Life Sciences Commons^™

Disturbance Regimes And Management Strategies Of Mountain Ash Forest Ecosystems In Victoria, Australia; A Literature Review, Zoe Plumb

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper discusses the ecology of mountain ash forests, the disturbances regimes that currently exist in these ecosystems, and finally addresses the current management practices and future management practices. Mountain ash forests are subjected to a wide range of research in the Central Highlands of Victoria, an area approximately 14,000 hectares in range. These forests are dominated by montane ash trees (Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell), which are critically endangered and at risk of collapse, attributed to the decline in large hollow-bearing trees throughout the region. Management of these forests are controlled by the Department of Environment, Land, Water, and …

Taking The Bull By The Horns: Gender Analysis In A Cattle Project In Indonesia, Febrina Prameswari

Sustainability and Social Justice

Women play a crucial role in agriculture, especially in cattle farming. However, gender inequality in livestock production remains a critical issue, as women usually have less engagement with livestock production, less control over finances, and less access to markets. The IndoBeef program in Indonesia was one of the first livestock projects to incorporate gender-specific activities in its implementation. The project used women-only focus groups, utilizing the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI) combined with farm production data to address women’s needs in the cattle industry. I conducted a gender analysis of one of IndoBeef’s subsidiary projects, CropCow. The project did …

An Analysis Of The Impacts Of Climate Change On Food Security In The Albertine Rift Of East Africa, Malcolm Jacob

Sustainability and Social Justice

As one of the most densely populated regions on the continent of Africa, the Albertine Rift (consisting of parts of Rwanda, Uganda, and the eastern DRC) faces ongoing problems providing enough food for its people through crop production, livestock husbandry, and other forms of food production. Even more troubling for the future is that anthropogenic climate change is expected to significantly exacerbate food insecurity. This paper addresses one central question: how will climate change impact food security in the Albertine Rift? Based on an analysis of available data, this paper finds that policymakers should listen closely to local farmers and …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances In Consumable Fish & Surface Waters Near Sites Using Aqueous Film-Forming Foams: Potential Risks, Suggested Regulatory Standards And Policy Approaches For Massachusetts, Tachalla Gibeau

Sustainability and Social Justice

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging contaminants of concern with potential for adverse effects on both human and environmental health. Hence, long-chain PFAS compounds used in legacy aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) are being phased out, resulting in the stockpiling of them at various commercial installations. PFAS contaminated runoff from these facilities has the potential to contaminate nearby surface water bodies and the fish inhabiting them. An analytical approach was used to identify surface water bodies in Massachusetts that are habitats for fish susceptible to PFAS contamination and where said fish are also popularly consumed by locals – thereby representing …

Greening The Gateway Cities: Summer Internship With The Clark University Human Environment Regional Observatory (Hero) And Massachusetts Department Of Conservation And Recreation (Dcr), Zhiwen Zhu

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report provides a detailed account of my internship experience with the Clark University Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in the summer of 2017. This internship concerns the urban tree health assessment in three ‘Greening the Gateway’ cities in Massachusetts. During the internship, I conducted tree survey field work, database management, mapping, tree survey data analysis and urban tree plantation benefits microclimate simulation. During the internship I worked with the professors and students at Clark University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the staff from Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Worcester Tree …

A Framework For Evaluating And Enhancing Resilience Integration In Conservation Policy: The Case Of Massachusetts, Kyle Pilkington

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper develops a framework for evaluating conservation policy from the perspective of integrating resilience, using Massachusetts as a case study. After an intensive literature review on the topics of resilience and conservation, five resilience-enhancing attributes were identified: biodiversity, stakeholder engagement, acknowledgement of climate change, multiple species or species interaction focus and ecosystem or environment health. The framework ranks the policies with respect to the effectiveness of following the resilience-enhancing attributes. Three Massachusetts-based conservation policies, Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA), State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) and MassWildlife Habitat Management Grant Program (MHMGP), were chosen to demonstrate the evaluative capacity of …

Atole De Maíz Azul: Building Climate-Change Resilience With Local Knowledge/Food Sovereignty In Northern New Mexico, Katherine C.R. Dixon

Sustainability and Social Justice

The impacts of climate change in Northern New Mexico will cause a variation in seasonal precipitation and increased drought conditions. Northern New Mexico is home to numerous indigenous and rural-agricultural communities who rely on these water resources for subsistence and cultural practices. They are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

This paper investigates the impacts of climate change to Northern New Mexico. It examines the role of participatory methods and local knowledge in building community resilience. This paper is informed primarily through secondary research, and also draws upon a series of personalized interviews from Northern New …

Financial Assessment Of Agricultural Lands At Risk To Coastal Salt Marsh Migration In Relation To Climate Change Induced Sea Level Rise In Dorchester County, Maryland, Jewell Porter

Sustainability and Social Justice

The increasing rate and effects of sea level rise is a major environmental concern in the Chesapeake Bay. This paper evaluates the impacts of rising sea level on coastal salt marshes and the surrounding agricultural lands at risk in Dorchester County, Maryland to build off existing environmental monitoring work performed by NOAA’s Sentinel Site Program. The results of the spatial analysis were used to estimate monetary benefits to incentivize farmers to protect these marshes by making their land available for marsh migration to occur. Looking at three scenarios of sea level rise and marsh migration, grain crops (corn, soybeans, and …

Seeing Community Through The Trees: Characterizing Resident Response To Urban-Tree Planting Initiatives, Eli Goldman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Urban tree planting initiatives have become common across cities in the United States. In order to advocate for sustainable urban forests, managers of urban planting initiatives must adopt a strong community framework, which includes community values in reforestation efforts. Clark University researchers conducted interviews and surveys with residents in six central Massachusetts cities and towns to assess why residents value urban trees and to characterize public response to reforestation efforts. Results indicate residents had positive experiences with tree planting programs, are most likely to value urban trees for aesthetic reasons, and commonly associate change in neighborhood character with Asian Longhorned …

Changes In Floristic Composition In The State Forests In Worcester County (Massachusetts) Over 34 Years, Flor A. Monroe

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT

CHANGES IN FOREST DIVERSITY OF STATE FOREST IN WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, OVER 34 YEARS PERIOD

The forest in Massachusetts has changed since the earliest colonial settlement and today the floristic composition is more homogeneous. This study investigates the potential change in the floristic composition over thirty years in Worcester County State Forests. Shannon, richness and evenness indices for two periods were compared, and Jaccard index was used to analyze similarity in composition between the periods. The possible influence of severe weather events was also analyzed.

It was found Changes in the floristic composition, but the magnitude of the changes …

Assessment Of The Environmental Sector And Climate Change In Malawi: Relationships Between Environmental Policy, Scientific Literature, And Development Projects, Esther A. Baumann

Sustainability and Social Justice

As funding increases for climate change related issues in Sub-Saharan Africa there should also be an increase in research to understand how scientific literature in the environmental sector can assist in developing policy and implementing development projects. Using secondary research, this paper centers on Malawi to develop an understanding of what is occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole in regards to climate change and environmental policy, science and development projects. It sought to determine if scientific thematic areas of research and recommended courses of action were being incorporated into actual government policies and on the ground development projects. This …

Evaluation Of Alternative Strategies To Prevent Leopard Predation On Livestock Around Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, Sanjiv Fernando

Sustainability and Social Justice

In recent years, many livestock herders living near Yala National Park, Sri Lanka have reported livestock losses due to predation by leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya). Despite herders’ attempts to safeguard their cattle, livestock depredation remains an issue, sometimes causing herders to kill leopards in retaliation. In an effort to mitigate the human-leopard conflict, protective cattle enclosures made from steel pipes and mesh wire were introduced to prevent leopard attacks on cattle. This study aims to assess the severity of leopard predation on livestock, understand the methods used in retaliatory killings, examine the effectiveness of existing livestock protection methods, …

Gis And Coastal Basemap Research Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Zhuoyue Zhou, Po Hu

Sustainability and Social Justice

Our summer internship with Clark Labs will last for one and half of years, from October 2014 till the end of August 2016, while we’ve worked under the director of Dr. Ronald Eastman. The main duty for this project is to create a basemap for coastal line in three counties in the Southeast Asia, while during this summer, our duties were to wrap up the remaining tasks, such as adjusting the classification images based on the accuracy assessment results, combining all the images, making a final map, and calculating the area for each categories in each province of the three …

Gis And Coastal Basemap Research Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Po Hu, Zhuoyue Zhou

Sustainability and Social Justice

Our summer internship with Clark Labs will last for one and half of years, from October 2014 till the end of August 2016, while we’ve worked under the director of Dr. Ronald Eastman. The main duty for this project is to create a basemap for coastal line in three counties in the Southeast Asia, while during this summer, our duties were to wrap up the remaining tasks, such as adjusting the classification images based on the accuracy assessment results, combining all the images, making a final map, and calculating the area for each categories in each province of the three …

Summer 2015 Gis Analyst Internship At The Connecticut Department Of Energy & Environmental Protection, Old Lyme, Connecticut, Stuart R. Deland

Sustainability and Social Justice

I worked as the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Internee for the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) from May 18, 2015 through August 14th of the same year. I was stationed at the Old Lyme Field office and worked under the direct supervision of Deb Pacileo, my boss and GIS analyst for CT DEEP. My function in the agency was similar to my supervisor's as I had no single project that dominated my time, but was given a multitude of projects to create, edit, oversee, and produce. Some of these project included editing python scripts of former …

Development Of A Decision Support System For Post Mining Land Use On Abandoned Surface Coal Mines In Appalachia, Matthew Zimmerman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Decision support systems are diverse and have been used to solve multiple problems ranging from the complex to the simple. With the complexity of environmental decisions today, these systems provide a logic based approach to evaluating and choosing environmental solutions. Abandoned mining lands (AML) are an issue for the environment in the Appalachian region. Given this a decision support system was designed using previously created frameworks and indices from other systems created. The system is comprised of two main sections, selecting the ideal post-mining land-use (PMLU), and maximizing the potential of land to be reclaimed under budgetary constraints. This system …

The Psychology Of Senescence: An Introductory Study, Charles W. St. John

Historical Dissertations & Theses

The following biographical studies have been made with the purpose of showing through concrete cases some aspects of mental decline in senescence. To the objection that each of these cases follows a course in a degree divergent from that of normal mental decline, the reply is that a study of these striking instanced, we believe, afford a more ready insight into the underlying phenomena than would a similar one which deals with average or typical cases. The significance of exceptional cases should not be underestimated. Certain peculiar conditions have been present which have modified the typical phenomena, but after due …