Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

Mapping With The Land: Co-Developing A Cumulative Impact Monitoring And Land Stewardship Framework With Sambaa K’E First Nation, Northwest Territories, Canada, Michael S. Mcphee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, Indigenous populations are striving to achieve effective environmental protection, whilst navigating complex methods, policies, and research relationships within co-management contexts. This thesis seeks to identify how differing cultural systems, environmental change, and fractured partnerships may be unified to align with the needs of the Sambaa K’e First Nation (SKFN), a remote Dehcho Dene community. Indigenous methodologies guided co-development of research questions with SKFN leadership which yielded objectives a) develop a GIS-based method to manage, organize and mobilize cultural and environmental data; b) develop a new stewardship monitoring procedure so that users can apply the …

Lake Huron Shoreline Analysis, Shubham Satish Nandanwar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lake Huron is a popular tourist destination and is home to several businesses and residents. Since the shoreline is dynamic and is subject to change over the years due to several factors such as a change in water level, soil type, human encroachment, etc., these locations tend to encounter floods due to increased water levels and wind speed. This causes erosion and loss to the properties along the shoreline.

This study is based on two areas of interest named Pinery Provincial Park and Sauble Beach which are located on the shoreline of Lake Huron where Pinery Provincial Park is a …

Spatial Modelling And Wildlife Health Surveillance: A Case Study Of White Nose Syndrome In Ontario, Lauren Yee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Wildlife data is often limited by survey effort, small sample sizes, and spatial biases associated with collection and missing data. These factors can create unique challenges from a surveillance perspective when trying to extract spatial patterns of habitat suitability and disease distributions for conservation and management purposes. This thesis examined data quality from a wildlife health database in the context of spatial analysis of wildlife disease. Spatial analysis of the data to predict habitat suitability of bats and white nose syndrome afflicted bats was examined by using the MaxEnt modelling method. Methods to reduce spatial bias were examined and specific …

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 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 …

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 …

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 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 …