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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Making Forests, Making Communities: An Ethnography Of Reforestation In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Megan Brown Apr 2022

Making Forests, Making Communities: An Ethnography Of Reforestation In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Megan Brown

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Reforestation is not just planting trees in the ground. More than net increase in forest cover, reforestation is a complex political endeavor undertaken by both humans and non-humans and a popular climate change mitigation tactic. However, little research has examined the dynamics between selection of specific reforestation strategies, health, and community resilience, particularly with attention to entanglements between the lives of both human and non-human forest dwellers. This ethnographic work, based on six months of in-person fieldwork and six months of digital ethnography, examines reforestation and forest relations in Costa Rica’s Monte Verde zone, a region which experienced widespread deforestation, …


Ecological Repentance, Emmanuel Salem Jan 2021

Ecological Repentance, Emmanuel Salem

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In an age ripe with discovery and analysis regarding anthropogenic pollution and the resultant climate change, a causal ideological explanation is naturally sought. This paper seeks to delve deep into the Christian religion and its relationship to the current climate crisis, as well as discuss whether or not predictions and speculative assertions professed in the famous essay by Lynn White, Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis, hold up when surveyed with a more critical and thorough evaluative lens. This conversation is undertaken under three core considerations: biblical cosmology, what has happened in the world of Christian bioethics since White’s time, …


Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere Sep 2020

Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In species who consume folivorous diets, immature individuals must contend with the challenges of extracting nutrients from fibrous foods before dietary adaptations and strategies are fully developed. Additionally, immatures have distinct nutritional needs to support their stage-specific metabolic and biophysiological requirements. To meet these stage-specific needs, while constrained by underdeveloped feeding strategies and digestive capacities, immatures may adopt distinct diets better suited to their specific developmental context. However, where dietary modification is constrained by low dietary diversity or landscape homogeneity, it is unclear how immature individuals compensate through alternative strategies. In turn, little is known about the nutritional and life …


The Off Season: Masculinities, Rurality, And Family Ties In Alaska Commercial Fishing, Cruz Morey May 2017

The Off Season: Masculinities, Rurality, And Family Ties In Alaska Commercial Fishing, Cruz Morey

Senior Theses

This study explores the intersections of masculinity, rurality, the family, and ecology through the experiences of commercial fishermen in Alaska. By understanding the plurality of masculinities and how men operate within a rural space, this study investigates the relationship between the masculine rural and the rural masculine and how that relationship pertains to commercial fishermen. This study examines existing discourse about Alaska and the masculinity of commercial fishermen in light of the concepts of cultural and economic capital, as well as local ecological knowledge (LEK). It further examines how fishermen describe their experiences in the industry as ones that are …


Provisioning And Its Effects On The Social Interactions Of Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana) At Mt. Huangshan, China, Brianna I. Schnepel Jan 2015

Provisioning And Its Effects On The Social Interactions Of Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana) At Mt. Huangshan, China, Brianna I. Schnepel

All Master's Theses

The dispersal patterns of food resources has a significant effect on the composition of primate groups and social interactions within those groups. Humans often alter the dispersal of food. Non-humans often use affiliative behaviors to elicit tolerance or support from other group members. I investigated whether provisioned food resources alter the social interactions and group dynamics of Macaca thibetana. All-occurrence sampling and scan sampling were used for data recorded by camera traps. Trail-cameras were placed at six locations that contain natural and human food resources and recorded 60-second videos. Social behavior and proximity of the monkeys were recorded. I …


The Ecology Of Infancy And Early Childhood In Rural Senegal; A Five Year Old Can Boot But Not Foot, An Exploration Of Where Biology Meets Culture, Heather Mills Oct 2014

The Ecology Of Infancy And Early Childhood In Rural Senegal; A Five Year Old Can Boot But Not Foot, An Exploration Of Where Biology Meets Culture, Heather Mills

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project explores the life stages of infancy and early childhood in the village of Ndiane in the Thies region of Senegal. I will discuss how biology meets culture to influence children, parenting styles, and expectations of the life stage. How does ecology, the interaction of physical, biological and cultural landscapes, characterize childhood and the intertwined belief systems that influence parenting? The information was gathered using a combination of participant observation and free list interviews.


Uses Of Wild Plants In Ndumba, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence Hays Nov 2012

Uses Of Wild Plants In Ndumba, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence Hays

Terence Hays

For Papua New Guineans,l as well as for those who wish to understand them better, traiditional knowledge of the local natural environment is a priceless resource. In the face of increasing commitments to a cash economy, however, many communities are rapidly losing their awareness and appreciation of the rich animal and plant worlds which are immediately available to them. As Powell has recently observed (1976), the recorded information regarding traditional plant knowledge and uses has tended to be widely-scattered in the literature and relatively difficult to access, especially for those who stand to benefit the most from it. A recent …


Perspectives On Reproduction And Life History In Baboons, Larissa Swedell, Steven R. Leigh Jan 2006

Perspectives On Reproduction And Life History In Baboons, Larissa Swedell, Steven R. Leigh

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.


The Cladocera Of Lake West Okoboji, Iowa - Revisited, Kenneth L. Lang Jan 1990

The Cladocera Of Lake West Okoboji, Iowa - Revisited, Kenneth L. Lang

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Seven stations, established in 1968 to sample Cladocera, were sampled again, using the same methods, in 1988. Seven species, all of them in low abundance, are new records for Lake West Okoboji. In 1988, there was little difference 1) in the ranking of the stations relative to abundance of cladocerans, 2) the distribution and abundance of the species by habitat-type, 3) the seasonality of the predominant species in the specific habitats, 4) the temporal patterns of the number of species and total cladoceran abundance in the specific habitats, compared to 1968. On the average there were more species but lower …


Plant-Parasitic Nematodes In Iowa, Don C. Norton Jan 1989

Plant-Parasitic Nematodes In Iowa, Don C. Norton

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Ninety-nine species of plant-parasitic nematodes are recorded from Iowa. Twenty-seven are new state records. Most samples were collected from around maize or from prairies or woodlands. Similarity (Sorensen's index) of species was highest for the maize-prairie habitats (0.49), compared with maize-woodlands (0. 23), or prairie-woodland (0. 3 7) habitats. Nematode communities were most diverse in prairies with a Shannon-Weiner index (H') of 2.74, compared with 1.65 and 1.07 for woodlands and maize habitats, respectively. Evenness of species (J') was 0.41, 0.78, and 0.48 for maize, prairies, and woodlands, respectively.


Using Life History And Ecology As Tools To Manage A Threatened Salamander Species, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Marilyn D. Bachmann Jan 1988

Using Life History And Ecology As Tools To Manage A Threatened Salamander Species, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Marilyn D. Bachmann

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Selected aspects of the life history and ecology of the small-mouthed salamander (Ambystoma texanum Matthes) relevant to the management of this threatened species in Iowa are presented. The population studied utilizes flooded woodland habitat during courtship, breeding and egg laying, and during the entire larval period. Larval foraging strategies in this habitat included ontogenetic but no diel shifts in prey selection. Synchronous, nocturnal breeding migration allowed effective use of drift fences fur capture of adults used in captive breeding, courtship behavior studies, and the estimation of breeding population size. Large numbers of spennatophores, apparently indiscriminate mate choice, and the relatively …


Uses Of Wild Plants In Ndumba, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence E. Hays Jan 1980

Uses Of Wild Plants In Ndumba, Eastern Highlands Province, Terence E. Hays

Faculty Publications

For Papua New Guineans,l as well as for those who wish to understand them better, traiditional knowledge of the local natural environment is a priceless resource. In the face of increasing commitments to a cash economy, however, many communities are rapidly losing their awareness and appreciation of the rich animal and plant worlds which are immediately available to them. As Powell has recently observed (1976), the recorded information regarding traditional plant knowledge and uses has tended to be widely-scattered in the literature and relatively difficult to access, especially for those who stand to benefit the most from it. A recent …