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Biodiversity Commons

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Environmental Studies

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Doctoral Dissertations

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Social-Ecological Systems Considerations For Wildlife Reintroduction And Conservation, Cristina Elisa Watkins Aug 2020

Social-Ecological Systems Considerations For Wildlife Reintroduction And Conservation, Cristina Elisa Watkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Wildlife management, especially projects requiring reintroduction, are complex undertakings requiring interdisciplinary approaches. This dissertation combines social science, ecology, economics, and policy to advance wildlife reintroduction science and improve conservation outcomes. The central focus of this dissertation involves wildlife reintroduction management, with a specific emphasis on the reintroduction of elk into East Tennessee. The dissertation is divided by three studies, each taking a unique interdisciplinary approach to wildlife reintroduction. The first study uses structural equation modeling to examine the social psychology constructs of risk perception and trust to examine their influence on attitudes towards reintroduced elk in Tennessee and support for …


Conservation Decisions: Designing, Financing And Fundraising For Protected Areas, Rachel Elizabeth Fovargue Aug 2017

Conservation Decisions: Designing, Financing And Fundraising For Protected Areas, Rachel Elizabeth Fovargue

Doctoral Dissertations

Establishing protection for conservation is a complicated process that involves many critical decisions, from spatial prioritization to garnering the necessary financial support to complete a project. In my research, I address questions that inform various components of this process. First, I ask questions about protected area design using a case study of a large reef system in Australia. I find that simple design rules can facilitate the pursuit of conservation and extractive management goals. Second, I address questions about costs incurred by the financing of new protection. I establish a unique dataset of projects financed by a conservation non-profit through …