Digital Commons Network^™

The Current State Of Reptiles South Aral Sea Region And Their Protection, M. Jumanov, G. A. Asenov, Ya. I. Ametov, I. M. Arepbaev

Karakalpak Scientific Journal

The article presents the materials of herpetological studies conducted in 2007-2018 in the South Aral region. The main work on the study of the species composition, distribution and counting of all reptile species and ecological features was carried out in three large ecosystems (North-Western Kyzyl Kum, Ustyurt and the lower reaches of the Amu Darya). The studies were carried out according to standard methods using point and route counts. In the works, generally accepted methods of zoological and environmental studies are used. As a result of the inventory, the authors identified the modern species composition and number of reptiles in …

Evidence Of Local Adaptation To Climate In An Invasive Ectotherm: A Study On The Eurasian Gypsy Moth (Lymantria Dispar) In North America, Phillip M. Gibbs

Theses and Dissertations

Invasive species exist in nearly every ecosystem both terrestrial and aquatic. Improving our understanding of the mechanisms that shape the ability of these organisms to physiologically cope with their surroundings will be crucial to preparing for future impacts of climate change. The Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) has been expanding its range across North America over the last 100+ years since its arrival in Medford, Massachusetts. This study quantifies upper thermal limits (UTL) across 8 different populations of L. dispar in North America and seeks to determine if signals of local adaptation to climate across a latitudinal gradient may …

Liturgy As Ethicizer: Cultivating Ecological Consciousness Through A Coptic Orthodox Liturgical Ethos, Stephen M. Meawad

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

This project will examine the liturgical ethos of the Coptic Orthodox Church and how this ethos is effective in creating self-sustaining, ecologically aware communities.

The Path To Building Resilience In Sri Lankan Rice Farms, Tarea Karunaratne

Student Theses 2015-Present

Rice cultivation in Sri Lanka roots back to its very first Kingdom in 161 B.C, and is still an incredibly populous industry to this day with an estimated 708,000 hectares of land being used for paddy cultivation. However, due to a changing global climate and an increase in natural disasters worldwide, Sri Lanka’s rice industry and the millions of people dependent on it have been greatly affected. This paper seeks to explore resilience building in a Sri Lankan context, taking into account the cultural and socio-economic factors that may influence how rice is farmed and who farms it, and to …

In Praise Of Dr. John Olive, Ecology Professor, Thomas J. Hall

Hail We Akron!

No abstract provided.

Urban Ecology, Spring/Summer 2003, Issue 8

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Human Ecology, Spring/Summer 2016, Issue 34

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Forest-Walks – An Intangible Heritage In Movement A Walk-And-Talk-Study Of A Social Practice Tradition, Margaretha Häggström

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

This article seeks to understand and extend current understandings of intangible heritage and particularly forest-walks as such. The study is related to Swedish conditions and has been conducted in Sweden. The research is grounded in social practice theory – and the perspective of practice architectures in particular – and it draws on the work of Stephen Kemmis. Further, we view practice theory entangled with the phenomenological life-world concepts of intersubjectivity and historicity. The data are based on 12 walk-and-talk interviews conducted in the forest with individuals who willingly walk in the forest on their leisure time. The analysis takes its …

Hrísheimar: Fish Consumption Patterns, Wendi K. Coleman

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine the fish remain patterns at Hrísheimar, which have provided archaeologists with further evidence that inland sites such as those in the Mývatnssveit Region utilized both local freshwater and marine fish from the coastal regions as a part of their subsistence pattern.

Ignatian Intent: Using Ignatian Pedagogy For Sustainability In The Sociology Classroom, Erin E. Robinson

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

In the sociology classroom, students expressed thoughts of denial of the importance of a number of social issues, including climate change. During this time, I was involved in two initiatives which were collaborative efforts to weave Ignatian Pedagogy with sustainability education. First, at Canisius College, we developed a Sustainability Initiative to embrace a comprehensive approach to environmental sustainability in academics, community and campus culture. Second, I was invited to become involved with the AJCU Ecology Educators group working on the Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability. Through the application of the Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability tool kit, I took the opportunity to …

Ranging And Behavior Of Black And Gold Howler Monkeys In Formosa, Argentina, Claire Rossi De Leon

Library Map Prize

Howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.) are known for their adaptability, allowing them to inhabit a large range of forest types and driving high levels of variation in ranging and behavioral patterns. I address a series of hypotheses relating these relationships: 1) If an energy minimizing lifestyle is an adaptation to eating high quantities of leaves, then howler groups that have a high proportion of leaves in their diet will occupy smaller home ranges, have shorter daily path lengths, and spend more time resting, 2) if temperature is the primary driver of high levels of resting, then howlers will conserve energy and …

[Introduction To] Collateral Values: The Natural Capital Created By Landscapes Of War., Todd R. Lookingbill, Peter D. Smallwood

Bookshelf

This book explores the unanticipated benefits that may arise after wars and conflicts, showing how the preservation of battlefields and the establishment of borderlands can create natural capital in the former landscapes of war. The editors call this Collateral Value, in contrast to the collateral damage that war inflicts upon infrastructure, natural capital, and human capital. The book includes case studies recounting successes and failures, opportunities and risks, and ambitious proposals.

The book is organized in two sections. The first visits U.S., English, and French battlefield sites dating from medieval England to World War I. The second explores borderlands located …

Riparian Research And Management: Past, Present, Future: Volume 1, Steven W. Carothers, Hisham El Waer, Helen C. Fairley, Deborah M. Finch, Suzanne C. Fouty, Jonathan M. Friedman, Jennifer K. Frey, Stanley V. Gregory, Robert H. Hamre, Annie Henry, Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta, Elaine E. Johnson, R. Roy Johnson, Kenneth J. Kingsley, Mary Anne Mcleod, Eric Mellink, Katie Merewether, Duncan T. Patten, John S. Richardson, Anne Sands, Michael L. Scott, Bo Shelby, Anna A. Sher, D. Max Smith, John T. Stanley, Frederick J. Swanson, Raymond M. Turner, Robert H. Webb, William E. Werner

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Fifty years ago, riparian habitats were not recognized for their extensive and critical contributions to wildlife and the ecosystem function of watersheds. This changed as riparian values were identified and documented, and the science of riparian ecology developed steadily. Papers in this volume range from the more mesic northwestern United States to the arid Southwest and Mexico. More than two dozen authors—most with decades of experience—review the origins of riparian science in the western United States, document what is currently known about riparian ecosystems, and project future needs. Topics are widespread and include: interactions with fire, climate change, and declining …

The Bioeconomics Of Shade-Grown Coffee Production Under Climate And Price Risks In Puerto Rico, Yixuan Gao

Master's Theses and Capstones

Coffee production is severely affected by global climate change. One of the important impacts comes from the increasing infestation and distribution of coffee berry borer (CBB), the most damaging coffee pest worldwide. Shade-grown coffee (SGC) systems can alleviate the impacts and increase the resilience of coffee farms by providing non-market and market ecosystem services.

From an ecological perspective, SGC systems can provide many non-market ecosystem services such as pest risk mitigation, soil water retention, soil fertility, and pollination, which are all critical factors affecting coffee yields. From a financial perspective, SGC systems can benefit farmers by increasing the prices through …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effects Of Urbanization, Mesophication And Prescribed Burns On Oak Woodlands In The Chicago Metropolitan Area, Chad Populorum

Celebration of Learning

Urban expansion has had devastating impacts on forest ecosystems, especially within the past century. Human attempts to dominate nature have diminished natural disturbance regimes, which have maintained the biodiversity and historic composition of these ecosystems. Fires have been a prominent force in maintaining the structure of oak, hickory and other heliophytic (sun loving and fire-adapted) forest systems. Human induced fire suppression has led to mesophication across North America. Mesophication is the transition from drier conditions with open canopies to wetter conditions with closed canopies. These new conditions decrease the survival rates of these important species and begin to favor mesophytic …

Seabird Distribution And Oil & Gas Potential Along The Northern Sea Route, Russia: An Arctic Marine Conservation Case Study, Meghan Kelly

Sustainability and Social Justice

Seabirds are indicator species for the marine environment. Their populations are simultaneously affected by access to food resources and anthropogenic pressures including direct disturbance and habitat degradation associated with industrial development (Parsons et al. 2007). Therefore, using seabird distribution as a policy-relevant indicator for the Arctic marine environment supports an ecosystem based management approach aimed at protecting sensitive habitats from increased offshore oil and gas development.

This research identifies seabird habitat in the Russian Arctic utilizing in situ seabird observations from the Northern Sea Route to create a species distribution model. The spatial location of these areas will be compared …

Impacts And Management Of Foliar Pathogens Of Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus) In The Northeastern United States, Cameron Ducayet Mcintire

Doctoral Dissertations

White Pine Needle Damage (WPND) is a complex of foliar fungal pathogens currently impacting forests in the Northeastern US. Since ca. 2009, chlorosis and defoliation caused by WPND has been observed in stands of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L) throughout the region. A changing climate, notably warmer temperatures and higher than average spring precipitation in the region are thought to be exacerbating the establishment and spread of these native pathogens. The goals of this research are to enhance the understanding of the timing and magnitude of WPND-induced defoliations across infected stands, assess the physiological response of trees affected by …

Comparing Created And Natural Depressional Wetlands Through Trophic Analysis Of Macroinvertebrates, Shante N. Eisele

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Macroinvertebrates are important contributors to wetland ecosystems due to their role in decomposition, nutrient cycling, and as a food resource for other organisms. Several studies have analyzed the macroinvertebrate communities in created wetlands, but few have evaluated them in the context of trophic structure in both created and natural wetlands. The objective of this study is to better understand benthic macroinvertebrate community composition and trophic structure in created and natural wetlands. My central hypotheses were that macroinvertebrate communities in created wetlands would have (1) differing composition and (2) less complex trophic structure with shorter food-chain length compared to natural wetlands. …

Ms Environmental Biology Capstone Project, Alyssa Herrin

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The study of visitor use in museums, zoos, and aquariums is an important aspect of understanding visitor engagement and evaluating the function of the institution. Here, visitor demographics such as age, group size, and number of children were assessed to see their influence on time spent and number of stops visitors made while visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver, Colorado. This study evaluated differences in time spent and number of stops made among different gardens by observing visitors and mapping their paths and activities through each zone. The results show that older visitors and larger groups spent more time …

Forest Structural Complexity And Net Primary Production Resilience Across A Gradient Of Disturbance In A Great Lakes Ecosystem, Lisa T. Haber

Theses and Dissertations

Forests are an important component of the global carbon (C) cycle and contribute to climate change mitigation through atmospheric C uptake and storage in biomass and soils. However, the forest C sink is susceptible to disturbance, which modifies physical and biological structure and limits spatial extent of forests. Unlike severe, stand-replacing disturbances that reset forest successional trajectories and may simplify ecosystem structure, moderate severity disturbances may instead introduce complexity in ways that sustain net primary production (NPP), leading to the phenomenon of “NPP resilience.” In this study, we examined the linkage between disturbance severity and ecosystem biological and physical structural …

Wild Abandon: Postwar Literature Between Ecology And Authenticity, Alexander F. Menrisky

Theses and Dissertations--English

Wild Abandon traces a literary and cultural history of late twentieth-century appeals to dissolution, the moment at which a text seems to erase its subject’s sense of selfhood in natural environs. I argue that such appeals arose in response to a prominent yet overlooked interaction between discourses of ecology and authenticity following the rise and fall of the American New Left in the 1960s and 70s. This conjunction inspired certain intellectuals and activists to celebrate the ecological concept of interconnectivity as the most authentic basis of subjectivity in political, philosophical, spiritual, and literary writings. As I argue, dissolution represents a …

Desert Pool {If Every Desert Was Once A Sea}, Karen Miranda Abel

The Goose

Desert Pool {If every desert was once a sea} is a site-specific art project by Canadian artist Karen Miranda Abel completed in 2016 while artist-in-residence at Joya: arte + ecología, an arts-led research centre situated in an alpine desert within a national park in southern Spain. The elemental installation represents an envisioning of the ancient sea that occupied the Sierra de María-Los Vélez Natural Park millions of years before the current desert ecology, a time when its highest mountain peaks may have been islands.

Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense Of Living In A High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World By Kath Weston, Kelly Shepherd

The Goose

Review of Kath Weston's Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense of Living in a High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World.

Divine Intervention: Designed For Social Evolution By Integrating Natural Order, Anatoshia L. Wyatt

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

There is a long tradition in architecture of using ordering systems found in nature and science to create built space. This thesis builds upon such line of thought to propose new design methods based on ordering systems with a particular focus on social relations. It focuses on the design of a community center in the city of Atlanta which is considered as a catalyst for jumpstarting the betterment of society through improvement of social bonds, community involvement, activism, meditation, and the integration of nature in the community. The design is situated on the Bellwood Quarry site and creates an ecological …

The Effects Of Urbanization On Nitrogen Processing In Urban Streams, Peter Francissen, Dr. Kevin Geedey, Dr. Michael Reisner

Celebration of Learning

Urban stream syndrome is described as the deterioration of stream health in an urbanized watershed and is associated with the loss of ecosystem services, which in turn degrades downstream environments. One key symptom of the urban stream syndrome is reduced processing of inorganic nitrogen. Previous research suggests that as urbanization increases and water quality decreases, the uptake length (Sw) of inorganic N increases. This indicates that the stream is increasing the export of N downstream compared to in situ incorporation of N into the ecosystem. We measured uptake length (Sw) of NO3, using a pulse addition method, along 9 different …

Nitrogen Dynamics And Retention In The River Network Of A Tropical Forest, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico, Richard Brereton

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation identifies gaps in the scientific understanding of nutrient cycling, particularly nitrogen (N) cycling, in streams and riparian zones of tropical montane forests, and addresses several of those gaps with original field-based research using study watersheds in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico as the model system. The Luquillo Mountains have features typical of mature montane tropical forests, such as high background N concentrations in streams and groundwater relative to streams in other biomes. As a USDA Forest Service Experimental Forest, the Luquillo Mountains are accessible to researchers and have abundant monitoring and experimental datasets from which to build …

Effects Of Agricultural Practices On Soil Communities And Their Associated Ecosystem Services, Lesley W. Atwood

Doctoral Dissertations

To maximize crop yields, commodity crop production systems typically rely on inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation; simplification of crop rotations (e.g., monocultures); and strategic use of soil disturbance (e.g., tillage, cultivation, etc.). While these practices are intended to optimize the soil conditions for crop development and reduce spatial and temporal variability in crop yield, they also impact soil biological diversity and the important agroecosystem services soil communities provide. Identification of management practices that are less prone to causing undesirable changes in the soil food web community are central to improving the sustainability of our agricultural systems. In this dissertation, …

Effect Of Contemplative Pedagogy On The Ecoliteracy Of Undergraduate Public State University Students, Michael Vincent Lees

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Undergraduate students lack the opportunity and environment to contemplate and develop ecoliteracy skills that serve to integrate subject matter into their everyday experiences. Ecoliteracy is grounded in Capra's web of life theoretical framework and represents students' capacities to read world systems objectively with their head, heart, hands, and spirit. Contemplative pedagogy provides educators with exercises that give students time to reflect on the integration of learning. Ecoliteracy and contemplative pedagogy research has shown little quantitative data pertaining to how contemplative pedagogy affects undergraduate student ecoliteracy. To address that gap, this causal-comparative study measured the use of contemplative pedagogy exercises relative …

Teaching Place: Heritage, Home And Community, The Heart Of Education, Judy Kay Lorenzen

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation examines the implementation of a Place-conscious pedagogy as a means to teach heritage and sense of place. This pedagogy is framed upon the premise that trying to understand our heritage and place—ourselves—are crucial elements in our ability to live well as individuals who are connected school/community members, who help our schools/communities thrive, becoming Place-conscious citizens. I argue that in teaching in such a culturally diverse community, tensions rise as immigration has become a main focus. Our school/community has experienced many ethnic groups with vast social differences for which Place-conscious education offers practical solutions. These students have a great …

Effects Of Non-Consumptive Recreation And Environmental Factors On Arkansas State Park Biodiversity, Bennett P. Grooms

Theses and Dissertations from 2016

State parks serve a dual conservation role by offering protected habitat to many species while also promoting recreational use of natural resources. Non-consumptive recreation activities, however, have long-term negative effects on the behavior, physiology, and reproductive success of state park biotic communities. The purpose of my research was to investigate the possible synergistic effects of non-consumptive trail use, environmental factors, and trail design factors on avian, mesocarnivore, and woody vegetation communities in Arkansas state parks. During 18 May – 7 August 2015, I conducted avian point counts, trail user counts, set camera traps, and sampled vegetation at 227 points on …