Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Forest Management In A Changing Climate: Integrating Social And Biopysical Sciences To Inform Adaptive Responses To Future Uncertainty, Peter Breigenzer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forests provide numerous ecological and socio-economic benefits, yet climate change is creating novel and extreme conditions that threaten forests and disrupt traditional management practices. To address future uncertainty about how to manage forests amid a rapidly changing climate, researchers have developed adaptive management strategies that move away from using historical ecological baselines as management goals. However, despite increases in adaptive forest management frameworks, there are still concerns that private woodland owners (PWOs; also known as family forest owners or non-industrial private landowners) are not adopting beneficial practices. Additionally, since tree canopies often buffer understory microclimates (i.e., fine scale variation in …

Species Data And Vector Modeling: Evaluating Datasets For Improved Models Of Ixodes Ricinus Tick Distribution In Europe Under A Changing Climate, Steven Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To increase capacity for monitoring and surveillance of tick-borne diseases, publicly available tick distribution and climate change datasets are required to create accurate predictive distribution models. It is difficult, however, to assess model accuracy and utility when using incomplete datasets.  The more recent development of comprehensive tick databases for Europe and availability of climate change scenarios from multiple IPCC Assessment Reports allows for improved modeling efforts. Multiple tick datasets were combined and three climate change projections were compared by predicting current and future distributions of Ixodes ricinus ticks in Europe using the MaxEnt species distribution model. Overall, much of Europe …

Assessment Of Historical Climate Variability In Maine With Implications For Future Agricultural Productivity And Adaptation, Carly Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a wicked problem with global impacts, one of which being the sustainability of the existing global food system. As temperatures and variability in precipitation are projected to increase, the challenges to agriculture are expected to intensify. This thesis examines the Maine historical climate record over the growing season, in combination with future projections, to assess how conditions have changed and will change with agricultural implications. In this analysis, relevant climatic variables are analyzed, and agriculture-significant measures are derived for Maine’s three climate divisions using four decades of daily and monthly gridded datasets. In addition, this thesis explores …

Fire Emissions In The Tropical Indonesia: Improved Estimation And Driving Forces Investigation, Xiaoman Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indonesia has experienced frequent fires since the 1970s due to large-scale peatland conversion and extensive drainage for agricultural development. Fire emissions released from these fires have led to Indonesia being the world’s 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases in certain years. Given that fire emissions severely affect climate, weather, and the human environment, numerous approaches have been developed to estimate fire emissions. However, existing emission estimates differ largely by a factor of four in this tropical country because of frequent cloud interferences and low-temperature smoldering fires. Therefore, this dissertation aims to improve the quantification of Indonesian fire emissions through enhanced …

A Social-Ecological Examination Of Moose In Maine: Habitat, Management, And Changing Seasonality, Asha Dimatteo-Lepape

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine is a New England state with rich ecosystems and diverse opportunities for enjoying the outdoors. Maine is well known as a popular nature-based tourist destination, and is often associated with its notable moose population. Social-ecological systems in Maine are highly intertwined, and as such, are especially susceptible to impacts resulting from climate change. Moose health in the state is already being negatively impacted by climate change with high infestation rates of winter tick resulting in declining moose health and high moose calf mortality. Given that late winter is a time of high stress and increased mortality of moose due …

Major League Baseball Fans’ Climate Change Attitudes And Willingness To Adapt: Climate Vulnerability Vs. America’S Pastime., Jessica R. Murfree

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change threatens the ability to enjoy sport around the world, including in the United States. While the scientific community reached consensus regarding the presence and severity of climate change near the turn of the twenty-first century, that same agreement has not been met across the American general public. Major League Baseball (MLB) is particularly vulnerable to climate change in the U.S. due to its season duration, geographic footprint, and largely outdoor nature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between U.S.-based MLB fans’ sport identification and their climate change attitudes, perceptions of climate change risk, and …

Quantifying The Impacts Of Land Use, Management And Climate Change On Water Resources In Missouri River Basin, Arun Bawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A location-specific evaluation of hydrological landscape responses concerning past and projected climate and land use land cover (LULC) changes can provide a powerful intellectual basis for developing efficient and profitable agroecosystems, and overcoming uncertain and detrimental consequences of LULC and climate shifts. This dissertation assessed the impacts of land use, management, and climate change on water resources in the Missouri River Basin (MRB) through four specific studies that included: (i) to study the responses of leached nutrient concentrations and soil health to winter rye cover crop (CC) under no-till corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation, (ii) to …

Intellectual Property Rights In The Seed Industry: Barriers To Sustainable Agriculture, Elena A. Filatova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dynamics of the dominant industrial agriculture system restrict the seed industry’s innovative landscape, leading to significant negative consequences including an exacerbation of environmental risks which threaten global food security. This thesis explores how exclusionary intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the context of the seed industry constrict innovation, evolutionary pathways, and opportunities for the implementation of sustainable agriculture methods. To overcome these barriers, the application of an open source framework to seed innovation, specifically through the platform of the Open Source Seed Initiative, is evaluated as a tool for enhancing innovative capacities in seed development while broadening the accessibility and …

We All Want To Change The World: How Behavioral Insights Can Help Reduce Carbon Emissions, Thomas C. Gifford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented environmental crisis driven primarily by human behavior. As the world has globalized, countries have developed, and standards of living have improved, global pollution has skyrocketed and has resulted in a wide range of environmentally destructive outcomes. All paths to environmentally sustainable development involve a dramatic cut in carbon emissions from current day levels. In this thesis, I explore how the omission of behavioral factors from mainstream neoclassical models has contributed to, and can aid in reducing unsustainably high levels of carbon emissions. Throughout the history of economic thought, classical economists such …

The Future Of Maine's Forests Under Alternative Socioeconomic, Climate And Conservation Pathways, Jianheng Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine is a historically important timber supply region in North America and understanding the potential change in forestlands and their product industries affected by climate change and various socio-economic conditions can better improve the forest healthy and sustain a sustainable product industry. A statistical harvest choice model for the state of Maine was developed in chapter 1. It was estimated using a multinomial logit model of two products, under varying management intensities, and ownership classifications across varying market conditions. Results indicate that stumpage prices have a significant effect on forest landowners' harvest decisions and that the expansion of conservation land …

Listen For The Desert: An Ecopsychological Autoethnography, Dorothy Cashore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What does it mean for human beings to be part of nature – not just as a conceptual justification for doing right by the planet, but actually as an embodied, emotional, and sensuous experience? What happens to the experience of being human when notions as fundamental as voice, absence, suffering, and psyche are re-encountered from a perspective rooted within, rather than apart from, the natural world? While this dissertation responds to these questions, it initially took shape in response to something that felt less like a research question and more like a summons. Following a startling experience of feeling called …

Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes Scapularis) Distribution In Maine, Usa, As Related To Climate Change, White-Tailed Deer, And The Landscape, Susan P. Elias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted through the bite of an infected blacklegged (deer) tick (Ixodes scapularis). Geographic invasion of I. scapularis in North America has been attributed to causes including 20th century reforestation and suburbanization, burgeoning populations of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) which is the primary reproductive host of I. scapularis, tick-associated non-native plant invasions, and climate change. Maine, USA, is a high Lyme disease incidence state, with a history of increasing I. scapularis abundance and northward range expansion. This thesis addresses the question: “To …

A Child Shall Lead Them: Exploring Discourses Of Efficacy And Climate Change As They Appear In Children's Animated Film, Jason Derry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent climate change discourse has tended to presume scientific knowledge and rational argumentation as the principle factor in convincing peoples and publics toward climate action. However, scholarship across numerous fields reveals myriad other contributing factors in how people think about and respond to this environmental crisis, which leans predominately toward silence and apathy. Alongside this, children are often centered as inheriting a calamity, yet find themselves largely disempowered. From out of this rhetorical milieu I interject by way of a multidisciplinary grounding to examine the predominate framings of efficacy in the context of children, climate change, and environmental discourse. To …

Youth Screening Protocol For General Psychopathology, Steven Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a high prevalence rate of psychopathology among US youth, with at least one in four youth meeting clinical criteria for a mental health condition. Those youths who experience psychopathology tend to demonstrate greater functional impairments and have more adverse outcomes compared to youth who do not have these frequently occurring conditions. It is unfortunate that many of these conditions, along with their deleterious effects, are poorly identified in pediatric settings despite the availability of screening instruments. Most screening instruments, however, assess for domain-specific areas of psychopathology only, and can require substantial time to administer and interpret within the …

National Interests And Security Policies In The Arctic Region Among Arctic States, Hilde-Gunn Bye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States, Canada, Russia, and Norway are all Arctic states; however, they prioritize the region to different degrees in terms of investments of security assets and military presence. What explains why some Arctic countries prioritize the Arctic more than others? This thesis explores this question through using an issue-based approach, which looks at the salience of issues as having implications for foreign policy tools and measures. This thesis finds that having interests and stakes in the region of high overall salience contribute to an explanation of why some countries prioritize the region more, while low overall salience is linked …

The Response Of High Elevation Wetlands To Past Climate Change, And Implications For The Future, Ian Arthur Slayton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As part of the ongoing investigation of mid-latitude fens in Colorado by University of Denver paleoenvironment researchers, research directed at examining the response of mid-latitude subalpine fens to past climatic events potentially analogous to modern anthropogenic climate change was undertaken. As part of this research, a 4.18 m sediment core was retrieved from Harbison Pond (2651 m elev) near Grand Lake, CO and a 3.12 m peat core was collected from Whiskey Fen (2792 m elev) in the Never Summer Range. Stratigraphic evidence indicates the kettle lake formed shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum, at least 16,201 cal yr BP …

Role Of Dignity In Rural Natural Resource Governance, Tora Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dignity is “an internal state of peace that comes with the recognition and acceptance of the value and vulnerability of all living things” (Hicks, 2011, p. 1). Dignity is a crucial element in effective governance arrangements. This study applies dignity theory, and related theories of natural resource governance and environmental communication, to understand and overcome barriers to effective governance of common pool resources in rural communities. Chapter 1 reviews relevant literature on natural resource governance and develops a theoretical framework for dignity. Chapter 2 applies dignity theory to a contentious comprehensive planning process in a small Maine town in order …

Risk Perceptions Of Climate Change In International Environmental Negotiations, Christine Dellert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change poses an unprecedented risk to global human security and future generations. Yet actions to mitigate or adapt to the changing climate system vary greatly among countries and their constituencies. Despite mounting evidence detailing the economic, social, and ecological risks of climate change, many scholars agree that the greatest threats associated with climate change involve delaying or ignoring necessary action. Using theorizing of “risk society” from Ulrich Beck and others, this thesis examines how countries, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and business interests construct the risk of climate change and how their respective discourses conflict in international environmental negotiations. This …

The Arctic Game, Sarah E. Nuernberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since outsiders first visited the Arctic, they have believed in man's ability to conquer the region. Today's Arctic conquest is not one of heroic exploration, but rather one of ownership and exploitation. This paper illustrates contestation in the Arctic through the metaphor of a game, with attendant prizes, players, and rules. It focuses on how to prevent the future destruction of the Arctic given the interactions of the Arctic's landscape, prizes, players, and current management frameworks. In the wake of renewed resource exploitation and escalating climate change impacts, the current frameworks and mindsets are inadequate to support the precarious balance …

Climate Change And Intrastate Conflict In Africa, Eli Samuel Margolese-Malin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Africa has the dubious distinction of being the continent most likely to experience the worst climate change has to offer while having the population most vulnerable to its effects. Many of the continent's sub regions and countries also have recent histories of violence or are currently mired in conflict. Africa's proneness to conflict and its vulnerability to climate change provide the best model for showing how climate change, by the way it interacts with other, better understood drivers of conflict, will likely become an important source of conflict within the region and around the world over the rest of this …

Is It Hot(Ter) Out There Or Is It Just (The) Me(Dia)? A Comparative Framing Analysis Of Climate Change In The New York Times And The Guardian, Kylah Jae Hedding

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a framing analysis that compares the coverage of climate change in the New York Times and the Guardian from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009. This research supports the theory that the coverage in media outlets is affected by the media systems in which they exists, with both similarities and differences in the coverage of the two media outlets. It also supports the argument that climate change coverage in the United States is cyclical and event-driven, while the British media reflects both the cyclical, event-driven liberal media model and the more issues-focused European model. This thesis departs …

Colorado's Large Snow Events' Impact On Tree Ring Growth And Dillon Reservoir, Katrina Leona Marzetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Meteorological observations from 1894 through 2010 suggest that 17 historically large snow events occurred in the mountains of Colorado within Denver's water supply region. Of these 16 events, 14 can be identified in precipitation sensitive tree ring records as positive climatic pointer years. If these storms were to occur today, they would have the potential to fill reservoirs in Denver Water's supply system, even after years of sustained drought. These "drought busters" have the potential to refill Dillon Reservoir by increasing average yearly inflow up to 146% of the previous year's inflow. Such drought busters can help Denver recover from …

Climate Change And Indigenous Peoples In Latin America, Amy C. Rademacher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on the detrimental effects of climate change on indigenous peoples in Latin America. Indigenous peoples throughout the region tend to live subsistence livelihoods, which tie them closely to their land and the surrounding environment. This close relationship often means that indigenous peoples acutely experience the effects of climate change and are more susceptible to its negative outcomes than other populations. Further, indigenous peoples in the region lack the mitigation and adaptation capacities to deal with damaging climatic effects.

This research was designed to view the impacts of climate change on indigenous peoples through a human rights framework, …