Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Potential Carbon Flux Responses To Shifting Hydroecological And Climactic Regimes In The Peace-Athabasca Delta, Caleb W. Light

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The CO2 flux response of organic carbon stored in lake sediments and littoral peat contained in sensitive, northern wetlands may contribute to accelerating atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Temperature and moisture conditions are important variables that affect the rate and quantity of CO2 released to the atmosphere from organic matter stored in lake sediments and peat. Antecedent hydroecological conditions also influence the direction and magnitude of CO2 fluxes to the atmosphere in a changing environment. To better understand and characterize the role of antecedent conditions on CO2 fluxes, this study combines paleolimnological reconstructions with laboratory incubations of littoral peat and lake sediment …

Hydrological Response Patterns And Solute Flux In Canadian Shield Basins: Role Of Different Physical Features And Antecedent Moisture Conditions, Jessica Mueller

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Patterns of stream flow in relatively undisturbed Canadian Shield basins are closely linked to their physical and vegetative characteristics and meteorological conditions. The physical characteristics include topography, soil-till composition, depth and structure, slope morphology and bedrock geology. Hydrological flowpaths through, and in-situ chemical processes in the soil-till matrix are influenced greatly by the composition of these features and by the antecedent hydrological conditions preceding a given storm or snowmelt event.

A long term data set, collected by the Dorset Environmental Science Centre, is used to examine eight forested basins within the Muskoka-Haliburton region of south-central Ontario. The basins have a …

An Institutional Analysis Of Oil And Gas Sector Development And Environmental Management In The Yukon Territory, Jason C. May

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis investigates the ways in which oil and gas development priorities and concern for the environment are integrated within strategic planning and management frameworks, and how associated conflict is addressed, in a case study of the Yukon. Because substantial ground-based oil and gas activity is yet to occur in the territory, a thorough understanding of the institutions and institutional arrangements set to govern future oil and gas development is a valuable tool for gauging the capacity to integrate these priorities. Therefore, this thesis employs the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to analyze the legislation, regulations, policies, and institutions …

An Analysis Of Community Forest Implementation In British Columbia, Canada, Ryan C. Bullock

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The community forest is increasingly seen as an alternative to industrial forestry for its perceived potential to mitigate conflict in forest resource management and planning. Theoretically, a community-based approach affords the chance to assert local values, provide local benefits, and manage resources differently than established top-down approaches. Yet practical examples of community forest initiatives in Canada reveal a host of constraints. This research uses a multiple case study design to investigate the motivations for and challenges to implementing community forests in British Columbia, Canada. Observations are drawn from four case studies (Denman Island, Malcolm Island, Cortes Island, and Creston) in …

Assessment And Classification Of A Modified Urban Stream: Schneider Creek, Kitchener, Ontario, J. Andrew Carnegie

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study has produced an assessment framework and classification designed specifically for urban modified streams. While many stream assessment frameworks do exist, most are designed for natural streams and as such have no provision for characteristics of urban streams such as concrete channelization, storm drains, and urban debris. Building upon previous assessment and classification schemes, both urban and natural, this framework satisfies this need. It strengths lie in its user-friendly, visual-based approach to assessment by employing representative photographs and qualitative information to aid the user. A total of ten variables were employed that are scaled on a spectrum of categories, …

Stakeholder Attitudes As A Resistance Toward Long-Range Management Of A Threatened Landscape: A Case Study Of Aggregate Use In The Township Of North Dumfries (Ontario), Kim Margaret Horrigan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Township of North Dumfries is located in the rapidly expanding Municipality of Waterloo. This Township is in close proximity to Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Hamilton, and is halfway between London and Toronto, with the primary east-west Highway 401 running through the Township. It is an unique area in that it is characterized by an abundance of prime agricultural lands, Environmentally Sensitive Policy Areas, and wetlands. In addition, the Township is underlain with a large quantity of good quality glacially derived aggregate materials. Land use conflicts have increased as a result of aggregate developers’ pressures on the resources of this …

Managing Urban Water Resources In A Developing Economy: The Case Of Owerri, Nigeria, Lawrence Chidi Anukam

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Projections indicate that the disparity in population numbers will widen further by the year 2025 when the global population is expected to be 8.5 billion, and at that time about 84% will be living in the developing countries (World Resources Institute, 1992). The greatest proportional increase will occur in Africa, where the population is projected to nearly triple, from a 1990 level of 642 million to 1.6 billion in 2025. In 1997, the population of Nigeria alone was about 100 million, making it the largest country, in terms of population, in Africa. From 1960 to 1990, the average annual population …

The Energy Crisis: The Case Of The Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas), With Special Reference To Nigeria, Ghana And Burkina Faso, Francis Bliss Lagbo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The energy crisis of West African countries has assumed major importance over the past few decades. The oil price increases of the 1970s have posed innumerable problems to these countries. But that is hardly the entire story. The vegetation cover of most places have been stripped so bare that people must walk for hours to find the day's supply of firewood, the traditional energy source. Doing something about the problem involves, first of all, understanding what the situation really is. This study provides an analysis of the spatial, sectoral and social inequalities in energy production and consumption in BCOWAS. Scrutiny …

Pioneers Of Modern Geography: Translations Pertaining To German Geographers Of The Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Robert C. West

GreyZone

This collection of English translations samples the writings and/or critiques thereon of six important German geographers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: those of August Meitzen, Eduard Hahn, Otto Schliiter, Alfred Hettner, Siegfried Passarge, and Karl Sapper. Each of these scholars influenced in various ways the course of modem geographical thinking and instruction in German universities, and their methodologies were also adopted in part by professional geographers in other European countries and in the United States. Four of them—Hahn, Schliiter, Hettner and Passarge— were students of Ferdinand von Richthofen, often considered the “father” of professional geography in Germany. …

Identifying Directional Properties Of Spatial Point Patterns An Investigation Of Two Methods, Rolf Puchtinger

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Analyses of spatial point patterns tend to focus on deviations from randomness by either clustering or regularity. One assumption of these analyses implies that the point generating process is equal in all directions. However, the association of the location of points with a process biased in one or more directions is widely neglected due to a lack of appropriate statistical procedures. This is surprising, since patterns generated by directional processes are important in Geography. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the blunt-triangle method and the third moment method for their potential of identifying directionality in spatial point patterns. …

An Assessment Of Hybrid Poplar Biomass Plantations For Ontario, Peter Caleb Sturrup

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The search for an alternative to oil dominated political and economic thinking during the 1970’s and continues in this decade. In Ontario, one such alternative is methanol, which could possibly be supplied in large quantities from hybrid poplar biomass plantations. While the nature of these plantations has been debated at greath length, the exact quantity and location of land that could be available for plantations in Ontario has not been identified.

Using the Land Evaluation Model (LEM 2) developed at the University of Guelph an inventory of the land resources and the resulting land use patterns is determined. Throughout the …

The Role Of The Computer In Society Some Aspects Of Person-Machine Interaction, Robert Clarence Hallman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Community Psychology, we assume that people at the grassroots can learn to help themselves if they are offered the means of understanding a problem and helped to discover the strategies needed to resolve it. Micro-computer technology is currently at a cultural crossroads: a technology in search of new applications. To date, research and concerns around the role of the computer in society have taken the macro view, being predominantly sociologically, politically, and economically oriented. The purpose of the present study was to bring these issues to the individual level and to examine some variables at the person-computer interface. In …

Environmental Perception And Its Impacts On The Tourist Industry: A Case Study Of The Niagara Region, Donna Marie Senese

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The natural resources of the Niagara Region of Ontario have played an important role in the success of the tourist industry in the region. The Niagara Region has been developed on an industrial and agricultural base since the nineteenth century. Due to conflicting demands of the manufacturing, agricultural and tourism industries for aesthetic, recreational and waste disposal purposes, the physical environment has deteriorated. The research problem of this thesis is to determine the extent of the effect of this deteriorated environment upon the tourist industry in the Niagara Region.

Physical inventories of resources are not adequate in terms of evaluating …

Changes In The Forest Composition In The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Forest Region Of Ontario And The Resultant Outbreaks Of The Spruce Budworm Choristoneura Fumiferana (Clem.), John F. Bowen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana Clem. is the foremost forest pest in Canada. The species is endemic to eastern North America. Since the turn of the century the insect has become a major problem in the “Great Lakes St. Lawrence Forest Region” of Ontario, an area where prior to recent times the insect did not occur in damaging numbers.

Analysis of the life cycle of the insect reveals that the only limiting factor capable of controlling outbreaks is a lack of food. The required tree species is balsam fir Abies balsama (L.) Mill. The forests of Ontario have been altered …

Morphology And Anatomy Of The Norwood Esker, Ontario, John Arthur Dixon

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Over its 25 km. length the Norwood esker traverses two morphologically different areas, a northern section of kame, and a southern section of elongated drumlins. In the north the esker consists of single and multiple ridges: where multiple, the ridges are superimposed on a lower, broader, plateau-like base. In the south a high, steep-sided single ridge is present. In both areas, where single, the ridge splits locally into two narrower ridges which region a short distance downstream.

Internally, the esker contains mostly cross-laminated sands, tough-shaped and tabular sets of cross-bedded sands and gravel, and matrix-supported sandy gravels. The cross-laminated sands …

A Review And Case Study Of The Effect Of Urbanisation On Streamflow, R.F. Fraser

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.

A Sedimentological Study Of Modern And Ancient Lacustrine Environments At Michael Bay, Lake Huron, Lindsay D. Nakashima

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Modern and ancient environments associated with Lakes Algoma and Huron were studied according to attributes of stratigraphy, sediment texture, parameters, sediment size distribution, bedforms, and primary sedimentary structures. Results from a computation of wave refraction diagrams and from an examination of the wave climate characteristics indicate that the modern embayment is low energy.

A sediment texture comparison between modern and ancient environments indicates that higher energy pervailed in the ancient environment relative to the present day environment. The cobble and gravel sediments as well as an extensive belt of foredunes preserved in the ancient environment are evidence of this high …

Sedimentology Of The Glaciofluvial Deposits Of Woolwich And Pilkington Townships, Ellis Bowes

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Lake Wisconsin glaciofluvial deposits in Woolwich and Pilkington townships are examined for the purpose of environmental reconstruction and the establishment of the paleocurrent patterns. Sediment grain size and primary sedimentary structure are used to define sedimentary facies of environmental studies while the distribution of indicator pebbles, trends in clast size reduction and primary sedimentary structures and employed for paleocurrent analysis. The exposures most representative of the depositional sequences encountered are examined and provide an impression of the sedimentological characteristics of the various glaciofluvial deposits.

Three distinctive types of glaciofluvial deposits can be identified on the basis of surface morphology …

A Feasibility Study Of Commercial Upland Game Bird Farms In Waterloo County, Ontario, Robert John Mcclure

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Nickel Sulphide Deposits Within The Area Of The Canadian Shield, Robert G. Kreiner

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In order to plan the future development of the Canadian Shield within a conceptual framework as suggested by the Mid-Canada Corridor concept, both the presently developed and potential, natural resources of this area need to be evaluated for knowledgeable development and management. To this purpose, various areas of nickel sulphide deposits within the area of the Canadian Shield have been studied with the object of determining similar sequences of intrusive events and their spatial relationships.

Within the Sudbury area, Ontario, five periods of intrusive activity have been recognized, each period characterized by an initial intrusion of acidic composition, followed in …