Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

The Vezo Communities And Fisheries Of The Coral Reef Ecosystem In The Bay Of Ranobe, Madagascar, Shane Abeare

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Madagascar, a country whose extraordinary levels of endemism and biodiversity are celebrated globally by scientists and laymen alike, yet historically has received surprisingly little research attention, is the setting of the present dissertation. Here, I contribute to the need for applied research by: 1) focusing on the most intensely fished section of the Toliara Barrier Reef, the Bay of Ranobe; 2) characterizing the marine environment, the human population, and the fisheries; and 3) collecting the longest known time-series of data on fisheries of Madagascar, thereby providing a useful baseline for future analyses. In Chapter 1, the bathymetry of the Bay …

Green Strategic Planning Approach For International Shipping Activities, Xiaofang Wu, Luoping Zhang, Huan Feng

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Sustainability is a long-term and ultimate goal for international shipping, although it is slowly making progress. The shipping perspective that moves away from “port-to-port” operations to “door-to-door” services also requires international shipping to take a long-term and holistic view instead of fragmented efforts. How to achieve the long-term sustainability goal becomes a key issue for door-to-door international shipping. Hence, green strategic planning for door-to-door international shipping was proposed with green development that puts forward the eco-centric point of view as its basic theory for sustainability. This study used a strategic decision-making approach, a so-called multi-dimensional decision-making (MDDM), coupled with the …

A Model For The Prediction Of Antimicrobial Resistance In Escherichia Coli Based On A Comparative Evaluation Of Fatty Acid Profiles, Randal S. Stahl, Bledar Bisha, Sebabrata Mahapatra, Jeffrey C. Chandler

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to agricultural production and public health. In this proof-of-concept study, we investigated predicting antimicrobial sensitive/resistant (S/R) phenotypes and host sources of Escherichia coli (n = 128) based on differential fatty acid abundance. Myristic (14:0), pentadecanoic acid (15:0), palmitic (16:0), elaidic (18:19) and steric acid (18:0) were significantly different (α = 0.05) using a two-way ANOVA for predicting nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, aztreonam, cefatoxime, and ceftazidime S/R phenotypes. Additionally, analyses of palmitoleic (16:1), palmitic acid (16:0), methyl palmitate (i-17:0), and cis-9,10-methyleneoctadecanoic acid (19:0Δ) showed these markers were significantly different (α = 0.05) between isolates obtained from cattle …

On The Frontlines - The Fishermen Of Ibrahim Hyderi, Muhammad Haris Aslam Khan

MSJ Capstone Projects

Climate change has become a matter of recent debate for much of the world. According to a report published by a German watch, a non-governmental organization, in 2019, Pakistan among the five countries at severe risk of climate change disasters.

During the last two decades, Pakistan saw more than 141 extreme climatic catastrophes. Only in 2016, more than 566 people died due to these conditions.

A report published by Asian Development Bank in 2017 indicates Pakistan’s climate change profile. It states that more than 1,600 people have lost their lives in the super flood of 2010 alone. A loss of …

Resolving Time-Space Histories Of Late Cenozoic Bedrock Incision Along The Upper Colorado River, Usa, Andres Aslan, Karl E. Karlstrom, Eric Kirby, Matthew T. Heizler, Darryl E. Granger, James K. Feathers, Paul R. Hanson, Shannon A. Mahan

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The upper Colorado River basin drains the western slope of the Rocky Mountains province of North America and hosts a rich record of fluvial terraces and volcanic deposits that provide an archive of bedrock river incision since the Late Miocene. Here we present new geochronology from fluvial deposits and associated volcanic units using multiple methods (luminescence, cosmogenic-burial, 40Ar/39Ar basalt and detrital sanidine, and U/Pb detrital zircon) to reconstruct a detailed record of bedrock incision in the upper Colorado River over timescales ranging from Miocene to Late Pleistocene. Late Miocene (ca. 11–8 Ma) basalt flows perched 800–1700 m above the Colorado …

Improving Aquifer Characterization Through Integration Of Airborne Electromagnetics (Aem) And Well Hydrographs, Jacqueline Polashek

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

The objective of this study is to evaluate methods of hydrostratigraphic modeling using geophysics and well hydrographs at the eastern edge of the High Plains aquifer (HPA) in Platte and Colfax counties within Nebraska, USA. The HPA is very heterogeneous in the study area, being hosted by architecturally complex glacial sediments and having many irregular hydraulic boundaries. Further, the HPA exhibits local variations between unconfined and confined conditions. Pumping in such bounded aquifers can be unsustainable because of cost increases and lost agricultural productivity. Moreover, the large drawdowns typical of confined aquifers can contribute to well interference during heavy pumping. …

Modeling Waterfowl Hunter And Ducks Unlimited Member Behavior Using Mark-Recapture Methods, Katherine Graham

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

The number of individuals actively participating in waterfowl hunting has substantially declined since the 1980s, despite relatively abundant waterfowl populations and hunting opportunities. To avoid further losses in political support for wildlife management, losses in habitat conservation revenue, and broaden the base of waterfowl and wetland conservation support, there has been an increased focus on growing the number of waterfowl hunters and waterfowl and wetland conservation supporters. The purpose of this study was to estimate resident waterfowl hunter and Ducks Unlimited (DU) member recruitment rates, retention probabilities, and license/membership purchase probabilities; provide a better understanding of the factors influencing these …

Modeling Elementary Students’ Ideas About Heredity: A Comparison Of Curricular Interventions, Cory Forbes, Dante Cisterna, Devarati Bhattacharya, Ranu Roy

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Learning about heredity is important across the K–12 continuum. However, these ideas may be challenging for students. We examined third-grade students’ ideas about heredity in the context of a new, six-week, model-based science unit that uses corn as a model organism to support students’ ideas about heredity. We analyzed data collected during implementation of the unit, including student artifacts and interviews. We compared these data to those from a pilot version of the curriculum – implemented in the prior year – that was focused on the same disciplinary concepts but was not designed around scientific modeling. Our findings illustrate levels …

Small Ruminant Health Intervention Calendar In Ethiopia, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ayalew Assefa, Tesfalem Nane, Firdawok Ayele, Asrat Arke, Belay Elias, Barbara Wieland

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Contents

1 Background................................................................................................... 3
2 Developing the health intervention calendar............................................................ 4
The treatment calendar ......................................................... 4 Applying the calendar..................................................................... 5 4 References................................................................... 8

Assessing & Protecting Dark Night Skies In El Morro National Monument, Leslie Kobinsky

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Light pollution is causing the disappearance of dark night skies around the world. In the United States alone, 1/3 of people are unable to see the Milky Way where they live (Ramlagan, 2016). National Park Service sites contain some of the darkest skies in the country. Here at El Morro National Monument, these dark skies are a beautiful and healthy benefit to people in the local community and visitors traveling from afar. El Morro’s current park legislation does not include specific measures of protection for the night sky. This capstone project will create a baseline data set of night sky …

Getting Over The Dam: Overcoming Institutional Barriers To The Recovery Of Atlantic Salmon By Navigating The Social-Science/Policy Interface, Melissa E. Flye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term governance has undergone somewhat of an evolution since its inception, originally describing the act of governing, it has come to represent a more collaborative form of governing which is distinct from hierarchical control models (Marin and Mayntz, 1991). Collaborative governance refers to the systems associated with public policy decision making and resource management which span the jurisdictional boundaries of public agencies, levels of government, and/or public and private spheres in order to pursue a public policy goal or outcome (Emerson et al., 2012). Environmental management is often considered an inherently collaborative effort, as ecological systems and species rarely …

Male Burmese Pythons Follow Female Scent Trails And Show Sex-Specific Behaviors, Shannon A. Richard, Eric A. Tillman, John S. Humphrey, Michael L. Avery, M. Rockwell Parker

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Animals communicate with potential mates using species-specific signals, and pheromones are powerful sexual signals that modify conspecific behavior to facilitate mate location. Among the vertebrates, snakes are especially adept in mate searching via chemical trailing, which is particularly relevant given that many snake species are invasive outside their native ranges. Chemical signals used in mate choice are, thus, potentially valuable tools for management of invasive snake species. The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is an invasive snake in the Florida Everglades where it is negatively impacting native fauna. In this study, we sought to: (i) determine if males can follow conspecific …

Variation In Host Home Range Size Decreases Rabies Vaccination Effectiveness By Increasing The Spatial Spread Of Rabies Virus, Katherine M. Mcclure, Amy T. Gilbert, Richard B. Chipman, Erin E. Rees, Kim M. Pepin

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Animal movement influences the spatial spread of directly transmitted wildlife disease through host-host contact structure. Wildlife disease hosts vary in home range- associated foraging and social behaviours, which may increase the spread and intensity of disease outbreaks. The consequences of variation in host home range movement and space use on wildlife disease dynamics are poorly understood, but could help to predict disease spread and determine more effective disease management strategies.
2. We developed a spatially explicit individual-based model to examine the effect of spatiotemporal variation in host home range size on the spatial spread rate, persistence and incidence of rabies virus …

Influence Of Land Cover And Soil Moisture Based Brown Ocean Effect On An Extreme Rainfall Event From A Louisiana Gulf Coast Tropical System, Udaysankar S. Nair, Eric Rappin, Emily Foshee, Warren Smith, Roger A. Pielke Sr., Rezaul Mamood, Jonathan L. Case, Clay B. Blankenship, Marshall Shepherd, Joseph A. Santanello, Dev Niyogi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Extreme flooding over southern Louisiana in mid-August of 2016 resulted from an unusual tropical low that formed and intensified over land. We used numerical experiments to highlight the role of the ‘Brown Ocean’ effect (where saturated soils function similar to a warm ocean surface) on intensification and it’s modulation by land cover change. A numerical modeling experiment that successfully captured the flood event (control) was modified to alter moisture availability by converting wetlands to open water, wet croplands, and dry croplands. Storm evolution in the control experiment with wet antecedent soils most resembles tropical lows that form and intensify over …

Changes In Students’ Mental Models From Computational Modeling Of Gene Regulatory Networks, Joseph Dauer, Heather E. Bergan-Roller, Gretchen P. King, Mckenzie Kjose, Nicholas J. Galt, Tomáš Helikar

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background: Computational modeling is an increasingly common practice for disciplinary experts and therefore necessitates integration into science curricula. Computational models afford an opportunity for students to investigate the dynamics of biological systems, but there is significant gap in our knowledge of how these activities impact student knowledge of the structures, relationships, and dynamics of the system. We investigated how a computational modeling activity affected introductory biology students’ mental models of a prokaryotic gene regulatory system (lac operon) by analyzing conceptual models created before and after the activity.

Results: Students’ pre-lesson conceptual models consisted of provided, system-general structures (e.g., activator, repressor) …

Food Habits Of Coyotes (Canis Latrans) In The Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico, Suzanne J. Gifford, Eric M. Gese, Robert R. Parmenter

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife managers needed to understand coyote (Canis latrans) ecology in order to develop management plans on the nascent Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico. Managers concerned about low elk (Cervus elaphus) recruitment had observed an increase in sightings of coyotes and observations of coyote predation on elk calves. Our objective was to identify and quantify coyote diet, and assess the temporal variation in coyote diet on the Valles Caldera National Preserve, particularly as related to elk calf consumption. We examined coyote food habits using 1,385 scats analyzed monthly from May 2005 to November 2008. The most frequent taxa …

Retrospective Tillage Differentiation Using The Landsat-5 Tm Archive With Discriminant Analysis, Sonisa Sharma, Kundan Dhakal, Pradeep Wagle, Ayse Kilie

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Accurate and site-specific information on tillage practice is vital to understand the impacts of crop management on water quality, soil conservation, and soil carbon sequestration. Remote sensing is a cost-effective technique for surveillance and rapid assessment of tillage practice over large areas. A new empirical approach for accurately predicting tillage class using discriminant analysis (DA) on historical multitemporal Landsat-TM 5 imagery has been developed. Ground truth data were obtained from the USDA-NRCS at 48 locations (20 conventional till [CT] and 28 conservation tillage or no-till [NT]). Classification accuracies were obtained for the DA models using reflectance values of Landsat-5 TM …

Comparison Of Extraction Methods For Recovering Ancient Microbial Dna From Paleofeces, Richard Hagan, Courtney A. Hofman, Alexander Hübner, Karl Reinhard, Stephanie Schnorr, Cecil M. Lewis, Jr., Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan, Christina G. Warinner

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Objectives: Paleofeces are valuable to archeologists and evolutionary biologists for their potential to yield health, dietary, and host information. As a rich source of preserved biomolecules from host-associated microorganisms, they can also provide insights into the recent evolution and changing ecology of the gut microbiome. How- ever, there is currently no standard method for DNA extraction from paleofeces, which combine the dual challenges of complex biological composition and degraded DNA. Due to the scarcity and relatively poor preservation of paleofeces when compared with other archeological remains, it is important to use efficient methods that maximize ancient DNA (aDNA) recovery while …

Impact Of The Human Footprint On Anthropogenic Mortality Of North American Reptiles, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human activities frequently result in reptile mortality, but how direct anthropogenic mortality compares to natural morality has not been thoroughly investigated. There has also been a limited examination of how anthropogenic reptile mortality changes as a function of the human footprint. We conducted a synthesis of causespecific North American reptile mortality studies based on telemetry, documenting 550 mortalities of known cause among 2461 monitored individuals in 57 studies. Overall 78% of mortality was the result of direct natural causes, whereas 22% was directly caused by humans. The single largest source of mortality was predation, accounting for 62% of mortality overall. …

Understanding Factors Related To Undergraduate Student Decision-Making About A Complex Socio-Scientific Issue: Mountain Lion Management, Ashley Alred, Jenny Dauer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We outline an instructional strategy for supporting students’ science literacy skills using a structured decision-making tool in an interdisciplinary undergraduate course. Instructional tools support basing complex socioscientific issues decisions on a reasoned analysis of tradeoffs among multiple conflicting values rather than heuristics, such as social norms. We explored the factors related to students’ decision-making about mountain lion management by examining if students’ value orientations, identity, or knowledge predicted their management decisions before, during, and after engaging in structured decision-making where they performed a tradeoffs analysis. We found that student decision-making may align more closely to students’ value orientations and identity …

Effect Of Foliar Spray Application Of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles On Quantitative, Nutritional, And Physiological Parameters Of Foxtail Millet (Setaria Italica L.) Under Field Conditions, Marek Kolenčík, Dávid Ernst, Matej Komár, Martin Šebesta, Martin Urík, Edmund Dobročka, Ivan Černý, Ramakanth Illa, Raghavendra Kanike, Qian Yu, Huan Feng, Denisa Orlová, Gabriela Kratošová

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

It has been shown that the foliar application of inorganic nano-materials on cereal plants during their growth cycle enhances the rate of plant productivity by providing a micro-nutrient source. We therefore studied the effects of foliarly applied ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on Setaria italica L. foxtail millet’s quantitative, nutritional, and physiological parameters. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the ZnO NPs have an average particle size under 20 nm and dominant spherically shaped morphology. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry then confirmed ZnO NP homogeneity, and X-ray diffraction verified their high crystalline and wurtzite-structure symmetry. Although plant height, thousand grain weight, and grain …

Rabies Surveillance Identifies Potential Risk Corridors And Enables Management Evaluation, Amy J. Davis, Kathleen M. Nelson, Jordana D. Kirby, Ryan M. Wallace, Xiaoyue Ma, Kim M. Pepin, Richard B. Chipman, Amy Gilbert

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Intensive efforts are being made to eliminate the raccoon variant of rabies virus (RABV) from the eastern United States and Canada. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services National Rabies Management Program has implemented enhanced rabies surveillance (ERS) to improve case detection across the extent of the raccoon oral rabies vaccination (ORV) management area. We evaluated ERS and public health surveillance data from 2006 to 2017 in three northeastern USA states using a dynamic occupancy modeling approach. Our objectives were to examine potential risk corridors for RABV incursion from the U.S. into Canada, evaluate the effectiveness of ORV …

Potential Economic Impacts Of Allocating More Land For Bioenergy Biomass Production In Virginia, Thomas O. Ochuodho, Janaki R. R. Alavalapati, Pankaj Lal, Domena A. Agyeman, Bernabas Wolde, Pralhad Burli

Pankaj Lal

The growing attention to renewable energy and rural development has created greater demand for production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy. However, forest growth rates and the amount of land in most existing forests may not be sufficient to sustainably supply the forest biomass required to support existing forest products industries and the expanding bioenergy industry. Additionally, concerns about agricultural land use competition have dampened expansion of biomass production on agricultural land base. One of the ways to meet the growing forest biomass feedstock demand for bioenergy production is by allocating currently marginal non-forested land for growing bioenergy feedstocks. In Virginia, …

Defining And Addressing Interconnected Goals In Groundwater Management Planning Across The Usa, Allison Gage

Masters Theses

Groundwater accounts for approximately 99% of the available freshwater on Earth, and is an important resource for irrigation, potable water, and domestic use in the United States. However, the overuse of groundwater has led to aquifer depletion in several basins across the USA, resulting in storage reduction, contamination, salt water intrusion, and depletion of surface waters. To properly manage groundwater for the future, there is a need for well-informed Groundwater Management Plans (GWMPs) in order to prevent further depletion and erosion of the resource. Previous studies have focused on groundwater management relative to groundwater laws, regulations, and institutional arrangements. This …

Data Of Soil, Vegetation And Bird Species Found On Double-Crested Cormorant Colonies In The Southeastern United States, Leah Moran Veum, Brian S. Dorr, Katie Hanson-Dorr, R. J. Moore, Scott A. Rush

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

This data article provides the methods and procedures followed to collect and analyse soil, vegetation and bird data on three different treatment islands in Guntersville Reservoir, Alabama. Samples were collected from randomly selected plot points from islands that were placed into three different treatment types: Colony (currently occupied by Double-crested Cormorants) (Phalacrocorax auritus; n 1⁄4 5), Historic (historically occupied by cormorants and currently abandoned; n 1⁄4 3) and Reference (never occupied by cormorants; n 1⁄4 4). We compared vegetation and tree metrics such as structure and diversity, as well as soil chemistry and bird diversity and communities among islands within …

Reproductive Parameters And Female Breeding Season Survival Of Rio Grande Wild Turkeys In South Central Texas, Jacob White

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, Rio Grande wild turkeys in south central Texas have been at lower densities than other portions of the state. Within the Oak-Prairie Wildlife District of Texas, Rio Grande wild turkey regulatory restrictions are different for counties in the eastern and western portions of the ecoregion. Due to perceived increases in turkey density in the eastern portion of the ecoregion (hereafter 1-bird zone), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) considered increasing the bag limit to match counties in the western portion of the district (hereafter 4-bird zone) in order to increase hunting opportunities. However, if regulatory changes are to be …

Robust Observations Of Land-To-Atmosphere Feedbacks Using The Information Flows Of Fluxnet, Tobias Gerken, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Rong Yu, Paul C. Stoy, Darren T. Drewry

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Feedbacks between atmospheric processes like precipitation and land surface fluxes including evapotranspiration are difficult to observe, but critical for understanding the role of the land surface in the Earth System. To quantify global surface-atmosphere feedbacks we use results of a process network (PN) applied to 251 eddy covariance sites from the LaThuile database to train a neural network across the global terrestrial surface. There is a strong land–atmosphere coupling between latent (LE) and sensible heat flux (H) and precipitation (P) during summer months in temperate regions, and between H and P during winter, whereas tropical rainforests show little coupling seasonality. …

The Economic Impacts Of Blackbird (Icteridae) Damage To Sunflower In The Usa, Karina Ernst, Julie Elser, George Linz, Hans Kandel, Jason Holderieath, Samantha Degroot, Steven Shwiff, Stephanie Shwiff

Jason Holderieath

BACKGROUND: Blackbird (Icteridae) damage to ripening sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) has been a persistent economic issue in the USA for the last five decades. To quantify losses, we surveyed blackbird damage from 2001 to 2013 (excluding 2004) to physiologically mature sunflower in eight states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas, and Vermont.

RESULTS:We pooled data gathered during the most recent 5 years (2009 to 2013) of the survey and found losses averaged $US2.5 million and $US11.3 million for confectionery and oilseed hybrids, respectively. Three states, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, had sufficient acreage and bird damage …

Resilience Reconciled, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Brian C. Chaffin, Dirac Twidwell, Ahjond Garmestani

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Resilience scholarship continues to inspire opaque discourse and competing frameworks often inconsistent with the complexity inherent in social–ecological systems. We contend that competing conceptualizations of resilience are reconcilable, and that the core theory is useful for navigating sustainability challenges.

Resilience as a scientific concept exploded in the early 2000s and is now being adopted by a range of disciplines and by a wide diversity of actors, from city planners to networks of global protectedarea managers. Resilience concepts are now integrated within national and international calls for proposals, research initiatives and centres in both the biophysical and social sciences. However, resilience …

Drought Early Warning And The Timing Of Range Managers’ Drought Response, Tonya R. Haigh, Jason A. Otkin, Anthony Mucia, Michael Hayes, Mark E. Burbach

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

'e connection between drought early warning information and the timing of rangeland managers’ response actions is not well understood. 'is study investigates U.S. Northern Plains range and livestock managers’ decision-making in response to the 2016 flash drought, by means of a postdrought survey of agricultural landowners and using the Protective Action Decision Model theoretical framework. 'e study found that managers acted in response to environmental cues, but that their responses were significantly delayed compared to when drought conditions emerged. External warnings did not influence the timing of their decisions, though on-farm monitoring and assessment of conditions did. 'ough this case …