Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation On The Association Between Unconventional Oil And Gas Development And Traffic Accident Rates In Ohio, Hubian Wang

Public Health Theses

The oil and gas drilling activities had greatly developed in Ohio in past decade. Unconventional natural gas development is a newly developed technology, which requires more heavy-truck trips in the drilling process. Limited studies investigated the association between drilling activities and increased rate of traffic accidents. Ecological study was conducted to analyze the association. Number of unconventional wells were obtained as exposure variable from Ohio department of natural source, and the data of traffic crashes were collected as outcome variable from Ohio department of public safety. Other variables including sociodemographic data and spatial distribution of primary roads were examining as …

Quantifying The Effects Of Early Competition On Niche Specialization: A Natural Experiment In A Restored System, Christy Nicole Wails

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Islands support the greatest numbers of endemic species but are highly vulnerable to human activities. In particular, the introduction of invasive, predatory mammals (e.g., rodents) has resulted in sharp declines of island fauna due to a lack of evolved behavioral capacities to avoid depredation. Because of this, invasive species are considered to be one of the most detrimental impacts to biodiversity. To combat this biodiversity loss, the eradication of invasive mammals is now a primary conservation tool, with > 700 attempts globally. However, mammal eradications are predicated on the assumption that islands will naturally return to their pre-invaded condition. Yet many …

On The Occurrence Of A Highly Localized Outbreak Of A Saturniid In Lowland East Ecuador: A Case Study And Literature Review, Samantha Sutton, Sarah C. Pasquini, Todd Swanson, Walter P. Carson

Neotropical Biodiversity

For decades, outbreaks of insect herbivores in tropical forests were considered unusual or rare events primarily because of high plant diversity and the top-down impact of enemies. An alternative explanation is that these outbreaks are common but occur on sparsely distributed hosts high in the canopy and at scales of one or a few individual trees. Here, we report an outbreak of a saturniid in the genus Citioica Travassos & Noronha near the Amazon Basin of Ecuador on a single tree of Inga edulis Mart. The outbreak caused near complete defoliation (>90% leaf loss) and did not occur on …

The Structure Of Tardigrade Communities At Fine Spatial Scales In An Andean Polylepis Forest, Balbina P.L. Ramsay, Nigel J. Marley, David T. Bilton, Simon D. Rundle, Paul M. Ramsay

Neotropical Biodiversity

Little is known about distribution patterns of micrometazoan organisms at different spatial scales and the mechanisms driving these patterns across different environments. Here we explore the fine-scale structure of tardigrades in a high-elevation Polylepis forest in northern Ecuador. To investigate spatial patterns of tardigrade abundance, we collected samples from different bryophyte taxa (hosts) on the woodland floor. We identified some tardigrades to species, but most taxa were considered at the level of morphological operational taxonomic units. Tardigrade assemblages differed in composition between host taxa, with some tardigrade taxa associated more with certain hosts, which might relate to host architecture or …

Filling Biogeographical Gaps Through Wildlife Roadkills: New Distribution Records For Six Snake Species From Ecuador (Anilius Scytale, Drymarchon Corais, Erythrolamprus Breviceps, Micrurus Lemniscatus, Oxyrhopus Vanidicus, Trilepida Anthracina), Pablo Medrano-Vizcaíno, David Brito-Zapata

Neotropical Biodiversity

Monitoring wildlife roadkills is a valuable method to identify critical areas where animals are more susceptible to collision with vehicles, likewise, this type of work can let us know which species are more vulnerable to this human impact. Besides these relevant utilities used for mitigation purposes, this effort can provide very important information about the biology, ecology and biogeography of species. In this paper, we report new geographic records found while working on a road ecology study. These data increase the distribution of six snakes’ species (Anilius scytale, Drymarchon corais, Erythrolamprus breviceps, Micrurus lemniscatus, Oxyrhopus vanidicus and Trilepida anthracina), from …

Examining Social Vulnerability And The Association With Covid-19 Incidence In Harris County, Texas, Guillermo A Tortolero, Marcia De Oliveira Otto, Ryan Ramphul, Jose-Miguel Yamal, Alison Rector, Michael Brown, Melissa F Peskin, Dania Mofleh, Eric Boerwinkle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Studies have investigated the association between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence. However, few studies have examined small geographic units such as census tracts, examined geographic regions with large numbers of Hispanic and Black populations, controlled for testing rates, and incorporated stay-at-home measures into their analyses. Understanding the relationship between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence is critical to understanding the interplay between social determinants and implementing risk mitigation guidelines to curtail the spread of infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and SARS-CoV-2 incidence while controlling for testing rates and …

Detachment And Antagonism As Moderators Of Effects Of Psychosocial Stressors On Emotional Distress In Daily Life, Christina My Quach

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Psychological distress encompasses transdiagnostic symptoms of anxiety, depression, and anger, which all feature of emotional dysregulation and are often associated with interpersonal stressors. To understand these forms of distress as they occur in daily life, examination of both personality vulnerabilities and social situational context is needed. Interpersonal circumplex research and theory suggests human needs for agency and communion, and therefore others’ cold-dominant behavior is highly aversive and likely to cause psychosocial distress, but degree and type of distress (e.g., anxiety versus anger) may depend upon personality. Detachment and antagonism are the most interpersonal of the pathological personality traits (Southard et …

Spatial Modeling Of Common Raven Density And Occurrence Helps Guide Landscape Management Within Great Basin Sagebrush Ecosystems, Sarah C. Webster, Shawn T. O'Neil, Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Pat J. Jackson, John C. Tull, David J. Delehanty

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) are a behaviorally flexible nest predator of several avian species, including species of conservation concern. Movement patterns based on life history phases, particularly territoriality of breeding birds and transiency of nonbreeding birds, are thought to influence the frequency and efficacy of nest predation. As such, predicting where on the landscape territorial resident and non-territorial transient birds may be found in relation to the distribution of sensitive prey is of increasing importance to managers and conservationists. From 2007 to 2019, we conducted raven point count surveys between mid-March and mid-September across 43 different field …

A Counter-History Of Rhetorical Ecologies, Madison Jones

Professional and Public Writing Faculty Publications

In this essay, I argue that the ecological turn in rhetorical studies has produced spatiotemporal problems and that these problems are directly tied to the material disciplinary history of ecosystems ecology and its connections to the Anthropocene violence of nuclear colonialism. These spatiotemporal concerns result from rhetoric’s “ecological moment”—a kairotic framework that emphasizes flux but elides material histories. Building from rhetorical scholarship in decolonial historiography and place-based methods, I offer a counterhistory of ecology to demonstrate how our field can better engage with the dynamic narrative pasts that shape contemporary rhetorical ecological inquiry. Through this counterhistory, I provide a method …

Reproductive Health Factors And Maternal Mortality Of Internally Displaced Women In Nigeria, Fatima Mahmood Jibirilla

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Approximately 529,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes every year, with 99% of these maternal deaths occurring in developing countries. Each year, about 59,000 maternal deaths occur in Nigeria, with a mortality rate of 576 deaths per 100,000 births. Women constitute about half of the 33.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide. The purpose of this retrospective cross-sectional study was to explore the association between the reproductive health factors and maternal mortality of internally displaced women in Borno state, Nigeria. McCarthy and Maine’s model for determinants of maternal mortality informed this study. A secondary dataset of 400 women (age 14-49 years) …

Meta-Analysis Of Primary Producer Amino Acid Δ15N Values And Their Influence On Trophic Position Estimation, Matthew D. Ramirez, Alexi C. Besser, Seth D. Newsome, Kelton Mcmahon

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

1. Compound-specific stable isotope analysis of individual amino acids (CSIA-AA) has emerged as a transformative approach to estimate consumer trophic positions (TP_CSIA) that are internally indexed to primary producer nitrogen isotope baselines. Central to accurate TP_CSIA estimation is an understanding of beta (β) values—the differences between trophic and source AA δ¹⁵N values in the primary producers at the base of a consumers’ food web. Growing evidence suggests higher taxonomic and tissue-specific β value variability than typically appreciated.
2. This meta-analysis fulfills a pressing need to comprehensively evaluate relevant sources of β value variability and its contribution to …

Estimating The Movements Of Terrestrial Animal Populations Using Broad-Scale Occurrence Data, Sarah R. Supp, Gil Bohrer, John Fieberg, Frank A. La Sorte

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Aprendizaje Activo Y Pedagogía Culturalmente Relevante En Stem: Tres Lecciones Aprendidas Dentro Y Fuera Del Aula, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Uno de los mayores desafíos en la ciencia, la tecnología, la ingeniería y la educación matemática (STEM, por sus siglas en inglés) es mejorar el rendimiento y la retención de estudiantes de diversos orígenes. Existen grandes diferencias entre los logros académicos de los estudiantes de minorías subrepresentadas (EMS) con aquellos que no pertenecen a estas minorías. Las diferencias inician desde el kínder y continúan hasta los estudios de posgrado. El aprendizaje activo y la pedagogía culturalmente sensible/relevante han mostrado resultados exitosos minimizando estas diferencias educacionales. Desafortunadamente, el aprendizaje activo y la pedagogía culturalmente relevante no son métodos comunes de enseñanza …

Remnant Assessment And Soil Inoculation To Inform Large-Scale Prairie Restoration At Eastern Washington University, Erik E. Peterson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The Palouse Prairie of Eastern Washington and Western Idaho, characterized by rolling hills of deep loess soil, is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, with more than 99% converted to tilled farmland. To mitigate this loss, Eastern Washington University has begun prairie restoration on a tilled wheat field adjacent to campus, in the northern extent of the Palouse Prairie Ecoregion. However, effective restoration requires understanding reference conditions, and there are relatively few studies of remnant prairie plant communities or soils, particularly in the Northern Palouse. From north to south in the Palouse Prairie Ecoregion, there are gradients …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Drought Resistance And Recovery In Mixed Conifer Forests Of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, Zachary J. Wenderott

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Forests throughout much of the western United States are experiencing increasing climatic variability, often resulting in decreased forest productivity and elevated likelihood of tree mortality. Severe drought, such California’s recent 2012-2015 drought, are projected to increase in intensity, frequency, and severity throughout much of this region in coming years. Forest management has long relied on prescribed fire and mechanical thinning to reduce fuel loads and ameliorate potential fire hazards. These treatments may also have the ability to reduce stand density, alleviate competitive pressures, and allow residual trees access to critical resources during periods of extreme stress. Utilizing a long-term National …

Environmental Protection And Human Rights In The Pandemic, Sarah C. Slinger, Maria Antonia Tigre, Natalia Urzola

Faculty Publications

The Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 took the world by surprise. The virus spread quickly around the globe and death tolls were constantly on the rise at early stages of the pandemic. Although vaccine rollouts have helped halt the number of deaths, inequality in accessing vaccines and effective treatments is still a major issue. From the onset, Covid-19 negatively impacted global well-being and myriad human rights. The present report examines how environmental protection and related human rights have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on link between environmental and human health, this report focuses on ecological human rights. The report …

Using Principles Of Seascape Ecology To Consider Relationships Between Spatial Patterning And Mobile Marine Vertebrates In A Seagrass-Mangrove Ecotone In Bimini, Bahamas, Sarah Rebecca Taylor Driscoll

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Seagrass meadows and mangrove forests are ecologically and economically important systems that are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activity. This study used a non-invasive method, baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS), to observe mobile marine vertebrates in the seagrass-mangrove ecotone in North and South Bimini, the only area where mangroves remain in the northwestern Bahamas. An extensive area of mangroves and seagrass was removed for coastal development in North Bimini, where a marine protected area, the North Bimini Marine Reserve (NBMR), has been under consideration for decades. This research applied principles of seascape ecology to assess species abundance, diversity, and richness …

Effects Of Beaver Dam Analogs On Stream Ecosystem Function Of Crab Creek, Washington State, Nicholas D. Broderius

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This study documents the effects of beaver dam analogs (BDAs) on nutrient transport, fish community composition, macroinvertebrate drift, and benthic macroinvertebrate communities of Crab Creek, WA, USA. In 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) placed 25 BDAs in Crab Creek on a section of private land near Harrington, WA. Beaver dam analogs are structures placed in streams to mimic the ecosystem effects of beaver activity and are increasingly used as a stream restoration technique. The primary goals of placing these BDAs in the stream was to impound sediment and create a new …

The Role Of Climate Change In The Decline Of Narragansett Bay Winter Flounder, Joseph A. Langan

Open Access Dissertations

Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) has historically supported productive commercial and recreational fisheries throughout its range in the northwest Atlantic. As a small flatfish that inhabits estuaries, bays, and the coastal zone, this species is vulnerable to shifting environmental conditions in many of the habitats critical to its life cycle. At the southern edge of the species range, the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Bight winter flounder stock entered a steep decline during the 1980s following a period of overfishing. Despite repeated reductions in harvest during the proceeding decades, the population has yet to recover. A decreasing trend in recruitment has …

Understanding Visitor Use At Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Melissa Maria Hurtado Alvarez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Effective management and monitoring of visitor recreational use is fundamental in marine protected areas. It is common to hear that tourism and outdoor recreation are often qualified as double-edged activities, making valuable socioeconomic contributions but also causing degradation of the environment. The convergence of social and natural resource research and practices can help managers to create better policies that will maximize human benefits from, and minimize human pressures on, ocean and coastal environments. For this study online surveys were sent via Qualtrics to email addresses obtained from the state of Florida during the summer of 2020. The first paper assessed …

Environmental Controls On The Terrestrial Water Cycle In Forested Mountain Ecosystems., Luis Andrés Guillén

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Water is a key resource to natural ecosystems and human societies alike, and the water cycle is fundamentally linked to the climate and the characteristics of catchments. However, the challenges posed by environmental change makes it imperative to understand how the water cycle is affected by biotic and abiotic factors, in particular, in areas that are crucial sources of water like forested headwater catchments. Therefore, this doctoral dissertation aims to advance the knowledge on the dynamics between climate, vegetation and landscape that determine the water balance of forested mountain ecosystems. This document presents five chapters, an introductory chapter, three standalone …

A Time-Series Ecological Study Protocol To Analyze Trends Of Incidence, Mortality, Lethality Of Covid-19 In Brazil, Luiz C De Abreu, Khalifa Elmusharaf, Carlos Eduardo Siqueira

Gastón Institute Publications

Introduction: since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in February 2020, Brazil has reported more than 20 million cases and more than 600,000 deaths on October 31, 2021. The behavior of the pandemic was also different in the various states, from the less developed to the more developed, such as the state of São Paulo. Objective: to describe step-by-step time series for analyzing trends in mortality, lethality and incidence of COVID-19 in Brazil. Methods: a protocol for an ecological study of time series, covering the 26 states and the federal district (Brasilia). Results: the descriptions have the potential to …

Analysis Of Covid 19 Mortality And Case Fatality In A Low Income Region Of Brazil, Carlos Eduardo Siqueira, Luiz C De Abreu

Gastón Institute Publications

Introduction: Inserted in the vulnerable context of the Brazilian Amazon, the state of Tocantins has suffered damages with the dissemination of COVID-19 in its territory; however, little evidence is published from this state. Objective: This study aims to analyze the case-fatality, mortality, and incidence of COVID-19 in Tocantins. Methods: This is an ecological study, population-based, time- series analysis of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state of Tocantins from March 2020 to August 2021. Results: During the examined period, 219,031 COVID-19 cases, and 3,594 deaths were registered due to disease. Two possible occurrence peaks were characterized in this time- series …

The Impact Of Rurality, Underlying Cardiovascular Disease, And Socioeconomic Vulnerability On Covid-19 Outcomes In Georgia, Michael C. Morgan, Lavannya Atri, Jennifer L. Waller, Douglas Miller, Adam E. Berman

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: COVID-19 related illnesses have been associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease sequelae and worsened socioeconomic variables. We sought to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 outcomes, underlying cardiovascular disease, and socioeconomic determinants of health in rural and non-rural counties in the state of Georgia.

Methods: COVID-19, demographic, and socioeconomic data were acquired from publicly available databases including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). The relationship between COVID-19 outcomes and markers of cardiovascular disease burden, rurality, and socioeconomic determinants of health was assessed at the county level in Georgia through the beginning of …

Socio-Economic Factors Associated With The Incidence Of Shiga-Toxin Producing Escherichia Coli (Stec) Enteritis And Cryptosporidiosis In The Republic Of Ireland, 2008–2017, Eiimear Cleary, Martin Boudou, Coilín Oscar Óhaiseadha, Patricia Garvey, Paul Mckeown, Jean O'Dwyer, Paul Hynds

Articles

The Republic of Ireland (ROI) currently reports the highest incidence rates of Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) enteritis and cryptosporidiosis in Europe, with the spatial distribution of both infections exhibiting a clear urban/rural divide. To date, no investigation of the role of socio-demographic profile on the incidence of either infection in the ROI has been undertaken. The current study employed bivariate analyses and Random Forest classification to identify associations between individual components of a national deprivation index and spatially aggregated cases of STEC enteritis and cryptosporidiosis. Classification accuracies ranged from 78.2% (STEC, urban) to 90.6% (cryptosporidiosis, rural). STEC incidence was …

Collaborations In Environmental Initiatives For An Effective Gover- Nance Of Social-Ecological Systems: What The Scientific Literature Suggests., Elena Andriollo, Alberto Caimo, Laura Secco, Elena Pisani

Articles

Moving from the scientific literature on evaluation of environmental projects and programs, this study identifies how and under which conditions collaborations are considered effective for adaptive gover- nance of SES. The method adopted is a systematic literature review based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 56 articles selected through specific queries on the SCOPUS database and published from 2004 to 2020. Results of the quantitative analysis underline conditions able to make collaborations effective for adaptive governance of SES: the importance of transdisciplinary research tackling both environmental and social sciences, the perceived urgency of stakeholders to tackle environmental challenges and …

Association Between Community-Based Self-Reported Covid-19 Symptoms And Social Deprivation Explored Using Symptom Tracker Apps: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study In Northern Ireland, Jennifer M. Mckinley, David Cutting, Neil Anderson, Conor Graham, Brian Johnston, Ute Mueller, Peter M. Atkinson, Hugo Van Woerden, Declan T. Bradley, Frank Kee

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the spatial and temporal relationships between the prevalence of COVID-19 symptoms in the community-level and area-level social deprivation. Design: Spatial mapping, generalised linear models, using time as a factor and spatial-lag models were used to explore the relationship between self-reported COVID-19 symptom prevalence as recorded through two smartphone symptom tracker apps and a range of socioeconomic factors using a repeated cross-sectional study design. Setting: In the community in Northern Ireland, UK. The analysis period included the earliest stages of non-pharmaceutical interventions and societal restrictions or 'lockdown' in 2020. Participants: Users of …

Habitat Selection By Vulnerable Golden Bandicoots In The Arid Zone, Cheryl A. Lohr, Kristen Nilsson, Colleen Sims, Judy Dunlop, Michael T. Lohr

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In 2010, vulnerable golden bandicoots (Isoodon auratus) were translocated from Barrow Island, Western Australia, to a mainland predator-free enclosure on the Matuwa Indigenous Protected Area. Golden bandicoots were once widespread throughout a variety of arid and semiarid habitats of central and northern Australia. Like many small-to-medium-sized marsupials, the species has severely declined since colonization and has been reduced to only four remnant natural populations. Between 2010 and 2020, the reintroduced population of golden bandicoots on Matuwa was monitored via capture–mark–recapture data collection, which was used in spatially explicit capture–recapture analysis to monitor their abundance over time. In 2014, we used …

Beyond Viability: Case Studies In Writing Center Sustainability, Loren Skye Roberson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Writing centers are resilient institutions, but its unclear what factors contribute to their longevity. Scholars such as Neal Lerner suggest the versatility of writing centers stems from their ability to react and resist the status quo. Yet, its undetermined what specific factors lend themselves to the continuation of a writing centers life span. Using ecocomposition as a theoretical framework, this dissertation expands the limited conversation on writing center ecology and sustainability. Each chapter is a case study of the risk management, resilience, and sustainability systems at a regional writing center. The purpose of these case studies is twofold: to ascertain …

Ecohydrology Of Epiphytes: Modelling Water Balance, Cam Photosynthesis, And Their Climate Impacts, Gretta Miller, Samantha Hartzell, Amilcare Porporato

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Epiphytes are aerial plants, often characterized by CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism) photosynthesis, which make up a significant portion of the biomass in some rainforests. Their unique characteristics have not yet been included in ecohydrological models, and their potential impact on local hydrometeorology is largely unexplored. This work introduces a water balance model for epiphytes, which adapts the soil‐plant‐atmosphere continuum model to represent a plant system without soil and couples it to the Photo3 photosynthesis model, which includes CAM photosynthesis. The model, which is parameterized with field data of Guzmania monostachia, accurately captures the observed hydraulic and photosynthetic behaviour of …