Life Sciences Commons^™

Our Natural World, Jennifer Mattei

Biology Faculty Publications

It’s nothing earth-shattering to say our natural world gives us everything we need to survive, from the oxygen we breathe and the clean water we drink to that apple you are enjoying with your lunch today. We all know this. However, we sometimes fail to appreciate and act on the converse—if we fail to maintain a well-functioning and resilient natural world our future is literally at risk.

What’s more, our reliance on nature goes deeper than the base physical essentials of air, water and food that are required for life. Our bodies—physically, mentally and emotionally—are healthier for their interaction with …

Ecopsychologists' Vital Importance In The Time Of Climate Crises, Nicole B. Auckerman Psyd

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Ecopsychology is a systems-based philosophy that expands the therapeutic lens to include client interactions with and perceptions of the natural environment as an integral element of well-being or pathology. Ecopsychology, known forward as EP, also looks at the pathology of our culture and what kind of diagnoses lead to practices that put our planet at risk. In recent decades, the field has amassed a substantial amount of empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness but remains largely underutilized. First generation EP suggested a cultural reordering shifting away from consumer culture and reordering our way of life. Second generation posits working within the …

The Sandhill Crane State: A Naturalist’S Guide To Nebraska, Paul Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This book includes the locations, descriptions, and points of biological, historical, geological, or paleontological interest of nearly 350 sites in Nebraska, most of which are free to access. Its 53,000 words include accounts of 9 state historical parks, 8 state parks, 2 national forests, 2 national monuments, and 7 national wildlife refuges as well as 181 wildlife management areas, 56 waterfowl production areas, and 54 state recreation areas. It also includes 48 state and county maps, 18 drawings, 33 photographs, and nearly 200 literature citations.

doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1305

Religious Naturalisms, Carol W. White

Other Faculty Research and Publications

This article focuses on recent developments in religious naturalism in the twenty-first century, building on Jerome Stone’s 2008 study of its resurgence in the mid-twentieth century. I introduce religious naturalism as a synthesis of naturalistic ideas that often depart from traditional forms of religious thinking, defining it as a capacious, ecological religious worldview grounded in the observational conviction that nature is ultimate. I also describe different models of religious naturalism, focusing on the key ideas found in the influential publications of contemporary religious naturalists (e.g., Ursula Goodenough, Donald Crosby, Loyal Rue, among others). While acknowledging specific points of emphasis, I …

Painting Ecological Change In Pacific Northwest Bird Populations, Rachel Rothberg

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The following four oil paintings are part of an ongoing series that visually explores bird populations and behavior in Northwest Washington, particularly in Bellingham and Whatcom County. I combine biological, detailed illustration with painterly practices to communicate fragile ecological balances to my audience through a medium seen less frequently in the field of conservation. My work examines the tension between life and death in the natural world to provoke conversations about environmental issues and to encourage compassion for local scenery. The work illuminates how birds, humans, and the ecosystems we inhabit are intertwined, inspiring a sense of wonder for our …

A Glimpse Into The Ecological Communities Of Camp Greenwood, Rachael Noteboom

Honors Projects

There is a Presbyterian summer camp near Greenville, Michigan that is home to beautiful wetlands with a variety of wildlife. This camp is nestled between multiple larger connected lakes and surrounded by many large waterfront properties. The number of campers has dwindled in recent years and the council in charge of the land is desperate to sell the most ecologically important sections of the camp, if not all of the land, to developers for multi-million dollar price tags. My dad is on the committee trying to convince the council and the community to save the camp from development.

I surveyed …

The Ecology Of A Tallgrass Treasure: Audubon’S Spring Creek Prairie, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This book describes the major plant and animal components of Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, an 850-acre National Audubon Society tallgrass prairie in Lancaster County, southeastern Nebraska. In addition to providing a species list of the area’s plants (368 species), there are comprehensive annotated lists of its birds (240), mammals (43), reptiles (23), and amphibians (10). There are also variably complete annotated lists of the area’s butterflies (76), sphinx moths (30), silk moths (7), dragonflies (24), damselflies (11), grasshoppers (9), katydids (11), mantids (2), and walkingsticks (2). Brief profiles of life histories and ecologies of 55 animal and 7 plant …

Mourning Nature: Hope At The Heart Of Ecological Loss And Grief By Ashlee Cunsolo And Karen Landman, Jenna Gersie

The Goose

Review of Ashlee Cunsolo and Karen Landman's Mourning Nature: Hope at the Heart of Ecological Loss and Grief.

Modified Landscapes, Esther Nooner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modified Landscapes is a body of work that reflects serious thought regarding Nature and its future. My personal experience and beliefs are at the core of why I believe this subject to be of great importance and why it will sustain many artists’ investigations for the time to come. The influences that informed this process are explored through experiences I had traveling, reading and exploring the photograph as a material object. The manipulation of the photograph is meant to question the beautiful, untouched scene and break the Romantic gaze that is historically tied to representations of Nature and insist upon …

The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait Of Georgia By Richard Beamish And Gordon Mcfarlane, Dee Horne Dr.

The Goose

Review of The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait of Georgia by Richard Beamish and Gordon McFarlane.

At Home And At Large In The Great Plains: Essays And Memories, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This volume presents fourteen essays (some updated) that originally appeared in Prairie Fire, a monthly free newspaper that for seven years (as of 2015) has carried important messages of social, environmental, and economic issues in a mature and nonpartisan manner to tens of thousands of residents of Nebraska, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, and southern South Dakota, and by mail to subscribers in the rest of the world. These essays discuss the North American east-west ecological boundaries, spring migration events, birds at the bird feeder, feathered survivors of a glacial past, the threatened sharp-tailed grouse of Nebraska and South Dakota, and …

From The Inside Out, And Through., Dominique Ovalle

The STEAM Journal

These photographs describe “Science” born of consumerism, hijacked by me, economically disenfranchised, or rather—temporarily embarrassed, artist. I was putzing around Malibu—my old college stomping ground, looking for free food; maybe a sample of some gourmet $5 chocolate, and all I got were these photographs.

The Democratic Landscape: Envisioning Democracy Through Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic, Stacey L. Matrazzo

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Since its founding, nature and nature-ownership have been central to American democracy, with property ownership remaining a fundamental part of its citizens' idea of liberty and freedom. Although initially constrained by common law principles, private property rights have varied over the centuries and have largely ignored the land's natural features. Landownership today tends to equate more with individual power than public responsibility. As a result of individualistic actions that have degraded the landscape and neglected the interdependence of humans with the greater biotic community, the divide between humans and nature has grown. In his groundbreaking essay, "The Land Ethic," Aldo …

The Role Of Nature In John Muir's Conception Of The Good Life, Randy R. Larsen

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Aristotle says our best moral guidance comes from considering the lives of exemplary individuals. I explore John Muir, as an exemplar of environmental virtue, and consider the role of Nature in his conception of the good life. I argue his conception consists of a web of virtue including various goods, values, and virtues. I suggest three virtues are cardinal: attentiveness, gratitude and reverence. I explore how Muir cultivated these virtues in Nature.

I argue Muir sought freedom from a popular conception of the good life, grounded in the gilded age values of money and materialism, and was sensitive to the …

A Walk On The Wild Side: Conceptual Master Plan And Vegetation Management Plan For The Ogden Nature Center, Beth G. Pyle

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This report provides an introduction describing: 1) Ogden Nature Center site planning history; 2) background of the problem a) lack of a conceptual master plan which responds to current management objectives, b) lack of a vegetation management plan, and; 3) thesis objectives and methodology for the creation of conceptual master plan and vegetation management plan for the Ogden Nature Center. Chapter 2 presents a written discussion of the Ogden Nature Center site inventory drawings and site analysis. Chapter 3 delineates strategies for management of weedy vegetation including; a general discussion of management techniques, general criteria for the selection of weedy …

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project At Dickey, Maine : Final Environmental Statement, New England Division, United States Army Engineer Division

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

This document contains those comments and responses on the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement. It is a continuation of Volume II published by the Corps in 1978. In addition, it contains reproductions of those letters of comment received on the March 1980 Draft Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan, and the responses to these comments.

Is Nature Our Birthright?, Nancy Heneson

Ecology Collection

It is of course impossible to escape the notion of self-interest in our relationship with nature. In fact, it is "unnatural," if one understands (and, one is forced to say nowadays, believes in) evolution. However, there is no real justification for either disguising this as stewardship or perverting it into dominionism. Every organism has an impact on the environment, and it is not only idealistic but biologically nonsensical to argue that we should leave everything alone. However, when decisions on policy are made which direct the future use of land, plants and animals, at least let the rationale not be …

Bringing Nature Into The Zoo: Inexpensive Solutions For Zoo Environments, David Hancocks

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

Animals in captivity have traditionally been kept in sterile and inappropriate environments. Typically this situation still prevails in zoos. Cages are designed only for restraint of the animals, expediency for the public, and convenient maintenance by keepers. The animals' behavioral needs are often ignored. By using nature as a norm, and by using natural materials, the spatial and temporal environment of a captive animal can be easily and greatly enriched. Several examples which have been used at Woodland Park Zoological Gardens are discussed. Their application and expansion are appropriate for most urban zoos.

The Food Of Pond Fish In Northern Utah, Robert L. Eberhardt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A series of ponds in northern Utah supplied mainly by artesian water was poisoned with rotenone during 1949-50. Four hundred and seventy-three fish were obtained for a food habits study, and of these fish, 423, or 89 percent, had food in their stomachs. The species studied were largemouth bass, green sunfish, common bluegill, and black bullhead. Largemouth bass had the widest variety of diet throughout the year but also had the highest percentage of empty stomachs. Green sunfish and black bullhead had the least diverse food habits. Twenty-nine different food items were recorded; those used most commonly were green sunfish, …