Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

College And University Sustainability Officers’ Experiences With Green Office Programs: A Qualitative Investigation, Logan Lamb

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The number of sustainability programs in higher education continues to increase. Green office programs have become a cornerstone of sustainability programming on college and university campuses across the country. This exploratory qualitative study involves college and university sustainability officers and investigates their experiences changing behaviors through green office programs. The goal of this study was to provide insight into green office programs. Two side-by-side studies were conducted to provide a detailed analysis of green office programs at both small and large institutions of higher education. Eleven major themes emerged from the study. Six themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of …

Exploration Of Student Biodiversity Knowledge And Decision-Making For A Wildlife Conservation Socioscientific Issue, Ashley R. Alred

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Global biodiversity, a foundation for ecosystem function, is diminishing at a rate unprecedented in the last 50 years. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem services deterioration is linked to increased food insecurity, reduced water quality and availability, decreased energy security, higher economic losses and human suffering (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Consequently, educators should invest in supporting students in their development of ecological understanding and formal decision-making skills so they are equipped with meaningful tools they can use as scientifically literate citizens. To contribute to that mission, this study seeks to explore student 1) comprehension and explanation of biodiversity concepts and 2) decision-making …

River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Distribution And Habitat Suitability In Nebraska, Nathan R. Bieber

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

River otters (Lontra Canadensis) were extirpated in Nebraska by the early 1900’s, but in 1986, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) began reintroduction efforts. Following reintroductions, the otter was listed as a tier-1 at-risk species in Nebraska. With increasing otter populations, NGPC is evaluating a de-listing plan. In order to inform de-listing efforts, I surveyed Nebraska’s rivers documenting otter sign and used modeling techniques to estimate otter distribution and habitat suitability.

Otter sign surveys were conducted on the navigable rivers of Nebraska. Occupancy modeling techniques were used to examine patterns in otter detections. The best model incorporated distance …

Interpreting Temperature- And Precipitation-Related Scientific Information For The Agricultural Community In The U.S. Corn Belt, Shuwei Dai

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Climate change has been widely recognized in the U.S. Corn Belt, but what does it really mean to the agricultural community? In an era of explosive information, isolating useful climate change data and interpreting these data in usable ways is critical to the success of the broad corn production industry. In this study, three key questions are answered: (1) How have temperature and precipitation changed in the Midwest since 1980? (2) What is the best method to estimate thermal time for corn when temperature data are limited to a daily timescale? and (3) What are the historical effects of temperature …

Resilience And Heterogeneity Following Fire In The Nebraska Sandhills, Jack R. Arterburn

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Nebraska Sandhills grassland is an expansive, semi-arid ecosystem characterized by vegetation-stabilized rolling sand dunes. The Sandhills grassland is managed for livestock production by seeking to minimizing disturbances, such as fire, that increase bare ground. The increase in bare ground following fire has contributed to the fear of fire leading to the emergence of a mobile sand dune state. We tracked vegetation response following a growing season wildfire that occurred during extreme drought conditions. In wildfire and drought conditions are when one would expect resilience to be overcome leading to a lack of vegetation recovery and a transition to a …

Applications Of Time-Lapse Imagery For Monitoring And Illustrating Ecological Dynamics In A Water-Stressed System, Emma Brinley Buckley

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding and perceiving the natural world is a key part of management, policy, conservation, and inevitably for our future. Increased demand on natural resources has heightened the importance of documenting ecosystem changes, and knowledge-sharing to foster awareness. The advancement of digital technologies has improved the efficiency of passive monitoring, connectivity among systems, and expanded the potential for innovative and communicative approaches. From technological progression, time-lapse imagery has emerged a valuable tool to capture and depict natural systems. I sought to enhance our understanding of a water-stressed system by analyzing imagery, in addition to integrating images with data visualization to illustrate …

An Investigation Into Factors Influencing Attitude Toward A Wildlife Corridor, Erin Kubicek

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Habitat fragmentation poses a serious threat to biodiversity in eastern Nebraska. Today, over 98% of Nebraska’s tall-grass prairie has been lost and what remains exists mostly as remnants less than 80 acres in size. The Prairie Corridor on Haines Branch will be one of the first human-made wildlife corridors in eastern Nebraska with expansion of prairie habitat as one of its main goals. Although still in the planning stages, the Prairie Corridor is a rare opportunity to explore public attitude toward a conservation-related program prior to its official launch. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential relationship …

Adaptation To Climate Change Via Insurance And Financial Incentives, Eric R. Holley

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Catastrophic climatic events have accounted for 72% of global insurance claims and totaled ~$1 trillion from 1980 to 2012. Costs are driven by socio-economic developments and an increased frequency and severity of climatic disasters in which climate change may have been a contributing factor. Climate change is projected to become a more prominent driver of these changes in the decades ahead. Government policies to reduce systemic risk have been the predominant approach for multi-level mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The analysis presented here shows how forceful and effective market-based approaches for adaptation and mitigation to climate change already operate …

The Influence Of Training On Guides And Their Environmentally Responsible Behaviors And Transformational Leadership Abilities, Nancy Qwynne Lackey

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The ecotourism and interpretive fields were established, in part, to protect natural environments. This goal is achieved by implementing environmentally responsible practices and by providing transformative experiences for visitors. Previous research suggests that ecotour and interpretive guides play a vital role in implementing environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs) and creating transformative visitor experiences. Other researchers have found that guide training yields many benefits for guides and their abilities, but few have explored the influence of training on guides in detail. The purpose of this research was to explore the influence of established training programs on guides and their ERBs and transformational …

Instructional Framing And Student Learning Of Community Interactions, Nathaniel Niosco

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ecology is a broad field of science that encompasses many disciplines with large impacts in our society (AAAS, 2011; NRC, 2009). To understand the complex systems and concepts of this discipline requires a foundation of knowledge that students often gain in the classroom (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Helping students develop this foundation of knowledge requires an understanding of how they use surface and deep reasoning skills to understand and learn new material. In addition, using methods to teach students to transfer these skills between multiple contexts is key to expanding their ability to broadly apply knowledge. The purpose of …

The Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe Method For Estimating Field Scale Soil Water Content: Advances And Applications, William A. Avery

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The need for accurate, real-time, reliable, and multi-scale soil water content (SWC) monitoring is critical for a multitude of scientific disciplines trying to understand and predict the earth’s terrestrial energy, water, and nutrient cycles. One promising technique to help meet this demand is fixed and roving cosmic-ray neutron probes (CRNP). However, the relationship between observed low-energy neutrons and SWC is affected by local soil and vegetation calibration parameters. This effect may be accounted for by a calibrated equation based on local soil type and the amount of standing biomass. However, determining the calibration parameters for this equation is labor and …

Gaur (Bos Gaurus) Abundance, Distribution, And Habitat Use Patterns In Kuiburi National Park, Southwestern Thailand, Supatcharee Tanasarnpaiboon

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Population status of gaur (Bos gaurus), a wild cattle, in most habitats where they are present, is still unknown. As the use of camera traps in wildlife studies are widespread, I developed photographic individual identification procedures and utilized encounter histories of gaur individuals from camera trap data to estimate gaur abundance and density using the spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis. The study was conducted at Kuiburi National Park, southwestern Thailand, comprised of dry evergreen forest, moist evergreen forest, and man-modified secondary forest during November 2013- January 2015. I conducted 71 direct observations in a savannah-like habitat area to observe …

Exploring Elementary Students’ Agricultural And Scientific Knowledge Using Evidence Centered Design, Molly R. Brandt

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The public is more disconnected from agriculture than ever. Americans are two to four generations removed from the farm, and a majority of Americans, even in rural agricultural states have no direct link to agriculture. As a result, the public lacks the knowledge and appreciation of the food, fuel, and fiber it demands. The National Center for Agricultural Literacy (NCAL) uses National Agricultural Learning Objectives (NALOs) to measure student’s agricultural knowledge. The purpose of this project is to develop assessments aligned with the NALOs and to use results from the assessments to further understand students’ agricultural literacy. This study focuses …

Improved Microplate Fluorometric Soil Enzyme Assay For Β-Glucosidase Detection, Emily C. Hoehn

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Soil microbes produce extracellular enzymes responsible for degrading complex organic compounds to release energy and nutrients. Measurement of soil enzymes can be considered an indicator of soil health and microbial community composition because of its sensitivity to agricultural and management practices. Fluorescence enzyme assays tend to be more sensitive than spectrophotometric (ie. colorimetric) assays and a 96-well plate has the potential capacity for high-throughput use. Development of a newly modified enzyme assay using fluorometric (4-methylumbelliferone), automated pipetting system and sonication, as well as a reduction in replicates allows for a higher sample throughput rate suitable for service laboratory use. The …

Optimizing The Safety Margins Governing A Deterministic Design Process While Considering The Effects Of A Future Test And Redesign On Epistemic Model Uncertainty, Nathaniel B. Price

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

At the initial design stage, engineers often rely on low-fidelity models that have high uncertainty. Model uncertainty is reducible and is classified as epistemic uncertainty; uncertainty due to variability is irreducible and classified as aleatory uncertainty. In a deterministic safety-margin-based design approach, uncertainty is implicitly compensated for by using fixed conservative values in place of aleatory variables and ensuring the design satisfies a safety-margin with respect to design constraints. After an initial design is selected, testing (e.g. physical experiment or high-fidelity simulation) is performed to reduce epistemic uncertainty and ensure the design achieves the targeted levels of safety. Testing is …