Digital Commons Network^™

The Economic Impacts Of Forest Pathogens In Washington State: A Hedonic Approach, Logan Blair

All Master's Theses

An increase in the incidence of forest pathogens in the Western US has created new resource management issues. In this research I employ a dataset of 170,141 housing transactions in twelve Western Washington counties to quantify the impacts of parasitic forest damage on the proxy real estate market. Specifically, I estimate a set of hedonic fixed effects models to control for omitted variable bias and spatial autocorrelation. Results show statistically significant impacts on property values in the presence of species specific and aggregate defoliation, suggesting new information for forestry management and policy.

Behavioral Response Of Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus Tridentatus) To Predator Odors, Laurie L. Porter

All Master's Theses

Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus), a species facing serious threats to their existence, experience a number of challenges in reaching their desired spawning grounds during the adult migratory phase, and predators are suspected to be one of these challenges. Understanding if Pacific lamprey respond to predator odorants may provide a management tool for use in conjunction with attractants in guiding lamprey to suitable spawning habitat and deterring them from poor habitat. Previous research has failed to explore Pacific lamprey response to predator odorants, although much research exists on attractant odorants. In our study, we tested Pacific lamprey response to …

May You Walk In Beauty: The Decline Of Navajo Land And Culture, Jocelyn Catterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Navajo homeland, Dinetah, is bordered by four mountains that are sacred to the Navajo people: two in Colorado, one in New Mexico, and one in Arizona. Historically, Navajo medicine men have traveled to these mountains to renew prayers and collect medicinal herbs. Today, the mountains, which exist outside of the reservation boundaries, are used for resource extraction and various recreational pursuits. While many Navajo are fighting for the protection of these sacred lands and their traditional culture, others are disinterested. Traditional practices and beliefs are slowly disappearing within the Navajo Nation. The land-use issues associated with these sacred mountains …

Retelling Ebola's "Outbreak Narrative" Through Media Coverage Of The 2014 West African Epidemic, Anoushka Millear

Geography Honors Projects

The 2014 Ebola Virus Disease epidemic, unprecedented in magnitude, has been the focus of worldwide media attention. How does media coverage of the epidemic seize on anxieties of an interconnected world to reinforce longstanding perceptions of Africa as dangerous and chaotic? I compare this media coverage to the model Ebola "outbreak narrative," using critical discourse analysis to contextualize representations of Africa within an increasingly interconnected world. I argue that media coverage reproduces a constructed Western understanding of Africa that will persist long after the epidemic is brought under control.

Intra- And Inter-Seasonal Variability Of Supra-Glacial 1 Streams And Lakes Over The West Greenland Ice Sheet 2 From High-Resolution Satellite Optical Data, Michael Gregory Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is one of the largest glacial ice masses on Earth, second only to the Antarctic ice sheet. The surface hydrology of the GrIS plays a crucial role on the surface energy and mass balance budgets of the ice sheet as a whole. Surface water, known as supra-glacial water, is seasonally found in the ablation zone and feeds the en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrological environments of the ice sheet. The spatial distribution of surface streams is poorly understood and their temporal variability is (to our knowledge) unknown. One of the reasons for the lack of knowledge on …

The Hazardous Effects Of Ship Scrapping And Recycling On Workers' Rights And The Environment, Maytee Gomez Salgueiro

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Geog 140: Introduction To Human Geography—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Katherine Nashleanas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Large lecture classes of 100 students or more present unique challenges to both teaching and learning. The common method of “delivery” by instructors is lecture, often augmented by a set of Power Point slides; and, while the research literature shows that this is the more traditional way of teaching, increasingly it is becoming apparent that this method of instruction often does not reach students in the way we hope and often assume (Harvard Magazine 2015). Most of the students populating these classes are born of the Digital Age and have different expectations for learning, requiring new approaches in the classroom …

A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chile's state designated protected areas are reported to show representation bias and to be unable to meet conservation goals. Private protected areas are considered an important tool to resolve these issues, which has led to support for increasing the role of private protected areas in Chile and creating an integrated public-private protected area network. But the validity of the capacity of private protected areas to fix Chile's state protected area network bias, and the advantage of creating an integrated protected area network, have not been assessed. This study uses the most recent data on Chile's state, private, and international protected …

Raising Grain In Next Year Country: Dryland Farming, Drought, And Adaptation In The Golden Triangle, Montana, Caroline M. Stephens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change has already and will likely continue to impact agriculture in the Western United States, threatening water supplies for both irrigated and rainfed agriculture (Calzadilla et al. 2010; Chambers and Pellant 2008; MacDonald et al. 2010; Pedersen et al. 2009). In the Golden Triangle, a region in north central Montana, known for its dryland grain production, the same is true. There is a need for in-depth, fine-grained, place-based, and qualitative research about the process of climate change adaptation in agriculture (Miller et al. 2013). Drought challenges farmers in the Triangle, which is semiarid and receives 10-15 inches of annual …

Grassroots Planning: An Actor-Network Study Of Surfing Waves In Missoula, Montana, Alexander S. Pichacz Jr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Brennan’s Wave, in downtown Missoula, has become an iconic feature of the town. Through the diligent work of a group of community advocates a dangerous and unsightly irrigation diversion structure was repurposed to include a recreation feature in the middle of the river that improved safety while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of the structure. The success of Brennan’s Wave has led to its replication through the planning of another memorial wave, the Max Wave, to be built downstream at the site of a similar irrigation structure. This study investigates how these structures are planned for and built by utilizing an …

‘Water Is Life’: Exploring The Relationship Between Place Identity, Water And Adaptive Capacity In Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories, Canada, Jennifer A. Fresque-Baxter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Water is recognised as a fundamental human right in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT). However, the current and potential effects of climate change coupled with resource development pressures are leading to concerns about maintaining the health and viability of freshwater in the NWT. These intersecting multiple exposures can have far-reaching impacts for NWT residents who rely on water for cultural, spiritual, economic and social purposes. Ongoing changes (e.g., to water quantity, water quality, weather, precipitation and ice dynamics, for example) will increasingly require NWT residents to adapt, seek ways to plan for the future, identify opportunities, and moderate the effects of …

An Analysis Of Quality For Volunteered Geographic Information, Joel C H Meier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In recent years there has been a growing number of online user communities engaged in the creation, visualization, and use of volunteered geographic information (VGI). These data may represent an untapped resource for researchers analyzing large-area geographic phenomena such as species distributions patterns or land and resource management issues. However very few studies have used VGI for analytic research questions as little is known about the quality of these data. An understanding of the validity of VGI is a prerequisite for further exploitation of these novel data sources in research contexts. This paper looks to identify key issues related to …

Affective Migration: The Role Of Food Preparation And Visceral Experience For Egyptian Migrant Women Settling In The Region Of Waterloo, Mary Neil

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examining Egyptian migrants settling in Canada is exploratory in nature and is intended to initiate a conversation about the personal experience of transnationalism and the value of the body as an instrument of research. A semi-structured interview approach was designed to prompt the evocation of deep personal thoughts, experiences, and sensations in response to questions surrounding migration to Canada through the shared performative act of cooking and the visceral experience of eating in the private space of the migrant kitchen. Using a grounded theory approach, several adaptive mechanisms were identified such as the creation of manageable daily routines, …

Review: The Wilderness Writings Of Howard Zahniser, Jillian M. Slater

Marian Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Preservation Of Pastoralism And The Natural World In Western Mongolia , Josephine Brownell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

At a time when Mongolia is experiencing the intense effects of land degradation, human activity, and climate change, it is crucial that a new land management framework is developed with conservation in mind. Pastoralism’s unique relationship with the land serves as a method of protecting the natural world for the future. This study focuses on a pastoral community in Western Mongolia while considering a main research question: Is a herder’s historically deep connection with the land enough to protect the modern pastoral lifestyle in Mongolia for years to come? In answering this question, a review of related previous studies on …

River Health In Puyo, Ecuador The Use Of Macroinvertebrates As Bioindicators Of Water Quality And Alternatives To Chlorine For Whitening Clothes In The Puyo River Watershed, Allison Rowe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Fresh water is an important resource in Puyo, Ecuador, a city named after the Kichwa word for ‘cloudy’ in reference to its overcast weather. However, the Puyo River watershed is the most contaminated in all of Pastaza Province. The objective of this investigation was first to evaluate the health of the Puyo River using macroinvertebrate analyses and measurements of chlorine concentrations, temperature, pH, turbidity, velocity, and flow rate. The second objective was to learn about practices used to whiten clothes in Puyo and perceptions of water quality in order to understand the magnitude of bleach pollution and the population’s awareness …

The Predicts Database: A Global Database Of How Local Terrestrial Biodiversity Responds To Human Impacts, Lawrence N. Hudson, Tim Newbold, Sara Contu, Samantha L.L. Hill, Igor Lysenko, Adriana De Palma, Helen R.P. Phillips, Rebecca A. Senior, Dominic J. Bennett, Hollie Booth, Argyrios Choimes, David L.P. Correia, Julie Day, Susy Echeverría-Londoño, Morgan Garon, Michelle L.K. Harrison, Daniel J. Ingram, Martin Jung, Victoria Kemp, Lucinda Kirkpatrick, Callum D. Martin, Yuan Pan, Hannah J. White, Job Aben, Stefan Abrahamczyk, Gilbert B. Adum, Virginia Aguilar-Barquero, Marcelo A. Aizen, Marc Ancrenaz, Enrique Arbeláez-Cortés, Inge Armbrecht, Badrul Azhar, Christopher A. Williams

Geography

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial …

Vernal Pool: A Participatory Art Project About Place + Precipitation, Karen Miranda Abel, Jessica Marion Barr

The Goose

Produced by Karen Miranda Abel with Jessica Marion Barr, Vernal Pool is an immersive, elemental water installation created as a participatory, contemplative inquiry into our transitory interrelationships with water and landscape. From November 2013 to April 2014, 114 individuals across Canada and abroad gathered snow samples as a form of extrinsic artistic practice about place and precipitation. With the arrival of spring, the reservoir of melted snow was convened for four days at Toronto’s historic Gladstone Hotel to create Vernal Pool.

Restoration Of Bison (Bison Bison) To Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, A Feasibility Study, Daniel S. Licht

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a 3,057-acre park located in western Nebraska. The unit is comprised of northern mixed-grass prairie vegetation, typical of the Northern Great Plains. Weather, fire, and grazing are generally considered to be the ecological drivers of prairie ecosystems and critical for prairie health. However, grazing has essentially been absent since the 1960s. In 2014, a Department of the Interior report explicitly listed the park as a high priority for bison restoration. This report evaluates the feasibility, management options, benefits, and challenges of restoring bison to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

A potential bison …

Water Quality Monitoring Protocol For Wadeable Streams And Rivers In The Northern Great Plains Network, Narrative Version 1.0, Marcia H. Wilson, Barbara L. Rowe, Robert A. Gitzen, Stephen K. Wilson, Kara J. Paintner-Green

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Preserving the national parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations is a fundamental purpose of the National Park Service (NPS). To address growing concerns regarding the overall physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems, the NPS implemented science-based management through “Vital Signs” monitoring in 270 national parks (NPS 2007). The Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN) is among the 32 National Park Service Networks participating in this monitoring effort. The NGPN will develop protocols over the next several years to determine the overall health or condition of resources within 13 parks located in Nebraska, North …

Water Quality Monitoring Protocol For Wadeable Streams And Rivers In The Northern Great Plains Network, Standard Operating Procedures Version 1.0, Marcia H. Wilson, Stephen K. Wilson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Water Quality Monitoring Protocol includes two parts: a Narrative and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The Water Quality Monitoring Protocol Narrative Version 1.0 describes a general overview of the status of water resources throughout the parks in the National Park Service’s Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN), the objectives, the field methods, and the sampling design selected for this long-term monitoring program. This report includes the detailed SOPs for the NGPN’s Water Quality Monitoring Protocol. All water quality monitoring is conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) through Interagency Agreements. The USGS North Dakota Water Science Center …

Historical Roots Of Canadian Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Maple Practices, Ryan Huron

Geography and Environmental Studies Major Research Papers

This research is concerned with developing a historical baseline of Canadian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal maple practices and the contribution of these activities to the well-being (WB) of communities up to approximately 1950. This research measures WB using two unique frameworks developed for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities associated with maple products and practices. In order to describe WB in historical contexts the research used archival data obtained primarily from Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Early Canadiana Online (ECO). Results from the research showed that in Aboriginal communities, dynamics related to emotional, physical and mental WB were referenced the most often …

Editor's Notebook, Lisa Szabo-Jones, Paul Huebener

The Goose

Editorial introduction to The Goose Volume 13, Issue 1 (2014).

Light Pollution Research Through Citizen Science, John Kanemoto

STAR Program Research Presentations

Light pollution (LP) can disrupt and/or degrade the health of all living things, as well as, their environments. The goal of my research at the NOAO was to check the accuracy of the citizen science LP reporting systems entitled: Globe at Night (GaN), Dark Sky Meter (DSM), and Loss of the Night (LoN). On the GaN webpage, the darkness of the night sky (DotNS) is reported by selecting a magnitude chart. Each magnitude chart has a different density/number of stars around a specific constellation. The greater number of stars implies a darker night sky. Within the DSM iPhone application, a …

An Analysis Of The Potential Effects Of Urbanization On The Water Quality Of The Middle Fork Of Beargrass Creek, Louisville, Kentucky., Olivia Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined whether water quality diminished as a result of increasing pollution downstream along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek, Louisville, Kentucky in response to urbanization. Samples of key water quality indicators/pollutants were collected for 12 weeks (November - January) along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek at three different stream gauges. A spatial and statistical analysis was performed to verify any significant correlations between the water quality indicators and pollutants, and whether basin wide landcover/sewer outlet numbers led to an increase in these indicators downstream. Following ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis statistical testing it was established that turbidity significantly increased …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Land Classification And Change Intensity Analysis In A Coastal Watershed Of Southeast China, Pei Zhou, Jinliang Huang, Robert Gilmore Pontius, Huasheng Hong

Geography

The aim of this study is to improve the understanding of land changes in the Jiulong River watershed, a coastal watershed of Southeast China. We developed a stratified classification methodology for land mapping, which combines linear stretching, an Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis (ISODATA) clustering algorithm, and spatial reclassification. The stratified classification for 2002 generated less overall error than an unstratified classification. The stratified classifications were then used to examine temporal differences at 1986, 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2010. Intensity Analysis was applied to analyze land changes at three levels: time interval, category, and transition. Results showed that land use transformation …

Living Through The End Of Nature: The Future Of American Environmentalism By Paul Wapner, Taylor Kraayenbrink

The Goose

Review of Living Through The End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism by Paul Wapner.

Humanesis By David Cecchetto, Max Ritts

The Goose

Review of Humanesis by David Cecchetto.

In Harm's Way: How Philadelphia's Urban Renewal Practices Steered Marginal People To Marginal Land, Katera Ya'shea Moore

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dumping of locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) on marginal communities has been well documented, however environmental justice scholars have rarely written about how marginal groups have come to occupy their landscapes, particularly when natural hazards lie beneath.

This dissertation research focuses on a broad definition of the environment that includes the built, social, and physical. I am interested in extending Logan and Molotch's Growth Machine theory to consider how the political and economic elite guided the urban renewal process to place particular communities on particular landscapes, despite the presence of a flooding hazard. To understand this issue, I examined …