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2016

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Articles 1741 - 1770 of 1805

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Seasonal Variation Of Fish And Macroinvertebrate Biomass Spectra In Southern West Virginia Streams, Andrew J. Kirk Jan 2016

Seasonal Variation Of Fish And Macroinvertebrate Biomass Spectra In Southern West Virginia Streams, Andrew J. Kirk

Theses and Dissertations

The biomass size spectrum - the power-law scaling relationship between average individual size and total biomass - has often been studied in lake and marine ecosystems, but rarely in lotic systems. The objective of this study was to test for characteristic biomass spectra in small temperate streams. Seasonal fish and macroinvertebrate data, including population abundance and biomass estimates, were collected in three wadeable, southern West Virginia streams from October 2013 to May 2015. Fish abundances were estimated with 3-pass electrofishing (depletion) surveys and individuals were weighed in the field. Macroinvertebrates were collected with a Hess sampler and returned to the …

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Genome Wide Epigenetic Analyses Of Araptus Attenuatus, A Bark Beetle, Chitra Seshadri Jan 2016

Genome Wide Epigenetic Analyses Of Araptus Attenuatus, A Bark Beetle, Chitra Seshadri

Theses and Dissertations

Phylogeographic studies have relied on surveying neutral genetic variation in natural populations as a way of gaining better insights into the evolutionary processes shaping present day population demography. Recent emphasis on understanding putative adaptive variation have brought to light the role of epigenetic variation in influencing phenotypes and the mechanisms underlying local adaptation. While much is known about how methylation acts at specific loci to influence known phenotypes, there is little information on the spatial genetic structure of genome-wide patterns of methylation and the extent to which it can extend our understanding of both neutral and putatively adaptive processes. This …

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The Undergraduate 2016, Saint Mary's College Of California Jan 2016

The Undergraduate 2016, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

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Following The Flat Hat: What Leads People To National Park Service Interpretive Careers?, Avarie Fitzgerald Jan 2016

Following The Flat Hat: What Leads People To National Park Service Interpretive Careers?, Avarie Fitzgerald

University Honors Theses

National Park Service interpreters around the United States are dedicated to connecting people to their parks and historical sites. While these interpretive rangers have an important mission of preserving the landscape and stories of our nation’s most treasured places, a gap in the research of significant life experiences and environmental education professions exists in understanding the motivations behind following a career in the park service. Through semi-structured phenomenological interviews, the significant life experiences of interpretive park rangers were investigated as to their degree of influence on their choice of career. The findings indicate that quality time spent outdoors, family involvement, …

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Adverse Effects Of Mercury And Some Management Options To Reduce Dental Amalgam Waste, Marta Szabatin Jan 2016

Adverse Effects Of Mercury And Some Management Options To Reduce Dental Amalgam Waste, Marta Szabatin

University Honors Theses

Mercury is a persistent, toxic pollutant and at elevated levels can cause serious environmental harm to aquatic life, wildlife, and humans. Mercury from anthropogenic sources continues to be a significant risk to human health causing regulatory agencies to address this issue. The purpose of this study is to review the sources, forms and adverse effects of mercury, and identify the tools regulating mercury-containing dental waste management, and the advantages and disadvantages of various management practices that help to minimize mercury releases into municipal sewage system and into waterbodies. Dental facilities are significant mercury dischargers to wastewater treatment facilities and dental …

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Building A Foundation For Goal-Attainment And Problem-Solving In Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum Through A Classical Lens, Said Jardaneh Jan 2016

Building A Foundation For Goal-Attainment And Problem-Solving In Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum Through A Classical Lens, Said Jardaneh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The core curriculum of interdisciplinary studies undergraduate programs represents interdisciplinarity as a consciously applied process, whether individually or collaboratively, of drawing and integrating insights from various disciplinary perspectives toward complex problem-solving and innovation. At the front-end of these programs students are often introduced to interdisciplinarity through terminology, metaphors, concepts, and context that are intended to familiarize them with the process. This initiation usually precedes what will ultimately entail a limited number of upper-division courses within the several disciplines or areas that will encompass a unique plan of study characterized by its breadth. The philosophy underlying current pedagogy in interdisciplinary studies …

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Shifting Baselines Of Iconic Marine Species In The Caribbean, Samantha Lovell Jan 2016

Shifting Baselines Of Iconic Marine Species In The Caribbean, Samantha Lovell

Honors Theses

As the degradation of Caribbean coral reefs occurs, memory of past states is lost so the degraded status is used as a standard in management, a phenomenon known as “shifting baselines.” To set restoration targets, marine historical ecology studies are helpful to document baselines of species and understand the past productivity of ecosystems. In this study, I examine the historical ecology of the islands Barbuda, Curaçao, and Montserrat. I analyzed archival materials, including historical maps and other documents from the islands to identify previously abundant or iconic species and understand historical changes. From the archival resources I identified 30 places …

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Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall Jan 2016

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …

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Urban Farming In The North American Metropolis: Rethinking Work And Distance In Alternative Food Networks, Diana Mincyte, Karin Dobernig Jan 2016

Urban Farming In The North American Metropolis: Rethinking Work And Distance In Alternative Food Networks, Diana Mincyte, Karin Dobernig

Publications and Research

This article examines the role of manual work in bridging the distance between production and consumption in alternative agro-food economies, particularly in urban farming. Scholars and public commentators often draw on Marxian theories of alienation to suggest that manual work constitutes a key strategy for reconnecting production and consumption, and overcoming the ecological rift between natural processes and modern, agro-industrial production. Focusing on urban farming, this article complicates the picture of unalienated, decommodified labor and points to continuous negotiations between experiences of re-embedding in the community and the environment, and the on-going commodification of the farming experience. We argue that …

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Trade-Offs Between Three Forest Ecosystem Services Across The State Of New Hampshire, Usa: Timber, Carbon, And Albedo, David A. Lutz, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Mackenzie B. Murphy, Mark E. Borsuk Jan 2016

Trade-Offs Between Three Forest Ecosystem Services Across The State Of New Hampshire, Usa: Timber, Carbon, And Albedo, David A. Lutz, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Mackenzie B. Murphy, Mark E. Borsuk

Dartmouth Scholarship

Forests are more frequently being managed to store and sequester carbon for the purposes of climate change mitigation. Generally, this practice involves long-term conservation of intact mature forests and/or reductions in the frequency and intensity of timber harvests. However, incorporating the influence of forest surface albedo often suggests that long rotation lengths may not always be optimal in mitigating climate change in forests characterized by frequent snowfall. To address this, we investigated trade-offs between three ecosystem services: carbon storage, albedo-related radiative forcing, and timber provisioning. We calculated optimal rotation length at 498 diverse Forest Inventory and Analysis forest sites in …

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Elkind's "Giants In The Nursery" (Book Review), Cathie L. Chatmon Jan 2016

Elkind's "Giants In The Nursery" (Book Review), Cathie L. Chatmon

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

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The Pathology Of Command And Control: A Formal Synthesis, Michael Cox Jan 2016

The Pathology Of Command And Control: A Formal Synthesis, Michael Cox

Dartmouth Scholarship

One of the most important theories in the study of environmental governance and policy is the pathology of command and control, which describes the negative consequences of top-down, technocratic governance of social and ecological systems. However, to date, this theory has been expressed somewhat inconsistently and informally in the literature, even by the seminal works that have established its importance and popularized it. This presents a problem for the sustainability science community if it cannot be sure of the precise details of one of its most important theories. Without such precision, applications and tests of various elements of the theory …

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Understanding The Influencers Of Second-Hand Apparel Shopping Behavior, Robyn Hobbs Jan 2016

Understanding The Influencers Of Second-Hand Apparel Shopping Behavior, Robyn Hobbs

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Shopping for second-hand apparel is rapidly growing and has become a notable segment of the retail market. The purpose of this study is to determine what influences consumers when shopping second-hand for apparel products in-store and online. According to the existing literature, a number of key factors play significant roles for second-hand apparel shopping consumer decisions. They include: social, costs, trends and environmental influencers. Past research has not concentrated in-depth on the hedonistic and social influences of second-hand apparel shopping, financial factors, and time spent shopping for second-hand apparel. This study has observed the socio-demographic profile of second-hand shoppers, what …

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Energy Justice And U.S. Energy Policy: Case Study Applications Exploring U.S. Energy Policy Through An Energy Justice Framework, Emily Prehoda Jan 2016

Energy Justice And U.S. Energy Policy: Case Study Applications Exploring U.S. Energy Policy Through An Energy Justice Framework, Emily Prehoda

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis presents three examples of U.S. energy policy and demonstrates how these policies violate the principles of energy justice. First, requiring only Federal agencies to obtain a percentage of energy production from renewables violates the distributive energy justice principle through a lack of a federal renewable energy policy which distributes the potential for unequal electrical grid failure to populations. Second, U.S. energy policy violates the procedural energy justice principle through inequitable participation and poor knowledge dissemination that, in some cases, contributes to stagnant renewable targets during the decision-making process and inequitable distribution of the benefits associated with renewable energy …

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Powering An Industry: The History Of The Calumet And Hecla Electrical System And The Environmental Consequences Left Behind, Emma M. Zawisza Jan 2016

Powering An Industry: The History Of The Calumet And Hecla Electrical System And The Environmental Consequences Left Behind, Emma M. Zawisza

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Calumet and Hecla Copper Mining Company in Houghton County, Michigan, was established in 1865 and closed its doors in 1968. This company was a major contributor in developing secondary copper processing and used these methods to produce copper even when its underground mines were closed. C&H built its own electrical transmission system that could have rivaled many during its time. This allowed the company to have the ability to produce and control its electrical network and expand, but it had major environmental effects. Polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs), used in transformer oil and other components were produced between about 1930 …

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Some Key Elements On Entomophagy In Africa: Culture, Gender And Belief, S. Niassy, H. D. Affognon, K. K.M. Fiaboe, K. S. Akutse, C. M. Tanga, S. Ekesi Jan 2016

Some Key Elements On Entomophagy In Africa: Culture, Gender And Belief, S. Niassy, H. D. Affognon, K. K.M. Fiaboe, K. S. Akutse, C. M. Tanga, S. Ekesi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Edible insects are a natural renewable food resource and, within the context of food security could be one solution for Africa. Although, entomophagy is still being practiced in Africa, there is a degree of rejection in certain milieu due to negative images associated with insects and poor awareness efforts. In order to understand the key elements that govern entomophagy in Africa, we conducted an online survey on edible insects in African countries and documented the importance of insects, cultures and believes associated to their use. We eventually looked at gender participation in entomophagy. Study showed that insect consumption can be …

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"One Narrow Thread Of Green": The Vision Of May Theilgaard Watts, The Creation Of The Illinois Prairie Path, And A Community's Crusade For Open Space In Chicago's Suburbs, Anne M. Keller Jan 2016

"One Narrow Thread Of Green": The Vision Of May Theilgaard Watts, The Creation Of The Illinois Prairie Path, And A Community's Crusade For Open Space In Chicago's Suburbs, Anne M. Keller

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Women's environmental activism prior to the early 1960s in America focused on women's roles as municipal housekeepers or emphasized wilderness conservation. I offer in this dissertation the story of the Illinois Prairie Path, the country's first rails-to-trails conversion to apply for National Recreation Trail status, and the innovative women who fought for nature preservation in a suburban setting rather than in a wilderness area. Led by renowned writer and naturalist, May Theilgaard Watts, these women built support for the public footpath project by fostering an ecological awareness throughout their region. I place them in the tradition of Chicago female reformers …

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Enhancing The Resilience Of Vulnerable Groups Through Participatory Climate Change Adaptation Planning: A Case Study With The Elderly Community Of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Jason L. Rhoades Jan 2016

Enhancing The Resilience Of Vulnerable Groups Through Participatory Climate Change Adaptation Planning: A Case Study With The Elderly Community Of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Jason L. Rhoades

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Recent reports highlight the vulnerability of the elderly to climate change. Unfortunately, a lack of research incorporating the perspectives of the elderly on this topic could cause their needs to go unrecognized and unaddressed. To promote adaptation planning that is responsive to the concerns of the elderly, this dissertation presents the results of a participatory research and adaptation planning process conducted in partnership with the elderly community of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The process combined a five-step climate change adaptation planning model with a community-based action research approach that placed the elderly participants as key drivers in the research and planning processes. …

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Collaboration In Conservation Networks: Regional Conservation Partnerships In New England, Jill L. Weiss Jan 2016

Collaboration In Conservation Networks: Regional Conservation Partnerships In New England, Jill L. Weiss

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Environmental problems are becoming increasingly complex and harder for any one discipline or approach to address. In the case of land conservation, there is an incongruity between how we view and manage social and natural systems even though each is reliant on the other. Adaptive co-management of these socio-ecological landscapes by a cross section of stakeholders and disciplines is necessary. In New England this is happening through Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs). RCPs are conservation networks comprised of land trusts, local governments, landowners, and localized conservation action groups. The geographic range of each RCP varies in size from a few hundred …

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A Park For Everyone: The National Park Service In Urban America, Sarah J. Morath Jan 2016

A Park For Everyone: The National Park Service In Urban America, Sarah J. Morath

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This article examines the National Park Service's past and future presence in urban America. Scholars, conservationists, and park administrators agree that urban park spaces and programming must be a focus of the National Park Service in its second century. This article explains the motivations behind the National Park Service's first urban parks and describes the National Park Service's recent emphasis on urban areas. From designations such as Pullman Park in Chicago, to initiatives like the Urban Agenda, the National Park Service is poised to engage urban America and create a new generation of park visitors.

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Result Inequality In Family Law, Margaret F. Brinig Jan 2016

Result Inequality In Family Law, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

To the extent that family law is governed by statute, all families are treated as though they are the same. This is of course consistent with the equal protection guarantees of the US Constitution as well as those of the states. However, in our pluralistic society, all families are not alike. At birth, some children are born to wealthy, married parents who will always put the children’s interests first and will never engage in domestic violence. Many laws benefit these children, while, according to some academics, they either further disadvantage other children or at best ignore their needs.

This presentation …

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Climate Modifies Response Of Non-Native And Native Species Richness To Nutrient Enrichment, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Peter B. Reich, Eric M. Lind, Lauren L. Sullivan, Eric W. Seabloom, Laura Yahdjian, Andrew S. Macdougall, Lara G. Reichmann, Juan Alberti, Selene Baez, Jonathan D. Bakker, Marc W. Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Enrique J. Chaneton, Carla M. D'Antonio, Philip A. Fay, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, W. Stanley Harpole, Oscar Iribarne, Kevin P. Kirkman, Johannes M.H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Ramesh Laungani, Andrew D.B. Leakey, Rebecca L. Mcculley, Joslin L. Moore, Jesus Pascual, Elizabeth T. Borer Jan 2016

Climate Modifies Response Of Non-Native And Native Species Richness To Nutrient Enrichment, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Peter B. Reich, Eric M. Lind, Lauren L. Sullivan, Eric W. Seabloom, Laura Yahdjian, Andrew S. Macdougall, Lara G. Reichmann, Juan Alberti, Selene Baez, Jonathan D. Bakker, Marc W. Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Enrique J. Chaneton, Carla M. D'Antonio, Philip A. Fay, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, W. Stanley Harpole, Oscar Iribarne, Kevin P. Kirkman, Johannes M.H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Ramesh Laungani, Andrew D.B. Leakey, Rebecca L. Mcculley, Joslin L. Moore, Jesus Pascual, Elizabeth T. Borer

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Ecosystem eutrophication often increases domination by non-natives and causes displacement of native taxa. However, variation in environmental conditions may affect the outcome of interactions between native and non-native taxa in environments where nutrient supply is elevated. We examined the interactive effects of eutrophication, climate variability and climate average conditions on the success of native and non-native plant species using experimental nutrient manipulations replicated at 32 grassland sites on four continents. We hypothesized that effects of nutrient addition would be greatest where climate was stable and benign, owing to reduced niche partitioning. We found that the abundance of non-native species increased …

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Tracing Hydrocarbon Contamination Through Hyperalkaline Environments In The Calumet Region Of Southeastern Chicago, Kathryn Ann Quesnell Jan 2016

Tracing Hydrocarbon Contamination Through Hyperalkaline Environments In The Calumet Region Of Southeastern Chicago, Kathryn Ann Quesnell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Calumet region of Southeastern Chicago was once known for industrialization, which left pollution as its legacy. Disposal of slag and other industrial wastes occurred in nearby wetlands in attempt to create areas suitable for future development. The waste creates an unpredictable, heterogeneous geology and a unique hyperalkaline environment. Upgradient to the field site is a former coking facility, where coke, creosote, and coal weather openly on the ground. Hydrocarbons weather into characteristic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be used to create a fingerprint and correlate them to their original parent compound. This investigation identified PAHs present in the …

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The Role Of Hemiparasitic Plants : Influencing Tallgrass Prairie Quality, Diversity And Structure, Jane P. Digiovanni Jan 2016

The Role Of Hemiparasitic Plants : Influencing Tallgrass Prairie Quality, Diversity And Structure, Jane P. Digiovanni

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Pedicularis canadensis (Orobanchaceae) and Comandra umbellata (Santalaceae) are two root hemiparasitic plant species found in tallgrass prairie communities of the Chicago region. Managers are interested in utilizing these species to reduce dominant prairie grasses and thereby increase ecological diversity and quality in prairie restorations and urban plantings. A field observational study at five tallgrass prairie sites investigated the association of hemiparasite abundance with metrics of phylogenetic and ecological diversity as well as floristic quality. Although no reduction in C4 grasses was detected, analysis of the field data found a significant association between hemiparasite abundance with increased floristic quality at all …

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Environmental Racism And The Movement For Black Lives: Grassroots Power In The 21st Century, Rickie Cleere Jan 2016

Environmental Racism And The Movement For Black Lives: Grassroots Power In The 21st Century, Rickie Cleere

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis explores the ways in which the environmental justice movement, which is in opposition to environmental racism, and the Black Lives Matter movement, which is in opposition to police brutality and other forms of racism, are part of the same struggle: a struggle against the neoliberal violence of the state. This struggle against neoliberal violence is at the same time a struggle for communities of color to achieve self-determination on a global scale, a monumental task which might be informed through a revolutionary intercommunalist framework of global grassroots solidarity. State oppression embodies violence in more forms that one, including …

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Whoever Controls Access To The Tap Collects Rent On It: How Nigeria’S Function As A Gatekeeper State Fostered Environmental Degradation By Transnational Corporations, Mayowa Ige Jan 2016

Whoever Controls Access To The Tap Collects Rent On It: How Nigeria’S Function As A Gatekeeper State Fostered Environmental Degradation By Transnational Corporations, Mayowa Ige

Pomona Senior Theses

Every year, for the past 50 years, Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta has suffered the same magnitude of oil spill in its rivers and swamps than was spilled in the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. The damage has devastated the way of life of the Ogoni people who live in the area. They have consistently suffered environmental injustice as a result of Shell’s oil exploration, and the Nigerian government has ignored their cries for help and restitution. In fact, movements to garner support for environmental justice and fare share of oil profits and ownership from Shell and the state have been brutally …

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Vehicle To Grid: An Economic And Technological Key To California's Renewable Future, Jackson C. Rafter Jan 2016

Vehicle To Grid: An Economic And Technological Key To California's Renewable Future, Jackson C. Rafter

Pomona Senior Theses

This paper explores how the concept of Vehicle to Grid (V2G) could bring benefits to California's electric grid, transportation sector, and environmental goals.

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Food Rebellion: Contemporary Food Movements As A Reflection Of Our Agrarian Past, James Gordon Jan 2016

Food Rebellion: Contemporary Food Movements As A Reflection Of Our Agrarian Past, James Gordon

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis considers the influence of agrarian thought on contemporary food movements.

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Turning Waste Into Compost In Napa, California, Liana D. Solis Jan 2016

Turning Waste Into Compost In Napa, California, Liana D. Solis

Pomona Senior Theses

Two significant pieces of legislation in California have mandated that cities and counties must reduce their waste streams. Assembly Bill 341 establishes that California must divert 75% of its waste from landfills by the year 2020. The first bill that included composting, Assembly Bill 1826, was passed in 2014 and requires that commercial users enact composting beginning in 2016. These initiatives have led cities and counties to seek ways of implementing composting programs. Using the City of Napa as a case study, this thesis argues that a composting program can be integrated into any existing waste hauling service. Although there …

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Christianity And The Development Of Eco-Justice, Emily C. Hill Jan 2016

Christianity And The Development Of Eco-Justice, Emily C. Hill

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the role Christian communities in the United States play in eco-justice work. Eco-justice is the recognition that human rights and environmental rights are indivisible. Christianity had a deep impact on Western culture in Europe during the Medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods. Evangelizing and carrying out God’s will were used repeatedly as justification for the colonial escapades of European powers. The notion of a Covenant with God permeated American culture and influenced the identity of the nation and of American environmentalism. However, Christian communities were also active in resisting the exploitation of people and the Earth. Today, Christian …

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