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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 27 of 27
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
From Pixels To Plants: Remote Sensing Of California Invasive Plants, Kenneth Rangel
From Pixels To Plants: Remote Sensing Of California Invasive Plants, Kenneth Rangel
Master's Projects and Capstones
Invasive plants cause significant impacts to ecosystems, the economy, and human health. California has experienced significant plant invasions and is well suited to future invasion because of its Mediterranean climate and human disturbance. Eradication or control of invasive plant species requires a detailed understanding of their spatial distribution, which typically involves on the ground surveys that can be expensive or inconsistent. Remote sensing offers a potential alternative or supplement to in-person invasive plant mapping. This study performed a comparative analysis of 41 remote sensing studies that mapped the distribution of California invasive plants. I found that while high spectral resolution …
Modern Colonialism: The Case Of Costa Rica And The United Fruit Company, Micah X. Perez
Modern Colonialism: The Case Of Costa Rica And The United Fruit Company, Micah X. Perez
Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)
This academic paper systematically investigates the intricate historical relationship between the United Fruit Company (UFC) and the socio-economic landscape of Costa Rica during the Liberal period from 1870 to 1940. By examining the direct relationship between the UFC's presence and the simultaneous growth of the tourism industry, coastal land development, and the consequential rise of the sex trade, this research elucidates the adverse impacts of foreign monopolies on the privatization of land. The study underscores the enduring repercussions of this phenomenon in contemporary Costa Rican society. Through historical analysis, this thesis argues that the UFC's actions in Costa Rica during …
Using Ai To Examine Nocturnal Moth Pollination, Conor Moriarty
Using Ai To Examine Nocturnal Moth Pollination, Conor Moriarty
Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses
The importance of insect-mediated agriculture cannot be understated especially in the wake of pollinator population declines. Most research of insect-mediated pollination is focused on diurnal pollinators like the honeybee (Apis mellifera). Deepening our understanding of how other pollinators, such as nocturnal pollinators, can benefit agriculture and ecosystems will be very important as honeybee populations decline. I explored nocturnal moth interactions with flowering apple flowers during their pollination season to better understand how these nocturnal pollinators interact with the plants. To accomplish this, I used a University of Arkansas farm area with a dedicated apple orchard. I gathered my raw data …
Transdisciplinary Environmental Work: An Evaluation Of Transdisciplinarity In The Field Of Environmental Science And Its Relevance To South Carolina Conservation Efforts In Lake Wateree And The Catawba Indian Reservation, Olivia Mn Shugart
Senior Theses
Transdisciplinarity describes the integration of knowledge and exchange of ideas across diverse academic disciplines, public stakeholders, and decision-makers. In this paper, I discuss the relevance of transdisciplinarity to the environmental field and offer ways in which its principles could be employed to enhance current South Carolina conservation efforts. I advocate for transdisciplinary work through analyzing existing discourse on the value of transdisciplinary research to the environmental field, and I present some of the challenges associated with this mass integration of knowledge. Finally, I describe three models of transdisciplinary research that have been proposed by scholars to address some of these …
Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain
Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Conservation management practice adoption on agricultural land has increased in recent years due to increasing public and private investment. The anticipated impact of increasing conservation management practice adoption are reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved soil, water, and air quality. Understanding how these conservation management practices affect agricultural producers economically is vital to properly incentivize these practices. The existing literature on how conservation management practices affect soil health and crop yields is mixed and generally has been conducted on experimental research stations. These studies may not fully account for the on-farm effects of conservation management practices. The objectives of this …
Improving Environmental Protection: One Imagined Touch At A Time, Luke Ingalls Liska
Improving Environmental Protection: One Imagined Touch At A Time, Luke Ingalls Liska
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Can imagined touch of flora and fauna (i.e., the plants and animals of the natural world) make you more willing to support environmental protection efforts? Across seven studies, I demonstrate that by asking consumers to imagine touching fauna, marketers can encourage consumers to become more engaged in environmental protection efforts. This effect occurs because imagined touch generates haptic imagery, which enhances a consumer’s emotional attachment to fauna. I demonstrate that emotional attachment to fauna induced via imagined touch enhances individual’s willingness to share Facebook posts, improves their willingness to support increased fines for environment-related offenses, and increases the number of …
On The Plastic-Free Path: Plastic-Free Living, Hannah Natzke
On The Plastic-Free Path: Plastic-Free Living, Hannah Natzke
Honors Projects
What is living plastic-free like? This project explores the trials and triumphs of living a plastic-free life. Although this project is only mandates that the participant lives plastic-free for a month, it still investigates the challenges faced by longer plastic-free living.
An Assessment Of Farmer Participation In The United States Department Of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services’ Conservation Technical Assistance Program In West Virginia, Matt D. Oliver
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports
Food and fiber production on America’s farmlands have a major influence on the environment, therefore, soil and water conservation practices are critical. NRCS has provided no-fee technical assistance for nearly 100 years through the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program. The CTA program is essential because it provides technical knowledge directly to farmers for planning and implementing conservation practices that are proven to benefit environmental health and on-farm production. CTA program funds support NRCS staff and training and are thereby the local service delivery vehicle for all NRCS programs. However, in recent years, funding for CTA has remained relatively constant while …
Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten
Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten
Honors Theses
This paper analyses Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady, a local nonprofit environmental organization. The paper investigates the history of the organization as well as the effectiveness of its organizational and funding habits. A literary review was conducted to analyze the success of ECOS mission as well as the positive effects ECOS has on society using elements such as environmental education, the importance of early environmental education, how well the organization connects urban residents with the outdoors and the effectiveness of environmental programs. This research promotes the importance of early environmental education on our future generations health and environmental conditions. Additionally, through …
Seabird Distribution And Oil & Gas Potential Along The Northern Sea Route, Russia: An Arctic Marine Conservation Case Study, Meghan Kelly
Seabird Distribution And Oil & Gas Potential Along The Northern Sea Route, Russia: An Arctic Marine Conservation Case Study, Meghan Kelly
International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)
Seabirds are indicator species for the marine environment. Their populations are simultaneously affected by access to food resources and anthropogenic pressures including direct disturbance and habitat degradation associated with industrial development (Parsons et al. 2007). Therefore, using seabird distribution as a policy-relevant indicator for the Arctic marine environment supports an ecosystem based management approach aimed at protecting sensitive habitats from increased offshore oil and gas development.
This research identifies seabird habitat in the Russian Arctic utilizing in situ seabird observations from the Northern Sea Route to create a species distribution model. The spatial location of these areas will be compared …
Knowing Water: Science And The Politics Of Knowledge Production Along The Saw Kill, Carlo Diego Raimondo
Knowing Water: Science And The Politics Of Knowledge Production Along The Saw Kill, Carlo Diego Raimondo
Senior Projects Spring 2018
Beginning with globally oriented ideological constructions of water as resource, this project explores the materiality of water and how it comes to understood within our current geological era. Specifically exploring the politics of scientific knowledge production, I follow the methodological processes of the Bard Water Lab as they monitor water quality of a local stream, exploring how different apparatuses of observation are utilized in order to make a stream a legible and knowable object.
Coexistence Of Confamilial, Folivorous Indriids, Propithecus Diadema And Indri Indri, At Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, Madagascar, Lana Kerker Oliver
Coexistence Of Confamilial, Folivorous Indriids, Propithecus Diadema And Indri Indri, At Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, Madagascar, Lana Kerker Oliver
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation, I examine how two confamilial and ecologically similar indriids, indri (Indri indri), and diademed sifakas (Propithecus diadema) maintain coexistence in Betampona Nature Reserve (BNR), an eastern lowland rainforest in Madagascar. These two species occur sympatrically throughout much of their species ranges and are similarly-sized folivorous primates. As anatomic folivores, they present an opportunity to investigate how niche differentiation and resource partitioning allow two sympatric primate species with similar feeding patterns to coexist. I examined coexistence strategies and the general behavioral ecology of each species by examining their activity patterns, dietary profiles, home range use, and daily path …
Software Development For Home Energy Audits: Reducing Energy Consumption In Harrisonburg Through Technology, Brantley E. Gilbert
Software Development For Home Energy Audits: Reducing Energy Consumption In Harrisonburg Through Technology, Brantley E. Gilbert
Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
Fossil fuels play a vital role in our daily lives. Oil, natural gas, and coal powers our cars, heats our homes and water, and are used by power companies to generate the massive amounts of electricity used every day by the United States. However, this reliance on a finite source of energy is not sustainable. Fossil fuels such as these are non-renewable resources whose production will eventually be unable to keep up with the rate of consumption. Furthermore, the extraction of the stored energy in these fuels through combustion releases harmful substances into the environment, including toxins and greenhouse gases …
Understanding Urban Wilds: Nature, Culture, And Management, Ted Randich
Understanding Urban Wilds: Nature, Culture, And Management, Ted Randich
International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)
Undeveloped natural areas in cities, or urban wilds, are an invaluable resource to urban populations. They provide space for physical activity, mental recovery and relaxation, and nature interaction and learning, among other benefits. Through observation, intercept survey, and interviews, this study explores three urban wilds sites in Worcester, Massachusetts. Current literature covers definitions of what makes nature “natural,” contemporary practices in conservation, and evidence of the benefits listed above. This paper builds on the literature, shedding light on what urban wilds are made up of (nature), how they are used (culture), and how they are sustained through management. A conceptual …
The Last Best Hope: Are Voluntary Conservation Agreements Effective Tools For Protecting Imperiled Species?, Sophie B. Tsairis
The Last Best Hope: Are Voluntary Conservation Agreements Effective Tools For Protecting Imperiled Species?, Sophie B. Tsairis
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances, or CCAAs, are little known, voluntary conservation agreements that protect imperiled wildlife on private lands. These agreements have emerged over the past decade and have had mixed results in providing adequate protections for candidate species.
Landowners, private industries, state and federal agencies, and environmental nonprofits, are using CCAAs as tools to eliminate the need for an endangered species listing. An Endangered Species Act listing can lead to land-use uncertainty for private landowners and this threat is the main incentive to enroll in a CCAA. When landowners enroll in CCAAs they are agreeing to provide specific …
America's National Parks And The Anthropocene: Addressing The Present To Accommodate The Future In Acadia National Park, Sophie A. Swetz
America's National Parks And The Anthropocene: Addressing The Present To Accommodate The Future In Acadia National Park, Sophie A. Swetz
Honors Theses
In 2000, atmospheric chemist, Paul J. Crutzen, and limnologist, Eugene Stoermer, formally proposed the idea of “the Anthropocene,” a new geologic epoch in which humans are the dominant force shaping the Earth. To claim the Anthropocene's existence is to declare that human actions have altered the Earth in such a way that geologic indicators render it a distinct epoch in the stratification of geologic time. This new epoch emerges as a consequence of increased technological development employed to accommodate an anthropocentric human existence. That is, rapid advancements in technology have driven the transformation from a primarily naturally controlled planet to …
Conduits Of Communion: Monstrous Affections In Algonquin Traditional Territory, Ian S.G. Puppe
Conduits Of Communion: Monstrous Affections In Algonquin Traditional Territory, Ian S.G. Puppe
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This project investigates the legacies of shifting land tenure and stewardship practices on what is now known as the Ottawa Valley watershed (referred to as the Kitchissippi by the Omamawinini or Algonquin people), and the effects that this central colonization project has had on issues of identity and Nationalism on Canadians, diversely identified as settler-colonists of European or at least “Old World” descent and First Nations, Métis and Inuit (Lawrence 2012).
Focusing on historical and contemporary political and social issues related to Algonquin Provincial Park and its establishment, this project explores; 1) Competing claims levied by First Nations Peoples, local …
The Role Of Hybridization And The United States Fish And Wildlife Service Biologists’ Discretion In The Implementation Of The Endangered Species Act, Jennifer F. Lind-Riehl
The Role Of Hybridization And The United States Fish And Wildlife Service Biologists’ Discretion In The Implementation Of The Endangered Species Act, Jennifer F. Lind-Riehl
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that the “best available scientific and commercial data” be used to enable the protection of critically imperiled species from extinction and preserve biodiversity. However, the ESA does not provide specific guidance on how to apply this mandate. In addition, the interpretation of scientific data can be uncertain and controversial, particularly regarding species delineation and hybridization issues. US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) field biologists must decide what the best science is and how to interpret and apply it in their recommendations. As a result, FWS field biologists often have considerable discretion when it comes …
Stakeholder Perceptions Of Sustainable Value And Water Conservation: A Case Study Of Social, Environmental, And Economic Concerns In The Rookery Bay Estuary, Bruce Victor Lilyea
Stakeholder Perceptions Of Sustainable Value And Water Conservation: A Case Study Of Social, Environmental, And Economic Concerns In The Rookery Bay Estuary, Bruce Victor Lilyea
Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations
Stakeholders’ perceptions of social, environmental, and economic concerns in the Rookery Bay Estuary were examined through this research. The purpose of this study was to discover the shared value and common resolution responses for the people of the Rookery Bay area that can extend to other local environmental management scenarios. Using Stakeholder Theory, Rational Choice Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Systems Theory as theoretical foundation, the following research questions were considered: RQ1) What are the points of shared value of community stakeholders facing environmental management issues? RQ2) How do the perspectives of the community stakeholders toward the social, environmental, and economic …
Management By Crisis: Land Trust Conservation Engagement And Methods In Vermont, Louise Sopher Lintilhac
Management By Crisis: Land Trust Conservation Engagement And Methods In Vermont, Louise Sopher Lintilhac
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Planning a future for the landscapes we live in can be a daunting challenge for many communities in Vermont. Conservation initiatives affect the quality of life for all community members and can be difficult if not impossible to change in the event of poor planning. Through examining stakeholder relationships with land trusts I have explored the complexities of planning processes used by land trusts in Vermont for conservation initiatives
The study involved one statewide land trust, the Vermont Land Trust, and two community land trusts, the Stowe Land Trust and the Duxbury Land Trust. I used qualitative methods including document …
Using Storm-Watersheds And A Multi-Criteria Decision Model For Biodiversity Conservation In An Urban Environment, Christina M. Chiappetta
Using Storm-Watersheds And A Multi-Criteria Decision Model For Biodiversity Conservation In An Urban Environment, Christina M. Chiappetta
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Many planning and land use decisions in New York State are controlled at the local (town or municipal) level, not an optimal scale for planning and implementing resource conservation management. Watershed boundaries provide a more ecologically meaningful scale for conservation, because they capture a full range of natural ecosystem processes that span political boundaries. However, defining an urban watershed is complicated by stormwater infrastructure, so standard topographic watershed boundaries may be inadequate for urban resource conservation even when applied at the watershed scale. Storm-watersheds distort both municipal and watershed boundaries, because the flows are redirected in ways that are often …
A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz
A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Chile's state designated protected areas are reported to show representation bias and to be unable to meet conservation goals. Private protected areas are considered an important tool to resolve these issues, which has led to support for increasing the role of private protected areas in Chile and creating an integrated public-private protected area network. But the validity of the capacity of private protected areas to fix Chile's state protected area network bias, and the advantage of creating an integrated protected area network, have not been assessed. This study uses the most recent data on Chile's state, private, and international protected …
Development Of A Public Education Website: Building Bridges Over Water, Angelina Mckee
Development Of A Public Education Website: Building Bridges Over Water, Angelina Mckee
Agricultural Education and Communication
Website created by Angelina McKee to educate the public about water resource issues. Water is the basic unit of life, water resources are the basis for what societies and ecosystems are founded upon. Water shortages and droughts are more prevalent in our ever-changing world. It is no shock that there are discrepancies between various stockholders on either sides of the dry riverbed. This senior project resulted in the development of a website that addresses global water resources, water use in California, water conservation, and water allocation. The website informs the public on water resources and related issues and will hopefully …
The Imperative Of Conserving California's Foothill Oak Woodlands, Lauren Phillips
The Imperative Of Conserving California's Foothill Oak Woodlands, Lauren Phillips
Social Sciences
No abstract provided.
The Elwha River Restoration: Landscape Change, Salmon, And Sense Of Place, Kelseyanne Johnson
The Elwha River Restoration: Landscape Change, Salmon, And Sense Of Place, Kelseyanne Johnson
All Master's Theses
Removal of the Elwha River dams to restore the ecosystem and salmon fisheries is the largest project of its kind in the history of the United States. Spanning decades and affecting generations, this project has changed and will continue to change the landscape. This research examined the influence of the anticipated return of salmon on 18 key stakeholders' sense of place of the Elwha River. For almost all stakeholders, changes to the Elwha landscape are welcomed as they expect that salmon will restore the ecosystem to its natural state. Narrative data revealed dominant themes in participants' sense of place expressed …
Livestock Production And Wildlife-Based Tourism: Articulating Land-Use And Policy Conflicts In The Okavango Delta Ramsar Site In Botswana, Nelson Kgamanyane Sello
Livestock Production And Wildlife-Based Tourism: Articulating Land-Use And Policy Conflicts In The Okavango Delta Ramsar Site In Botswana, Nelson Kgamanyane Sello
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The management of common pool resources and policy conflicts between livestock and wildlife, two land-use types that take place in the same geo-spatial area has been a subject of debate among scholars for decades. This conflict in policies has engendered in communities which are beneficiaries attitudes that are either negative towards wildlife or favorable depending on the benefits they derive from them. This research therefore set out to understand the conflicts in the management of the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site (ODRS) where the OD is situated. The study used the grounded theory to collect and analyze the data in the …
Turtle Cam: Live Multimedia Interaction For Engaging Potential Visitor Population To Canaveral National Seashore, Brian Alfred Tortorelli
Turtle Cam: Live Multimedia Interaction For Engaging Potential Visitor Population To Canaveral National Seashore, Brian Alfred Tortorelli
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This project expands the outreach of the Canaveral National Seashore to its visitors, potential visitors, and virtual visitors through its goals in conservancy and preservation of its natural resources. This paper is involved with the current iteration of a series of digital media projects, the Sea Turtle Nest Camera, also known as, Turtle Cam. It details how and why this project was designed to be an ongoing initiative to assist in those goals.