained near 50% of the watershed, but row crop decreased from 26% to 0.4%, pasture increased from 19% to 32%, and residential area increased from 2% to 10%. Total HANPP decreased from 35% of potential …


A Multi-Scale Analysis Of The Effects Of Local- And Landscape-Level Variables On Nuthatch Occupancy And Distribution, Jesse Wood Oct 2013

A Multi-Scale Analysis Of The Effects Of Local- And Landscape-Level Variables On Nuthatch Occupancy And Distribution, Jesse Wood

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

The objectives of this study are to conduct a multi-scale analysis of the effects of habitat variables on Brownheaded Nuthatch (S. pusilla) occupancy and spatial distribution in the greater Greenville area of South Carolina. By understanding the local- and landscape-drivers of an ecologically sensitive species, we can build a predictive model of species occurrence and contribute to regional conservation efforts of both habitat and biodiversity.