Digital Commons Network^™

Sub-Stage Climatic Shifts During Mis 11 Refined From Diatom Assemblage Reconstruction In The Valles Caldera, New Mexico, Savannah Cutler

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Diatom assemblage reconstruction from the Valles Caldera sediment core (VC-3) was utilized to infer climatic and aquatic changes during a 50-thousand-year [ka] period in the Mid-Pleistocene (435-385 ka). This 50 ka interval spans most of Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS 11) – one of the most prominent interglacials of the past 500 ka – and is widely considered an analog for the Holocene and future climate regimes. Nearly all records from MIS 11 are either marine or ice-core based, making VC-3 unique among lacustrine sediment records as it captures insolation variations and climatic changes during the mid-Pleistocene. Analysis of the …

A Weather Radar Analysis Of The Effects Of The Albuquerque Urban Area On Thunderstorms From 2001 To 2020, Alexandra Jane Vivier

Geography ETDs

Urban areas have been found to affect the atmosphere locally through changes in emissions, thermal properties, the addition of moisture, and changes in airflow patterns. This study assessed the relationship between urban areas in central New Mexico and thunderstorm intensity and duration between 2001 and 2020. Weather radar data was used to derive thunderstorm events, as it is well-suited to fast-changing thunderstorm conditions. Regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between developed land cover and thunderstorm intensity and duration, while controlling for factors such as elevation, aspect, and near-surface temperatures. It was found that developed land cover was statistically …

Water & Climate Change Across The Americas: Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Headwater Dependent Systems In Latin America And The American Southwest, The Intermountain West Transformation Network, Latin American And Iberian Institute

LAII Events

Please join us for an extraordinary event to discuss water and climate change across the Americas! Seven Latin American scholars from Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Peru will be here to present on their research in South American river basins and to learn from UNM students and scholars about the challenges in the Rio Grande and Chama. On Thursday, the symposium will be in Hodgin Hall at UNM. On Friday, we will have a traveling symposium of on-site talks on water and climate change along the Middle Rio Grande. The group will visit three sites throughout the day and hear presentations …

Hemisphere:Visual Cultures Of The Americas Volume Xvi 2024

Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas

No abstract provided.

‘Focus On’ South America: Mary Upjohn Meader’S 1937 Aerial Photography Of Peru, Chile, Argentina, And Uruguay, Kiki M. Barnes

Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas

No abstract provided.

Positioning Disability In Wilderness Space, Rebecca Hobart

Geography ETDs

This thesis examines the social construction of the disabled body in recreational wilderness space. A political ecology framework guides the research questions: What are the actual or perceived barriers to participation for differently abled hikers in wilderness recreational spaces, and how do these challenges manifest in long-distance hiking spaces? In situating Foucault’s theories of the body as shaped by power relations, this thesis asserts wilderness spaces to be privileged based on power conceptualized in normative notions of ability. 44 participants who self-identified as wilderness recreationalists with a disability and/or chronic health illness completed this study’s mixed-method questionnaire. Themes around practices, …

Computation Of Separate Ratio And Regression Estimator Under Neutrosophic Stratified Sampling: An Application To Climate Data, Abhishek Singh, Hemant Kulkarni, Florentin Smarandache, Gajendra K. Vishwakarma

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this article, we introduce a novel approach by presenting separate ratio and regression estimators in the context of neutrosophic stratified sampling for the very first time, incorporating auxiliary variables. We have conducted a thorough analysis to estimate these newly proposed estimators' bias and mean square error (MSE) up to the first-order approximation. Theoretically using efficiency comparison criteria, our findings demonstrate the superior performance of these estimators compared to traditional unbiased estimators. Also, numerically based on real-life and artificial data, we have shown the supremacy of the neutrosophic stratified sampling over neutrosophic simple random sampling along with the supremacy of …

Dryland Vegetation Mapping Using High Spatial-Temporal Resolution Satellite Imagery In New Mexico: A Comparison Of Phenological Time-Series Transformation Methods, Pratistha Sharma

Geography ETDs

New Mexico's drylands are undergoing notable vegetation changes due to rising aridity, higher temperatures, and shifts in precipitation with changing climate. Mapping drylands through remote sensing is challenging compared to mesic systems due to the irregular patterns of rainfall-driven phenology and weaker vegetation absorption signals. This study aims to enhance vegetation mapping in New Mexico, utilizing a high-resolution, frequently revisited PlanetScope dataset with multispectral capabilities, specifically chosen for its suitability for time-series analysis. The challenge with high spatial and temporal data lies in the overwhelming volume, leading to issues like the curse of dimensionality, overfitting, data redundancy, collinearity, and visualization …

Field Research Grant Colloquium, Latin American And Iberian Institute

LAII Events

Please join us for the Field Research Grant Colloquium that will feature the Student Field Research Grant awardees of 2023 and their research. The Colloquium consists of two panels.

Panel I: "Language, Culture, and Community Struggles"

• Lusia Hurtado Iglesias (M.A. in Spanish and Portuguese)
• Leticia Rinaldi (M.A. Graduate in Spanish and Portuguese)
• Christina Lorenzatto (Ph. D. in Anthropology)
• Gisselle Lydia Salgado (M.A. in Latin American Studies)
• Joseph Scala ( Ph. D. in Geography and Environmental Studies)

Panel II: " Discrimination, Othering, and Resistance"

• Joselin Castillo (Ph. D. in American Studies)
• Leonel Martin (M.A. in Latin American Studies)
• Ivonne Ramires (M.A. …

The Impacts Of Transfer Learning For Ungulate Recognition At Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Michael Gurule

Geography ETDs

As camera traps have grown in popularity, their utilization has expanded to numerous fields, including wildlife research, conservation, and ecological studies. The information gathered using this equipment gives researchers a precise and comprehensive understanding about the activities of animals in their natural environments. For this type of data to be useful, camera trap images must be labeled so that the species in the images can be classified and counted. This has typically been done by teams of researchers and volunteers, and it can be said that the process is at best time-consuming. With recent developments in deep learning, the process …

State Of Urbanization In Nepal: The Official Definition And Reality, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari, Shiva Gautam

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepali government’s official delineation of several human settlements as new urban areas has been questionable because many important criteria such as urban infrastructure and services, open space, population density and economic viability are not thoroughly analyzed while defining what is urban. Many settlements in Nepal officially defined as urban, often driven by political considerations, are operating in the rural framework forming ruralopolises. This paper analyzes various criteria needed for defining urbanization that are internationally accepted to assess Nepal’s official definition of urban settlements. Urban areas have been expanding in Nepal at the cost of agricultural, forest, and shrubland land uses. …

The Affective Landscapes Of Herbalism In New Mexico, Samantha Angelou Stroud

Geography ETDs

Herbalism, or practices which use plants for medicinal purposes, is tied to traditions in several cultures of the American Southwest, including Indigenous herbal medicine, Mexican-American curanderismo, and Western herbal traditions. Herbalism has been steadily gaining mainstream popularity since the late 1960s, alongside counterculture, holistic health, and back-to-nature movements, introducing many newcomers to the practice. This study asks: How does herbalism create and attach meaning to plants, cultures, and place in New Mexico? What are the affective landscapes produced by herbalism in New Mexico? And, to what extent do meaningful attachments manifest in ethics and actions of care? I argue that …

The Role Of Social Media Activism In Achieving Good Water And Sanitation In Ghana, Inusah Mohammed

Communication ETDs

This thesis examined the role of social media activism in ensuring good water and sanitation in Ghana. The study conducted a thematic analysis of Facebook posts (403) from March 2020 to December 2022 and found seven themes on how social activists are presenting issues concerning water and sanitation in Ghana. The study also found outcomes of the activism and also found theoretical implications of activism on social media usage in Ghana.

Impacts Of Urban Renewal On Community Identity And Sense Of Place In Las Cruces, New Mexico, Savannah Lorraine Quintana-Eddins

Geography ETDs

Las Cruces is the second largest city in New Mexico which has experienced exponential growth in the last three decades. The city has been cultivated by a rich history of Native populations, Spanish colonialism, and American democratic government. The culmination of these influences on Las Cruces had much influence on the Mesquite Historic District, the original townsite of Las Cruces. This area is home to many generational families and is adjacent to the downtown Main Street corridor. Downtown was built from the destruction of the Mesquite Historic District caused by waves of urban renewal projects. Through organizing, legislative action and …

Beyond All Drought: Improving Urban Water Conservation In The West Through Integrative Water And Land Use Policy, Benjamin Longbottom, Alexandria Gordon

Natural Resources Journal

Although droughts have long plagued the western United States, rapid population growth and climate change are making the American West increasingly water insecure. In some western states, including Arizona, Colorado, and California, decisionmakers are responding to these changes with innovative water conservation-focused land use policies. In other states, however, water and land use policies are lagging decades behind. Improving water security in western cities is an enormous task, requiring extensive social, legal, and policy reform. Additional federal funding for western water security initiatives could do much to drive that reform, but state and local governments should also play a leading …

Seeking To Be 'Like Water': Plastic Regulation In The People's Republic Of China, Dr. Gerry Nagtzaam, Dr. Elena Karataeva

Natural Resources Journal

China is one of the biggest producers of both virgin plastic and plastic waste. In order to tackle its growing plastic pollution crisis, China has recently made a number of significant legislative reforms directed at minimizing the use of disposable plastics, increasing the production of degradable plastic items and cutting off its reliance on imported plastic waste for recycling feedstock to boost its own recycling efforts. However, relying on recycling and degradable plastics as solutions to the plastic waste crisis may not be sufficient. China’s approach highlights an inherent contradiction in minimizing plastic pollution whilst simultaneously increasing plastic production.

Book Review: Up To Heaven And Down To Hell: Fracking, Freedom, And Community In An American Town Written By Colin Jerolmack, Abigail Lutz

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Pathways To Sustainability: Industry, Development, Business, Agriculture, Economy, And Politics, Andreas Hernandez, Pablo Arias-Benavides, Dayana C.M. Machada, Ousmane Pame, Alice Main, Per Moller

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

In this chapter we examine six compelling on-the-ground experiences, which are demonstrating pathways to sustainability, resilience and regeneration. Each case opens a pathway to sustainability in a key sphere of human activity: industry, development, business, agriculture, economy and politics. These experiences are creating new social imaginaries embodied in the practical forms of new politics and economics aimed at profound democratizations of human life, and towards a creative realignment of humans with the rest of the web of life. These social imaginaries are both open and encompassing. They are open in the sense that they can be filled with new possibilities …

Sensitivites Of Dryland Mammals To Mean And Variance In Aridity, Jessica C. Johnson

Biology ETDs

An important component of evaluating the consequences of climate change is to understand not only how climate trends, such as warming, affect species abundance but also how increasing climate variability will change population abundances. Studies on species' sensitivities to interannual variability are rare because they require long-term data collected either over naturally variable climate conditions or within direct manipulations of year-to-year variability. Physiology, functional traits, and diet composition related to resource acquisition or reproduction may be valuable predictors of species sensitivities to changes in both climate mean and variability. We predicted that species with certain physiologies, such as large body …

Minimizing Surface Run-Off, Improving Underground Water Recharging, And On-Site Rain Harvesting In The Kathmandu Valley, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal's political institutions and administrative units were thoroughly restructured in 2015 with the promulgation of the new Constitution. Several rural areas were combined to meet the definition of urban threshold criteria to classify rural areas into urban categories. Accordingly, over 3,900 local political and administrative units were amalgamated into 753 units, of which, 293 units are classified as urban. Within these newly defined urban areas, many natural environments have been converted into impervious surfaces such as paved roads, sidewalks, and building roofs. These impervious surfaces have drastically increased the amount of surface run-offs-often termed as "urban floods"--under increasing precipitation caused …

Food, Security, And Sustainability: "Soil, Struggle And Justice: Agroecology In The Brazilian Landless Movement", Latin American And Iberian Institute

LAII Events

This film examines a cooperative of the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST) in the South of Brazil, which struggled for access to land and then transitioned to ecological agriculture, or agroecology. This MST cooperative is demonstrating the possibility of an alternative model of flourishing rural life, which provides thriving livelihoods for farmers, produces high quality and low cost food for the region, and rehabilitates the earth. Introduction by Andreas Hernandez, Ph.D. Dr. Hernandez will moderate a discussion immediately following the screening.

Rock Climbing And Conservation In Land Management: Can They Coexist?, Marissa Heller

Geography ETDs

As participation in outdoor recreation is growing in the U.S., a dilemma is presented for conservation planners and land area managers who must manage the increasing demand for recreation while simultaneously working to protect species. Rock climbers and other outdoor recreationalists have asserted that a relationship exists between recreation and the conservation of public lands. However, mounting evidence suggests that rock climbing continues to cause a multitude of negative impacts to ecosystems. Here, I investigate the extent to which land management practices allow for rock climbing and conservation to coexist, and how it is that well developed plans protect ecologically …

The Changing Urban Forest In Gallup, New Mexico: Contextualizing Urban Tree Programs And Planning Processes, Joseph A. Scala

Geography ETDs

Tree plantings are often proposed as a solution to a variety of urban problems. The purpose of this project is to investigate the historical formation of urban tree cover in Gallup, New Mexico, and the extent to which urban tree plantings can benefit areas with inequitable urban tree distribution. To do this, I employ a mixed methods approach that includes correlation analysis, historical analysis, and analysis of urban tree canopy change from 1972-2005. The findings from this study indicate that Gallup’s history of tree plantings is heavily influenced by its history of economic development. Additionally, the findings demonstrate that if …

The Nature Of Environmental Planning In The Carnué Land Grant, Desiree Loggins

Geography ETDs

In 1819, the Spanish Crown established Cañón de Carnué land grant as a buffer between the colonial settlement of Albuquerque and raids from Plains Apache and other nomadic tribal nations. Upon entering the U.S. period of Manifest Destiny, Carnué land grant heirs lost much of the land they stewarded as a collective to the Cibola National Forest. While the state generates laws and policies that complicate the prioritization of subsistence land uses by land grant communities, Carnué’s presence is felt as grantees reform relationships to their environment and assert their personal stake in stewardship and care. I argue that Carnué’s …

The Consequences Of Climate Change For Native Bee Assemblages, Melanie R. Kazenel

Biology ETDs

Recent declines in terrestrial arthropod biodiversity highlight the need to pinpoint which taxa and ecosystem services are most threatened, and why. But, for most of the world’s ~20,000 bee species, we lack robust evidence of population trends, and the role of climate change remains surprisingly little studied. I used long-term bee monitoring data from the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Program (Socorro, NM, USA), along with complementary experimental and observational data, to examine how climate relates to bee abundance and diversity patterns over time and space, and to identify the traits that govern bees’ climate sensitivities. Under climate change, drylands worldwide …

A Review Of Environmental Vulnerabilities Related To Nepal’S Graduation Process From Least Developed To A Developing Country Status, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai, Basu Sharma

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal has long aspired to graduate from the Least Development Country (LDC) to Developing Country category as defined by the United Nations system. Nepal had met two of the three graduating criteria and could have technically graduated from the LDC status in 2015. However, based on the Nepal government’s request to defer the review, the new 2021 assessment by the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) recommended that the country should graduate from the LDC status by 2026. The graduation requires not only meeting pre-defined development-related thresholds, but also maintaining sustained improvements in at least two consecutive assessments in …

Neutrosophic Sets And Systems, Vol. 47, 2021, Florentin Smarandache, Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Said Broumi

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

No abstract provided.

Statistical Development Of The Neutrosophic Lognormal Model With Application To Environmental Data, Zahid Khan, Adnan Amin, Sajjad Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Gulistan

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

No abstract provided.

Examining Psilocybin And Lsd Consumption Through A Geographical Lens, Nicole Sarah Caruana

Geography ETDs

n recent years, the study of psychedelic science has reemerged across a variety of fields. Psilocybin and LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) are two psychedelic substances receiving an influx of attention for their success treating issues such as depression, post-traumatic stress, and addiction. Psilocybin and LSD are still widely used despite their classification as illegal Schedule I substance. This study aims to learn more about current users with the following questions guiding this research: What are barriers limiting psilocybin and LSD consumption? What are the motivations behind use? What impacts are psilocybin and LSD having on users lives? I used Qualitative …

Nuanced Networks: How Social Relationships And Power Influence Participation In Private Lands Conservation Programs, Ellen Loechner

Geography ETDs

Because the majority of land in the Midwestern United States is privately owned, the responsibility for creating and maintaining space for wildlife conservation falls upon private landowners. Numerous state and federal agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) host private lands conservation programs that offer landowners financial and technical support to complete conservation projects on their property (Echols, Front, and Cummins 2019). While the individual motivations and priorities of a landowner may inform how they use and manage their property, a landowner’s ability to connect with the agricultural and conservation communities may determine if they have the opportunity to participate in these …