Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Structure-From-Motion Derived Snow Cover In Burned Forests Of The Western Oregon Cascades, Siobhan Ciafone

Dissertations and Theses

Forest fire occurrence in the western US has increased rapidly since the 1980s, and most western US fires occur in the seasonal snow zone. Burned forests influence snow accumulation and melt patterns for years following fire, and understanding drivers of variability in snow cover across a burned landscape at the basin-scale is necessary for accurate hazard prediction and water resource forecasting. Basin-scale surveys of snowpack are possible with remote sensing, but accurate sensing methods such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) are often cost-prohibitive. In the last decade, structure-from-motion (SfM), an optical remote sensing technique, has emerged as an affordable …

The Impact Of Climate Change On Selected Pnw Watersheds Through The Lens Of Western Red Cedar Habitat, Jordan T. Hamann

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change is a real phenomenon that is exacerbating existing natural processes and developing into a new normal for the planet. This change may be devastating for Pacific Northwest populations of Western Red Cedar (WRC) west of the Cascade Mountain range in the states of Oregon and Washington. WRC is a valuable tree species for reasons both economic and cultural. Dieback among WRC is following an accelerating trend. Since dieback is usually followed by tree mortality, understanding its causes and distribution is beneficial to the overall success of the species going into the future.

Through the use of ESRI's ArcGIS …

A Gridded Co2 Emissions Inventory For Portland, Or, James Eckhardt Powell

Dissertations and Theses

Here we develop a new high resolution inventory of CO₂ emissions for the three Oregon counties which comprise the bulk of the City of Portland, Oregon, USA. Locally curated and long-running data collection efforts for on-road traffic activity and emission rates are used to model on-road emissions, and a new survey of the area's natural gas network informs the building energy model. The inventory estimates total emissions of CO₂ for each hour of the year 2018 in the on-road, residential, and commercial building sectors at 1 km² resolution. The onroad inventory compares to within 3% with an …

Factors Affecting Community Rating System Participation In The National Flood Insurance Program: A Case Study Of Texas, Ryan David Eddings

Dissertations and Theses

Since the 1960s, the frequency and cost of floods have, on average, increased in the United States. Concurrent with this increase in flood losses has been an increase in flood insurance claims paid out by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The existing literature shows that participation in the NFIP's Community Rating System (CRS) program successfully lowered flood losses and NFIP insurance claims in the participating communities. In spite of these successes, community participation in the CRS is low and the NFIP is currently more than $20 billion in debt. By identifying factors predicting participation and related barriers to entry …

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Colonization Response To Dike Removal In The Salmon River Estuary, Elinore Webb

Dissertations and Theses

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbiotic relationships with wetland plants and are important to the restoration of coastal estuaries. The purpose of this study was to assess the presence and colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Distichlis spicata from three formerly diked areas of the Salmon River Estuary to determine an initial understanding of the mycorrhizal community in tidal wetlands post-restoration. AMF were present in all four sample areas and total colonization ranged on average 39-72%. The reference site had the lowest levels of total colonization, which is contrary to the findings of studies of younger wetland restorations. Most importantly, …

Efficiency In The Upper Deschutes Basin: Understanding The Hydrosocial Implications Of Irrigation Canal Piping, Rebecca Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

In response to water scarcity, irrigation efficiency projects aim to conserve water for in-stream flow and agricultural use. Piping irrigation canals is a common irrigation efficiency method which reduces the loss of incidental recharge, resulting in trade-offs within a hydrosocial system. Few studies have focused on the consequences of canal piping and none have integrated a critical analysis of the social factors involved in deciding what constitutes 'efficient' water use. This study seeks to fill this gap by combining natural and social science to give attention to the scales and perspectives involved in irrigation efficiency canal piping and the material …

"We've Created Cheap Energy Off The Backs Of Salmon": Dam Removal Politics And Alliances In The Lower Snake River Basin, Krista Harrington

Dissertations and Theses

Dams, once considered by many to be good for water development in the Western U.S., might not be a part of a climate resilient future. Dams have come under increasing scrutiny due to undesirable ecological implications. Although dam removal proposals are growingly popular in recent decades, they are controversial since they impact different stakeholders in different ways. In the Pacific Northwest, the Lower four Snake River dams have long been criticized for their negative impacts on salmon. In February 2021, US Congressman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) proposed a comprehensive framework to deconstruct the Lower four Snake River dams as an attempt …

Stakeholder Participation And Influence At State Public Utility Commissions, Genevieve Theresa Kruse

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the international consensus that climate change is a problem, few substantive policies are being pushed forward at the national level to meet international greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement. The most significant climate change policies are emerging at state public utility commissions (PUCs). While PUCs were traditionally structured to regulate utilities, state PUCs are now finding themselves at the hub for renewable energy, clean energy, and distributed energy policies. Despite the increase in renewable and clean energy policies at state PUCs, there is a noticeably small environmental and clean energy stakeholder presence at those PUC proceedings. A …

Coming To Know The Local Environment: Children's Experiences In Rautamai Gaunpalika, Nepal, Elsie Nicole Love

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative research, conducted over three months from late monsoon season into early fall of 2018 with twenty-six children and thirteen adults, explores how children in the hills of Rautamai Gaunpalika, Province 1, Nepal come to know their local environment. Semi-structured interviews with children, their family members, and teachers, and participant observation with children as they worked and played in forests, fields, and streams, suggest that outside of school, children come to know their local environment in the following ways: through participation in and application of knowledge to subsistence practices; through collaborative learning and teaching in mixed-age groups; through relationships …

Spatial And Seasonal Variations Of Microplastic Concentrations In Portland's Freshwater Ecosystems, Rebecca Talbot

Dissertations and Theses

Microplastics are a pollutant of growing concern and are ubiquitous in a variety of environmental compartments. The majority of microplastics research to date has been conducted in marine waters, and less is known regarding the sources and delivery pathways of microplastics in urban rivers. The first chapter is comprised of a review of the scientific literature regarding the spatial and temporal factors affecting global freshwater microplastic distributions and abundances. Microplastic spatial distributions are heavily influenced by anthropogenic factors, with higher concentrations reported in regions characterized by urban land cover, high population density, and wastewater treatment plant effluent. Temporal variables of …

Heat, Wildfire And Energy Demand: An Examination Of Residential Buildings And Community Equity, Chrissi Argyro Antonopoulos

Dissertations and Theses

Extreme heat and wildfire events are becoming more prolific and exacerbated by climate change, carrying significant implications for environmental and social systems. Residential buildings play a central role in protecting people from heat and pollutant exposure during extreme weather events, but the level of protection varies dramatically depending on building energy efficiency and technology availability. Low-income and communities of color have higher energy burdens compared to affluent populations, and underserved communities often do not have financial resources for, or access to, advanced building technologies. This dissertation explores the impacts of extreme heat and wildfire on residential buildings, focused specifically on …

More Than Words: Articulating The Multisensory Experiences Of Protected Area Visitors In Southern Nevada, Sara Nicole Temme

Dissertations and Theses

The complex sensory experiences of visitors to U.S. protected areas are not well understood. Previous research investigates visitor activities, motivations, and the ways place attachment cultivates support for conservation activities and other pro-environmental behavior. However, it is unclear how protected area visitor sensory experiences contribute to these behaviors. This study aims to articulate the multisensory experiences of visitors to the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex and the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area in southern Nevada, U.S.A. Specifically, it demonstrates the complexity of these experiences as present, intertwined, and embodied in all visit phases: before, during, and after. Utilizing a mixed-method …

Forest Fire Effects On The Temporal Variability Of Landscape Snow Albedo Relative To Burn Severity, Max Gersh

Dissertations and Theses

Snow-water storage is decreasing, while forest fires are increasing in duration, size, frequency, and intensity, due to climate change. Most forest fires occur in the seasonal snow zone, altering snow mass and energy balance for many years following fire. Following forest fires, Surface snow albedo (SSA) decreases, as light absorbing particles (LAP), particularly black carbon (BC) produced in forest fires get deposited throughout the snowpack, altering snowpack energy balance driving earlier snowmelt in burned forests. While SSA decreases, landscape snow albedo (LSA) increases following fire, as more of the snow-covered surface becomes visible beneath the burned forest canopy, brightening the …

Climate Model Evaluation Of Atmospheric Rivers Over The Contiguous United States, Ilan González-Hirshfeld

Dissertations and Theses

Atmospheric rivers (ARs)--long corridors of intense atmospheric water vapor transport--significantly influence the hydrologic cycle and regional hydrometeorological extremes across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Ongoing and future climate change may alter AR characteristics and impacts, making confident climate model projections of future change, especially at regional scales, of critical importance. In order to better constrain uncertainty in such projections of future change, we perform a comprehensive climate model evaluation of AR climatology over the CONUS. Using an established AR detection algorithm, we evaluate the representation of ARs in historical simulations (1984-2013) from a suite of models participating in the sixth …

Projections Of Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation Patterns And Associated Temperature And Precipitation Over The Pacific Northwest Using Cmip6 Models, Graham Patrick Taylor

Dissertations and Theses

Projections of 500 hPa geopotential height (Z500) patterns over the Pacific Northwest of North America and their associated surface temperature, precipitation, and frequency of occurrence are assessed using models from the 6th phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). The self-organizing maps approach is applied to reanalysis data from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version-2 (MERRA-2) to cluster daily Z500 anomalies into 12 representative patterns that span the range of historical circulation patterns. CMIP6 data for daily Z500 anomalies are mapped to each node for historical and end of century global warming experiments, and the resulting …

A Ground-Based Assessment Framework For Validating Diesel Particulate Emission Models And Applicability In Portland, Or, Kirsten Marie Sarle

Dissertations and Theses

Exposure to diesel emissions causes a range of health effects throughout the body, impairing; respiratory, cardiovascular, central nervous, renal, and cognitive systems. Diesel particulate matter (DPM) in Portland, Oregon is prevalent due to the layout of highly trafficked roadways, rail lines, and marine ports exposing a dense population to high levels of exhaust pollution. These high concentrations of ambient diesel emissions disproportionately impact minority and low-income populations.

Ground-based monitoring and modeling are two ways to assess ambient DPM. However, there are uncertainties in modeled DPM due to knowledge gaps in emissions inventories as well as lack of model validation against …

Rowing Concerns: Collaborative Governance And Stakeholder Determination In The Central Oregon's Deschutes Basin, Noel Vineyard

Dissertations and Theses

In 2019, a coalition of irrigation districts in central Oregon's Deschutes Basin submitted the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan to the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. This Habitat Conservation Plan purported to have been constructed through a collaborative governance structure between the irrigation districts and various community stakeholders who all had interests in basin management, however segments of the Basin's river recreation community began to raise concerns that their voices were not included. The purpose of this research was to investigate how stakeholder status in the Deschutes Basin is created through collaborative water governance processes like development of the …

Agency, Sense Of Place, And Knowledge On The Zumwalt Prairie: A Social Study Of Place-Based Conservation And Resilience, Dana Elyse Hellman

Dissertations and Theses

Shifting and often diminishing environmental conditions, due to climate change, resource loss, and ecosystem degradation, pose a significant concern to both social and ecological systems. The field of conservation science has attempted to address environmental threats through varying approaches, transitioning from fortress conservation and complete human exclusion to community-based and co-managed models which incorporate human actors and social dimensions in the conservation process. The latest iteration of conservation scholarship, place-based conservation, is deeply rooted in interdisciplinary, social scientific thinking, and calls for significant practitioner engagement with local knowledge, practices, social constructions, and place meanings. It is an approach which emphasizes …

Urban Lakes: Ecosystem Services And Management, Laura Costadone

Dissertations and Theses

Lakes provide a variety of ecosystem services and benefits that greatly contribute to urban sustainability. Despite the growing interest in integrating freshwater systems into management and policy decisions, urban lakes are often overlooked in land-use planning. Nutrient and pollutant runoff from the surrounding urbanized watershed result in water quality deterioration that negatively impact the lake ecological functions and related ecosystem services. The vulnerability and degradation of these urban ecosystems should be a matter of concern, especially considering that, in rapidly growing metropolitan areas, the demand for aesthetic and recreational services provided by urban lakes is increasing. The overall goal of …

Climatic Controls On The Kinematics Of The Hooskanaden Landslide, Curry County, Oregon, Kara Kingen

Dissertations and Theses

Slow-moving earthflows represent major sources of sediment transport and erosion and are problematic for the management of critical infrastructure. The Hooskanaden Landslide -- a slow-moving earthflow on the southwest coast of Oregon -- crosses US Highway 101 and has been a site of continued interest to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) due to the weak lithology, erosive environment, and recurrent surge behavior (every ~15 years). Past surges, including the most recent (2019), have occurred during the winter, suggesting that velocity changes are predominantly controlled by climatic inputs. To examine the response of the Hooskanaden Landslide to seasonal and other …

Evaluation Of Manual And Semi-Automated Deep-Seated Landslide Inventory Processes: Willapa Hills, Washington, Tiffany E. Justice

Dissertations and Theses

Recent advances in remote sensing data and technology have allowed for computational models to be designed that successfully extract landforms from the landscape. The goal of this work is to create one such semi-automated model to extract deep-seated landslides located in complex geomorphic terrain. This is accomplished using geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) techniques, considered by leaders in the field of image analysis to have an advantage over traditional automated classification methods. GEOBIA methods can mimic human visual interpretation by including more characteristic features used to assess the relationship between image data and the ground surface such as color reflectance …

Determinants Of Green Purchase Intentions Of Saudi Consumers, Amani Mohammed Kaadoor

Dissertations and Theses

Much of the research on how and why consumers engage in pro-environmental consumption has occurred in the wealthy countries of the West, where green markets are increasingly well established. Research in other economic and cultural context is sparse and points to large regional differences that cause some researchers to call key theoretical foundations, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior, into question. In response, this study investigates the factors that predict green purchase intention for food and personal care products in Saudi Arabia, a wealthy country with a rapidly growing population, severe environmental challenges, and a nascent green consumer market …

Waste Management In The Global South: An Inquiry On The Patterns Of Plastic And Waste Material Flows In Colombo, Sri Lanka, Katie Ann Conlon

Dissertations and Theses

Global plastic production continues to increase at an exponential pace, and global waste projections show waste generation rising by 70% by 2050. Plastic waste connects to all social processes, especially within the context of urbanization and development; urban planning and land management; GHG emissions; labor; social equity; public health; rural-to-urban migration; increasing population; increasing consumption; climate change; etc. The focus of this dissertation is an analysis of waste management practices in Sri Lanka using a grounded theory based methodology, with a goal to better understand the social and ecological impacts of plastic waste in Sri Lanka. This research fills a …

A Computer Science Academic Vocabulary List, David Roesler

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis documents the development of the Computer Science Academic Vocabulary List (CSAVL), a pedagogical tool intended for use by English-for-specific-purpose educators and material developers. A 3.5-million-word corpus of academic computer science textbooks and journal articles was developed in order to produce the CSAVL. This study draws on the improved methodologies used in the creation of recent lemma-based word lists such as the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) and the Medical Academic Vocabulary List (MAVL), which take into account the discipline-specific meanings of academic vocabulary. The CSAVL provides specific information for each entry, including part of speech and CS-specific meanings in …

Spatial Statistical Approaches To Water Quality Modelling, Janardan Mainali

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation aims to advance the existing knowledge related to spatial modeling of water quality by exploring and introducing innovative approaches to different spatial conceptualizations for water quality modeling and incorporating upstream-downstream relations in geographically weighted regression. By carrying out a systematic literature review of four different classes of spatial models in Chapter One, this dissertation identifies the following major research gaps: lack of incorporation of multiscale processes, not enough emphasis on spatial weights matrices, and unavailability of upstream-downstream relationships in geographically weighted regressions. Chapters Two and Three were designed to address these gaps in the literature. In Chapter Two, …

Collaboration And Evaluation In Urban Sustainability And Resilience Transformations: The Keys To A Just Transition?, Liliana Elizabeth Caughman

Dissertations and Theses

Climate has changed and will continue changing; city populations are swelling as urbanization continues to accelerate; extreme environmental events like heat waves and floods are becoming more severe and more common; and the climate justice movement is rapidly gaining momentum. It in this context that municipal governments find themselves urgently seeking solutions to transition cities from extractive, vulnerable, and unjust to sustainable, resilient, and equitable. The task is complex and will require systemic transformations across interconnected social, environmental, and economic infrastructures. Emerging theories regarding how to govern such massive changes suggest Transition Management strategies and the values of a just …

Archaeological Feature Identification Through Geochemical Analysis Of Arctic Sediments From The Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Northwest Alaska, Patrick William Reed

Dissertations and Theses

Identification and interpretation of archaeological phenomena is typically based on visual cues and the physical presence of "something archaeological," such as a diagnostic artifact, landscape modification, or structural element. Yet many archaeological features, i.e. the discrete archaeological deposits related to past human behavior, lack clear indicators of human activity that provides clues to the feature's origin. At the Cape Krusenstern beach ridge complex, located in northwest Alaska, ambiguous features, that could be natural or anthropogenic (vegetation anomalies), or are of unknown cultural function (indeterminate), comprise 60% of the identified features at the complex. These ambiguous features represent a large gap …

Unpacking The Process And Outcomes Of Ethical Markets: A Focus On Certified B Corporations, Renée Bogin Curtis

Dissertations and Theses

The growth in conscious consumption presents an opportunity to 1) better understand the potential outcomes of ethical market practices as a community-advocacy tool and 2) to consider potential policy considerations. The marketplace has increasingly become an arena for social action. This leads to the question of how can markets facilitate ethical business practices and community benefits? The recent rise of social benefit corporations warrants an evaluation of the outcomes of ethically-driven markets. Using a comparative research design and qualitative interview methods, this study examines certified Benefit Corporations (B Corps) in two selected cities: Philadelphia and Portland. Through interviews with B …

Glacial Meltwater Modeling To Simulate Lake Water Budget (1996-2013) In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Julian Michael Cross

Dissertations and Theses

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), the largest ice-free region (4,500 km²) in Antarctica, are a polar desert with an average annual temperature of -18ºC. In Taylor Valley, one of the MDV, closed-basin, perennially ice-covered lakes occupy the valley floor. Their water balance is controlled by inflow from glacial meltwater runoff and loss due to sublimation, making them sensitive indicators of climate. In this study, a physically-based model of glacier meltwater and lake ice sublimation is adapted to explain modern (1996 to 2013) lake-level variations. Meltwater model results were improved by the inclusion of MODIS remotely-sensed albedo measurements (E …

Hydrologic Trends And Spatial Relationships Of Stream Temperature And Discharge In Urbanizing Watersheds In The Portland Metropolitan Area Of The Pacific Northwest, Emma Lee Brenneman

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores various relationships of streamflow and stream temperature over the Portland Metropolitan area in two urbanizing watersheds. Four stream temperature and discharge metrics were derived from USGS stream gauges in the Tualatin River and Johnson Creek watersheds and were analyzed for monotonic trends. Additionally, this study explored the sensitivity of stream temperature to air temperature and streamflow to assess where locations throughout the watershed may be more sensitive to these changes. Relationships among stream temperature, air temperature, and streamflow were assessed using linear and nonlinear bivariate regression for yearly values and summer months. Additionally, this study seeks to …