Digital Commons Network^™

High Peaks Back - Country Trails Plan, Benjamin Godsoe

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The High Peaks Trails Plan is a regional vision for back-country trails in Maine's High Peaks region. The plan identifies challenges and opportunities which face the trails community, and outlines several strategies for trails groups to move forward together to overcome mutual challenges.

A Geographical Approach For Integrating Belief Networks And Geographic Information Sciences To Probabilistically Predict River Depth, Nathan Lee Hopper

Dissertations

Geography is, traditionally, a discipline dedicated to answering complex spatial questions. Although spatial statistical techniques, such as weighted regressions and weighted overlay analyses, are commonplace within geographical sciences, probabilistic reasoning, and uncertainty analyses are not typical. For example, belief networks are statistically robust and computationally powerful, but are not strongly integrated into geographic information systems. This is one of the reasons that belief networks have not been more widely utilized within the environmental sciences community. Geography’s traditional method of delivering information through maps provides a mechanism for conveying probabilities and uncertainties to decision makers in a clear, concise manner. This …

Assessment Of The Predictive Reliability Of A Swat Flow Model And The Evaluation Of Runoff Generation And Bmp Effectiveness In A Shale-Gas Impacted Watershed Using A Modeling Approach, Kwasi Asante

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to ensure a harmonious harness of shale-gas resources while ensuring minimal damage to the environment, it is imperative that studies to conduct to inform various aspects of managing the environment. This includes the development of reliable hydrologic models to inform in decisions concerning water and the environment.

The first objective of this study was to evaluate the predictive reliability of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model based on respective methods of LULC data classification and data type spatial resolution. Results showed that the high-resolution data classified with object-oriented image method does not provide any significant advantage …

The Imperative Of Conserving California's Foothill Oak Woodlands, Lauren Phillips

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Improving Time Structure Patterns Of Orthogonal Markov Chains And Its Consequences In Hydraulic Simulations, Juan C. Jaimes-Correa

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Rainfall¹ occurrences understood as rain events are relevant for agricultural practices because temporal distribution of rainfall highly affects yield production. A few stochastic models satisfactorily generate daily rainfall events while preserving temporal and spatial dependence among multiple sites. I evaluated an extension on the traditional Orthogonal Markov chain (TOMC) model in reproducing the temporal structure of rainfall events at multiple sites in Florida (FL), Nebraska (NE) and California (CA). In addition, a simulation of watershed runoff from rainfall events, reproduced by a single- and multi-site weather generator, was conducted. Results shows that (i) a temporal structure extended …

For Logs, For Traditional Purposes And For Food: Identification Of Multiple-Use Plant Species Of Northern Amazonia And An Assessment Of Factors Associated With Their Distribution, Anthony Ravindra Cummings

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the multiplicity of uses associated with tree and palm species of the Rupununi, Southern Guyana and the factors associated with their distribution. As tropical forests continue to decline the most significant response has been to understand the implications for the carbon cycle, with the impacts on forest dwelling peoples and wildlife, inadequately addressed. Multiple-use plants, individual species which at their most critical level provide food for wildlife, non-timber forest products and are commercially logged, provide a suitable lens for appreciating additional ecosystem services that may be compromised as tropical forests decline. I completed a plant inventory in …

X-Ray Fluorescence (Xrf) Analyzer - Theory, Utility, And Qa/Qc For Environmental And Commercial Product Samples In Cambodia, Sereyrath Lim

Multidisciplinary Studies Theses

Laboratory facilities in developed countries provide a variety of options for analysis of environmental samples and commercial commodities that could impact human health. The same is not true in developing countries and there is a great need to identify technologies that could be used to provide robust, accurate, cost-effective analysis that minimizes the need for extensive technical training. An X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer seems to be an analytical technique that could be such a tool for developing countries. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to assess the performance and utility of a handheld, portable XRF unit in analyzing different …

Mapping Vegetation Productivity Dynamics And Degradation Trends Over East Africa Using A Decade Of Medium Resolution Modis Time-Series Data, Tobias Landmann, Olena Dubovyk

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

This paper aims to characterize spatial and temporal vegetation productivity trends that could be related to land degradation in East Africa. A decade of AQUA/TERRA-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite observations on vegetation chlorophyll activity, or Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, and 25-km rainfall data from the TRMM passive radar instrument were used for the same observation period of 2000-2011. Linear trends in land cover based Rain Use Efficiencies (RUE) corrected NDVI and cumulative differences of RUE between consecutive years from 2000 to 2011 (that is amplitudes) were derived and investigated for their robustness. The trend maps were overlaid …

Gathering "Wild" Food In The City: Rethinking The Role Of Foraging In Urban Ecosystem Planning And Management, Rebecca J. Mclain, Patrick T. Hurley, Marla R. Emery, Melissa R. Poe

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Recent “green” planning initiatives envision food production, including urban agriculture and livestock production, as desirable elements of sustainable cities. We use an integrated urban political ecology and human–plant geographies framework to explore how foraging for “wild” foods in cities, a subversive practice that challenges prevailing views about the roles of humans in urban green spaces, has potential to also support sustainability goals. Drawing on research from Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle, we show that foraging is a vibrant and ongoing practice among diverse urban residents in the USA. At the same time, as reflected in regulations, planning practices, …

Food Sovereignty: An Alternative Paradigm For Poverty Reduction And Biodiversity Conservation In Latin America, M Jahi Chappell, Hannah Wittman, Christopher M. Bacon, Bruce G. Ferguson, Luis García Barrios, Raúl García Barrios, Daniel Jaffee, Jefferson Lima, V. Ernesto Méndez,, Helda Morales, Lorena Soto-Pinto, John Vandermeer, Ivette Perfecto

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Strong feedback between global biodiversity loss and persistent, extreme rural poverty are major challenges in the face of concurrent food, energy, and environmental crises. This paper examines the role of industrial agricultural intensification and market integration as exogenous socio-ecological drivers of biodiversity loss and poverty traps in Latin America. We then analyze the potential of a food sovereignty framework, based on protecting the viability of a diverse agroecological matrix while supporting rural livelihoods and global food production. We review several successful examples of this approach, including ecological land reform in Brazil, agroforestry, milpa, and the uses of wild varieties in …

Photographic And Sediment Monitoring Procedures And Initial Results For A Brazilian Iron Ore Cave, Vitor Moura, Augusto Auler, Marina Leão, Luciana Alt

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

The definition, development and application of monitoring procedures for caves are currently in demand in Brazil. The need for environmental licensing processes and effective environmental control actions has been increasing since the beginning of this century due to the intensification of economic activities.

This work discusses the development of a method of photographic and sediment monitoring and the application of this method in an iron ore cave. This cave is located inside an industrial area currently under development by a mining company. This situation demands effective and specific environmental control measures.

The method’s simplicity, effectiveness and multidisciplinary approach indicate that …

Understanding And Managing Karst Water Resources In Belize: Case Studies Of Both Past And Present In A Changing Climate, Jason S. Polk, Leslie A. North, Ben Miller, Jonathan Oglesby, Kegan Mcclanahan, Lowell Neeper, Aaron Holland, Bernie Strenecky

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

Belize is a developing country that faces water resource issues in the forms of both quality and quantity, stemming from a long history of environmental stress and population threats, from the ancient Maya to present. Belize’s karst landscape, which comprises a large part of the country from the coast to the Maya Mountains, is characterized by springs, caves, sinkholes, and aquifers systems formed from the dissolution of carbonate (limestone, dolomite) rock. This research presents several different case studies, spanning from the ancient Maya and issues with drought to modern communities that rely on groundwater resources quickly being depleted. Past drought …

Introduction To Empowered Partnerships: Community-Based Participatory Action Research For Environmental Justice, Christopher M. Bacon, Saneta Devuono-Powell, Mary Louise Frampton, Tony Lopresti, Camille Pannu

Environmental Studies and Sciences

This article introduces a special section on empowered partnerships that deepens a dialogue initiated during the 2010 symposium titled EmPowered Partnerships: Community-Based Participatory Action Research for Environmental Justice. The articles in this section will be divided between issues 1 and 2 of the Journal. After briefly reviewing the definitions and the steps associated with community-based participatory action research (CBPAR), we identify the synergies connecting the underlying principles and values of the environmental justice (EJ) movement and CBPAR. The principles-based comparison is part of an ongoing effort to craft a framework that produces research partnerships that are simultaneously more responsive to …

The Effects Of Large Wildfires On Employment And Wage Growth And Volatility In The Western United States, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Cassandra Moseley, Krista Gebert

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examined the effect of large wildfires on economic growth and volatility in the western United States. We matched wildfire data with quarterly employment and earnings growth data to assess the specific effect of wildfire on employment and wage growth in western US counties. Wildfires generally tended to exhibit positive effects on employment and wage growth in the quarter(s) during which suppression efforts were active. However, this effect transitioned to increased economic volatility following a wildfire. The effect of wildfire also varied by the type of county in which wildfire occurred. The amount of suppression costs invested locally had the …

Profiting From Regulation: Evidence From The European Carbon Market, James B. Bushnell, Howard Chong, Erin T. Mansur

Dartmouth Scholarship

We investigate how cap-and-trade regulation affects profits. In late April 2006, the EU CO2 allowance price dropped 50 percent, equating to a €28 billion reduction in the value of aggregate annual allowances. We examine daily returns for 552 stocks from the EUROSTOXX index. Despite reductions in environmental costs, we find that stock prices fell for firms in both carbon- and electricity-intensive industries, particularly for firms selling primarily within the EU. Our results imply that investors focus on product price impacts, rather than just compliance costs and the nominal value of pollution permits.

Sources Of Nutrient And Fecal Microbe Pollution In Otter Creek, Madison County, Kentucky, Kandice L. Smith, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We measured nutrient (nitrate, ammonium, phosphate) and fecal microbe concentrations in surface waters of the Otter Creek watershed, Madison County, Kentucky to access sources of these contaminants. The watershed is approximately 12.5 miles long covering ~169 km² (41,832 acres). The watershed includes East Fork, West Fork, and Dreaming Creek, all tributaries to the main trunk of Otter Creek. The upper portion of the main trunk and Dreaming Creek drain urban areas of Richmond, but 85% of total watershed area is agricultural land, used mainly for grazing cattle. Rural residential areas and woodlands also occur.

The principle contaminants are nutrients …

Modeling Acute Respiratory Illness During The 2007 San Diego Wildland Fires Using A Coupled Emissions-Transport System And General Additive Modeling, Brian Thelen, Nancy H. F. French, Benjamin W. Koziol, Michael Billmire, Robert Chris Owen, Jeffrey Johnson, Michele Ginsberg, Tatiana Loboda, Shiliang Wu

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

Background

A study of the impacts on respiratory health of the 2007 wildland fires in and around San Diego County, California is presented. This study helps to address the impact of fire emissions on human health by modeling the exposure potential of proximate populations to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) from vegetation fires. Currently, there is no standard methodology to model and forecast the potential respiratory health effects of PM plumes from wildland fires, and in part this is due to a lack of methodology for rigorously relating the two. The contribution in this research specifically targets that absence by modeling …

Gathering “Wild” Food In The City: Rethinking The Role Of Foraging In Urban Ecosystem Planning And Management, Rebecca J. Mclain, Patrick T. Hurley, Marla R. Emery, Melissa R. Poe

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Recent “green” planning initiatives envision food production, including urban agriculture and livestock production, as desirable elements of sustainable cities. We use an integrated urban political ecology and human–plant geographies framework to explore how foraging for “wild” foods in cities, a subversive practice that challenges prevailing views about the roles of humans in urban green spaces, has potential to also support sustainability goals. Drawing on research from Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle, we show that foraging is a vibrant and ongoing practice among diverse urban residents in the USA. At the same time, as reflected in regulations, planning practices, …

Engaging Stakeholders In Ecosystem Service Assessment Under Climate Change And Urban Development Scenarios, Heejun Chang, David E. Ervin, Wes Hoyer, Mike Psaris, Ken Lyons, Emily D. Dietrich, Samantha Hamlin, John Lambrinos, Tammy Winfield, Bobby Cochran

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on how scientists can engage stakeholders in ecosystem service assessment.

Getting Salmon Back In Salmon Creek: Systematizing Comparative Water Quality Analysis For Targeted Restoration, Zbigniew J. Grabowski, Sarah Janjua, Michael Swamer, Heejun Chang, Eric Watson

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on water quality restoration efforts in Salmon Creek

Effects Of Runoff Sensitivity And Catchment Characteristics On Regional Actual Evapotranspiration Trends In The Conterminous Us, Il-Won Jung, Heejun Chang, John Risley

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

An understanding of the role of hydro-climatic and geographic regimes on regional actual evapotranspiration (AET) change is essential to improving our knowledge on predicting water availability in a changing climate. This study investigates the relationship between AET change for a 60 year period (1951–2010) and the runoff sensitivity in 255 undisturbed catchments over the US. The runoff sensitivity to climate change is simply defined as the relative magnitude between runoff and precipitation changes with time. Runoff sensitivity can readily explain the conflicting directions of AET changes under similar precipitation change. Under increasing precipitation, AET decreases when runoff is increasing more …

Moving Forward: Next Steps For Confronting Increased Flood Risks, Molly Mitchell

October 2, 2013: Quantifying Risks and Moving Forward

No abstract provided.

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring In Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2013 Annual Report, Isabel Ashton, Michael Prowatzke

United States National Park Service: Publications

Introduction

During the last century, much of the prairie within the Northern Great Plains has been plowed for cropland, planted with non-natives to maximize livestock production, or otherwise developed, making it one of the most threatened ecosystems in the United States. Within Nebraska, greater than 77% of the area of native mixed grass prairie has been lost since European settlement (Samson and Knopf 1994). The National Park Service (NPS) plays an important role in preserving and restoring some of the last pieces of intact prairies within its boundaries. The stewardship goal of the NPS is to “preserve ecological integrity and …

Mapping The Knowledge Economy Of Medicinal Plants In Northern Madagascar: Information And Resource Flow In Traditional Health Practices, Chanelle Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the wake of pharmaceutical success with alkaloid compounds found in the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), there has been increased attention towards identifying medicinal properties in the country’s rich flora. Both native and foreign companies seek profitable use of wild plant species found within Madagascar’s unique biodiversity. Many conservation organizations believe that the world’s forests in biological “hot spots” contain cures unknown to modern science and therefore, their preservation essential.

While the protection of these natural resources is important to Western medicine, it is even more vital for local people who depend on the forest as their primary …

The City In Mind: Environmental Literacy And Adaptation In Nineteenth-Century British Literature, Adam Edward Watkins

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation argues that a new paradigm of selfhood emerged in nineteenth-century British literature, one that recognized the individual will and environmental influence not as antithetical but as dialectical forces in the formation of the self. The concept of an externally negotiated subject challenges both the inward and socially determined conceptions of self that have dominated the relevant criticism. Informed by empiricist, associationist, and evolutionary theories of the mind, the portrayals of subject-formation in this study highlight the radical changes occurring in the human environment in nineteenth-century, which catalyzed the conception of a malleable yet self-forming subject. Along with the …

Exploring The Need For Hands-On, Expert-Taught Environmental Education In Tasmanian Formal Schools: A Survey For Greening Australia In Hobart, Tasmania, Hannah Underwood

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Australia’s history of environmental education began in 1970 with a conference meant to highlight and discuss the importance of environmental education in schools. Since then, the way environmental education is taught in schools has evolved and expanded to its current state, which is a way of teaching that highlights the interconnectedness of environmental issues to many different subjects and disciplines. Hands-on environmental education has also become increasingly valued, both in schools with gardening, waste, and energy programs, and from outside experts visiting schools to teach students experiential lessons about the environment. One such organization that sends environmental experts to schools …

Balancing Conservation And Development: A Case Study Of Economic Efficiency In Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, Louisa Dunwiddie, R.Turner Shaw

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study is a comprehensive economic analysis of Queen Elizabeth National Park’s revenue and expenditures. Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in Southwest Uganda. It is the most visited park in Uganda, welcoming over 34,000 visitors annually and generating more than $1,705,000 US per year in tourist expenditures. The researchers spent three weeks in the field at Queen Elizabeth National Park, and three weeks in the capital city of Kampala, Uganda to assemble a collection of literature, statistics, and interviews with all stakeholders to fully analyze the national park’s current level of economic efficiency. The study includes data on stakeholder …

Water Access And Security For Mongolian Peri-Urban Communities In The Face Of Climate Change And Development, Heather Cook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The paper attempts to assess how water access and security in Mongolian ger districts is impacted by the competing forces of climate change and development. The development of Mongolia is, understandably, a priority of the government and much of the populace, as are the impacts of climate change, which are well documented and acknowledged. Furthermore, these processes both have potentially adverse impacts on the overall well being of communities. In the context of water access and security, the need to strike this balance becomes even more acute. These factors can all be seen playing out in the city of Sainshand, …

Vulnerability, Environmental Security, And Adaptation Awareness In Samoa, Katie Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate change remains a prevalent problem for today’s international community, particularly for Pacific Island countries. This study examines the current influence of climate change on Samoa by looking at the three tenets of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. These aspects of climatic change correlate and build off one another, ultimately elucidating the basic vulnerability of any given region. It also analyzes how environmentally secure Samoa is and will be, using Thomas Homer- Dixon’s theory on climate change and conflict. Finally, this paper seeks to outline the current system of adaptation awareness that exists between government, community and foreign aid …

Sensitivity To Heat: A Comparative Study Of Phoenix, Arizona And Chicago, Illinois (2003-2006), Wen-Ching Chuang, Patricia Gober, Winston T. L. Chow, Jay Golden

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research on how heat impacts human health has increased as climate change threatens to raise temperatures to new extremes. Excessive heat exposure increases death rates, as well as rates of nonfatal, adverse health outcomes. This study used the negative binomial regression model to examine the relationship between daily maximum temperature, heat index, and heat-related emergency calls in Phoenix, Arizona and Chicago, Illinois, from 2003 to 2006. Using model results, we estimated call volumes in a warmer climate, with temperature increase from 1 to 5.5 C. We found that: (1) heat-stress calls increase sharply when the temperature exceeds about 35 C …