Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining Sociological Differences And The Influence Of Prey Distribution And Environmental Variability In The Distribution Of A Top Marine Predator, The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus), Stefanie K. Gazda

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the influence of environmental variability on the distribution of prey, and the influence of prey spatial structure and habitat variability may have on the distributions of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Additionally I examined how sociological differences (behavior type and the changes in a foraging behavior specific to Cedar Key Florida) influences the relative roles of bottlenose dolphins within the population.

The Gowans et al. scheme assumes that small groups form small communities and that foraging groups are small and rare as there are few foraging benefits to promote grouping. Using network analysis, …

Wild Things: Stories, Transition And The Sacred In Ecological Social Movements, Luigi Russi

Luigi Russi

This article examines the role of stories in ecological activism. It first situates stories inside object ecologies, encompassing relationships of reliance, care and maintenance of things. It suggests that ecologies of this sort work as an extended mind where our cognition takes place and meaning is apprehended, so that what we can think of is always a function of what we have Ôat handÕ. The article then considers how these ecologies are impacted by discourses on climate change and peak oil, which stress the impossibility to keep ordering our lives through the same entanglements that have supported them so far. …

Lifeways In The Northern Maya Lowlands: New Approaches To Archaeology In The Yucatán Peninsula, Jennifer Mathews, Bethany Morrison

Jennifer P Mathews

The flat, dry reaches of the northern Yucatan Peninsula have been largely ignored by archaeologists drawn to the more illustrious sites of the south. This book is the first volume to focus entirely on the northern Maya lowlands, presenting a broad cross-section of current research projects in the region by both established and up-and-coming scholars. To address the heretofore unrecognized importance of the northern lowlands in Maya prehistory, the contributors cover key topics relevant to Maya studies: the environmental and historical significance of the region, the archaeology of both large and small sites, the development of agriculture, resource management, ancient …

The Planet, 2015, Fall, Yvonne Worden, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Critical Collaborations: Indigeneity, Diaspora, And Ecology In Canadian Literary Studies Edited By Smaro Kamboureli And Christl Verduyn, Chad Weidner

The Goose

Chad Weidner reviews Critical Collaborations: Indigeneity, Diaspora, and Ecology in Canadian Literary Studies edited by Smaro Kamboureli and Christl Verduyn.

Merging: Contemplations On Farming & Ecology From Horseback By Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, Anna Banks

The Goose

Anna Banks reviews Merging: Contemplations on Farming & Ecology from Horseback, by Soren Bondrup-Nielsen.

Light Light By Julie Joosten, Mathieu Aubin

The Goose

Mathieu Aubin's review of Light Light by Julie Joosten.

Reyner Banham, Mike Davis, And The Discourse On Los Angeles Ecology, Jonathan P. Bell

Jonathan P. Bell

UrbDeZine, July 14, 2015.

L’Inscription Territoriale De La Peur Dans Le Roman Urbain Camerounais De Langue Française, Étienne-Marie Lassi

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article analyzes the fictionalization of Cameroonian urban socio-political and geographical realities as well as the literary effects derived from the inclusion of real urban spaces in the novel. Based on the concepts of ecology of fear and existential territory, it shows that in Cameroon urban novels, the physical environment is a factor of instability of individuals and communities. It speculates that, in the novels studied, physical environment crystallizes political, social and psychological fears and anguish and presents itself as an important issue both in the interpretation of literary texts and in the resolution of postcolonial crises.

Microhabitat Use Affects Brain Size And Structure In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

The ecological cognition hypothesis poses that the brains and behaviours of individuals are largely shaped by the environments in which they live and the associated challenges they must overcome during their lives. Here we examine the effect of environmental complexity on relative brain size in 4 species of intertidal gobies from differing habitats. Two species were rock pool specialists that lived on spatially complex rocky shores, while the remainder lived on dynamic, but structurally simple, sandy shores. We found that rock pool-dwelling species had relatively larger brains and telencephalons in particular, while sand-dwelling species had a larger optic tectum and …

How The Commons Was Changed: Politics, Ecology, And The History Of Floodplain Institutions, Lisa Cliggett

Anthropology Faculty Publications

A review of The Contested Floodplain: Institutional Change of the Commons in the Kafue Flats, Zambia. By Tobias Haller. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2013.

How The Commons Was Changed: Politics, Ecology, And The History Of Floodplain Institutions, Lisa Cliggett

Lisa Cliggett

No abstract provided.

The Planet, 2015, Spring, Beth Carlson, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

The Restoration Process: Lessons From A Community-Based Conservation Initiative In Tunkhel, Mongolia, John Wendt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As policy makers transition away from central planning, Mongolia’s natural resource professionals are challenged with cultivating community support for stewardship in a time of escalating ecological disturbance. Nutag Action Research Partners has partnered with community members and government officials in Tunkhel, a small village in north-central Mongolia, to develop local resource management capacity and jointly draft a Conservation Plan for a commonly grazed riparian pasture. This study is a preliminary assessment of the ecological and social factors influencing project implementation. Information was collected using a variety of qualitative methods including meeting observation, surveys, interviews, photographs, and a review of previous …

Heterodox Challenges To Consumption-Oriented Models Of Legislation, Luigi Russi, John Haskell

Luigi Russi

Consumption-oriented models of governance dominate the contemporary global legal architecture. The financial crisis beginning in 2008, however, poses fundamental questions about the future viability of these approaches to economics and law. This paper attempts to first, evaluate consumptionÕs salient historical development and themes from the post- World War II era to more recent legislative innovation, and second, introduce seven heterodox vignettes that challenge the hegemony of consumption in legislative policy. The paper concludes with some brief reflections upon potential opportunities and limitations of these heterodox traditions within future scholarship and policy addressing the interplay of law and consumption in global …

Exploring The Role Of Spirituality In The Ecology Of Language Learning, Teresa Lin

International Journal of Christianity and English Language Teaching

With the presence of many Christian missionaries in the field of TESOL, numerous educators have raised concerns about the ethical issues surrounding evangelistic outreach via English language teaching (ELT). Christian English Teachers (CETs) in the field of TESOL have faced criticism for manipulation of student-teacher relationships, unethical religious coercion, and cultural insensitivity. Current positivist views render religious discussions in the classroom as detrimental to ELT. While proselytizing via ELT is a serious ethical issue, the backlash against religion and spiritual beliefs is also quite alarming. Disregard for the spiritual underpinnings motivating and influencing the way students learn limits how complex …

Five Poems, Erin Robinsong

The Goose

Poetry by Erin Robinsong

Hyperobjects: Philosophy And Ecology After The End Of The World By Timothy Morton, Bart H. Welling

The Goose

Welling reviews Timothy Morton's book Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2013).

Moishe Postone And The Critique Of Traditional Marxism: Helplessness And The Present Moment Of The Great Acceleration, Alexander M. Stoner, Andony Melathopoulos

Book Sections/Chapters

This chapter situates Moishe Postone's critique of traditional Marxism in relation to the present moment of the Great Acceleration. We engage a close reading of Postone reinterpretation of Marx's mature theory of capital with specific focus on the linkage between economic growth and ecological degradation, and how this linkage is necessary connected to social domination in modern capitalist society. Postone's Marxian theory is significant because, as we demonstrate, it allows one to grasp societally induced environmental degradation following WWII in a critical and reflexive manner. The chapter concludes by discussing the growing sense of helplessness that defines the present moment …

Cue Choice And Spatial Learning Ability Are Affected By Habitat Complexity In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Variation in the structural complexity of a habitat is known to have significant affects on the evolution of different populations and can shape behavior, morphology, and life-history traits. Here, we investigated whether habitat complexity influences a species’ capacity for spatial learning and cue choice by comparing the performance of 4 goby species from 2 contrasting habitats in a spatial task. Gobies were collected from dynamic, homogenous sandy shores and stable, spatially complex rock pool habitats. We trained fish to use a T-maze to find a hidden reward and asked whether they used local visual landmarks or body-centered methods for orientation …

Capitalism And The Marxist Critique Of Political Ecology, Noel Castree

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

The Planet, 2015, Winter, Beth Carlson, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Dispersal: A Multidisciplinary Investigation Of Plant Life, Alexandra E. Arzt

Theses and Dissertations

Using plants as a basis for exploring the interstices between the human and nonhuman, this thesis investigates ideas of awareness, intelligence, deep time, animism, and the fluctuating human perception of the agency of Nature. It outlines environmental art practices since the 1950s involving vegetal life. In addition, the paper provides a critical analysis of plant perception of Jakob von Uexküll’s work and theories of vital materialism and “critical plant studies” while noting recent studies in plant neurobiology. In my work, plants become active participants via their movement, seeding, and smell. This study takes the form of imitation, purposeful symbiosis, anthropomorphism, …

Provisioning And Its Effects On The Social Interactions Of Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana) At Mt. Huangshan, China, Brianna I. Schnepel

All Master's Theses

The dispersal patterns of food resources has a significant effect on the composition of primate groups and social interactions within those groups. Humans often alter the dispersal of food. Non-humans often use affiliative behaviors to elicit tolerance or support from other group members. I investigated whether provisioned food resources alter the social interactions and group dynamics of Macaca thibetana. All-occurrence sampling and scan sampling were used for data recorded by camera traps. Trail-cameras were placed at six locations that contain natural and human food resources and recorded 60-second videos. Social behavior and proximity of the monkeys were recorded. I …

A Basic Guide For Empirical Environmental Social Science, Michael Cox

Dartmouth Scholarship

In this paper, I address a gap in the literature on environmental social science by providing a basic rubric for the conduct of empirical research in this interdisciplinary field. Current literature displays a healthy diversity of methods and techniques, but this has also been accompanied by a lack of consistency in the way in which research in this area is done. In part this can be seen as resulting from a lack in supporting texts that would provide a basis for this consistency. Although relevant methods texts do exist, these are not written with this type of research explicitly in …

Economics-Based Environmentalism In The Fourth Generation Of Environmental Law, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Environmental protection and economic concerns are not mutually exclusive. This article explores some of the issues of economic analysis that might arise as we approach the fourth generation of environmental law. It explains ways that economic analysis can be employed to generate the best environmental rules, including measures under what this article terms as "economics-based environmentalism." Economics-based environmentalism contends that the advantages of using economic principles within a “polycentric toolbox” of environmental law come from the benefits available in private ordering, markets, property rights, liability regimes and incentives structures that will better protect the environment than alternatives like state-based interventionist, …