Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Social Behaviors Of Modern And Indigenous Peoples Impacting The Ecology Of The Amazon Rain Forest In Brazil, Josef W. Schaffer

Earth and Soil Sciences

Human induced disruption of the environment is prevalent in every culture. In Brazil, the effects of massive deforestation have become apparent since the nineteen eighties. However, along with deforestation, and a coinciding loss in an economic resource for the country, is a significant loss of natural habitat and species extinction. The Amazon in Brazil contains a large proportion of the world’s species diversity that is threatened by the socio-economic activities of modern Brazilian culture. Historically and presently, indigenous groups have contributed to insignificant levels of ecological disruption and are themselves threatened by the activities of modern Brazilians. The effects of …

Development Of Regional Hydraulic Geometry Curves For The Santa Cruz Mountains, Sarah Howell

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

This study was conducted to develop regional hydraulic geometry curves for the Santa Cruz Mountains that could be used in stream related and/or engineering projects. Data used to form these curves was collected from the USGS and by conducting stream geometry surveys. The resulting regional curves had high R² values ranging from .82 to .92. Compared to other regional curves in nearby areas, the Santa Cruz Mountains regional curve equations have higher exponents, meaning bankfull channel measurements increase at faster rates as drainage areas increases. Further measurements and analysis should be done before applying these curves to project sites.

The Malawi Project: From Conventional To Holistic Decision Making, Grace Wetmore

Animal Science

How the Cal Poly Malawi Appropriate Technologies Team, and other development groups, can use Holistic Management to aid developing countries in an effort towards a sustainable future.

Theory Of Transient Streaming Potentials Associated With Axial-Symmetric Flow In Unconfined Aquifers, Bwalya Malama, Kristopher L. Kuhlman, André Revil

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

We present a semi-analytical solution for the transient streaming potential response of an unconfined aquifer to continuous constant rate pumping. We assume that flow occurs without leakage from the unit below a transverse anisotropic aquifer and neglect flow in the unsaturated zone by treating the water-table as a moving material boundary. In the development of the solution to the streaming potential problem, we impose insulating boundary conditions at land surface and the lower boundary of the lower confining unit. We solve the problem exactly in the double Laplace—Hankel transform space and obtain the inverse transforms numerically. The solution is used …

Acid Rain: The Effects, Torrey Mortimer

Social Sciences

In a world experiencing increasing population, urbanization, and developing nations looking to compete on a global market with post-industrial nations, the effects of acid precipitation require greater consideration. As the world’s energy demand rises, and with the cheapest and most abundant source of energy being coal, the occurrence of acid precipitation is on the rise.

The goal of my project is to research and report on the effects of acid deposition on humans, animals and the environment that surrounds them. When I have completed my project, I hope to be able to explain the impacts that acid deposition has on …

Fire On The Landscape: Current Policies And A Changing Climate Lead Toward Higher Costs, More Severe Wildfire, Christopher Dicus

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Challenges To Educating The Next Generation Of Wildland Fire Professionals In The United States, Leda N. Kobziar, Monique E. Rocca, Christopher Dicus, Chad Hoffman, Neil Sugihara, Andrea E. Thode, J. Morgan Varner, Penelope Morgan

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Over the last 20 years, the duties of US fire professionals have become more complex and risk laden because of fuel load accumulation, climate change, and the increasing wildland-urban interface. Incorporation of fire use and ecological principles into fire management policies has further expanded the range of expertise and knowledge required of fire professionals. The educational and training systems that produce these professionals, however, have been slow to organize an updated and coordinated approach to preparing future practitioners. Consequently, aspiring fire professionals face numerous challenges related to scheduling conflicts, limited higher education programs in fire science, lack of coordination between …

Complete Findings: Survey On Public Opinions And Attitudes On Outdoor Recreation In California: 2009, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Mike Chrisman, Ruth Coleman, William W. Hendricks

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

A Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) is required of every state in order to be eligible for grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act. The LWCF Act requires the SCORP to include the following: a) the name of the state agency with authority to act for California in dealing with the Secretary of the Interior for the purposes of the LWCF Act, b) an evaluation of the demand for and supply of the outdoor recreation resources and facilities in the state, c) a program for the implementation of the Plan, d) certification by the governor that ample …

Land Rehabilitation Of Construction Damaged Parcel At Santa Fe Road And Hoover Avenue In San Luis Obispo, California, Patience J. West

Earth and Soil Sciences

A plan for the rehabilitation of a construction damaged parcel of land with constructed swale running through it using native plants.

Water Embodied In Bioethanol In The United States, Yi-Wen Chiu, Brian Walseth, Sangwon Suh

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Prior studies have estimated that a liter of bioethanol requires 263−784 L of water from corn farm to fuel pump, but these estimates have failed to account for the widely varied regional irrigation practices. By using regional time-series agricultural and ethanol production data in the U.S., this paper estimates the state-level field-to-pump water requirement of bioethanol across the nation. The results indicate that bioethanol’s water requirements can range from 5 to 2138 L per liter of ethanol depending on regional irrigation practices. The results also show that as the ethanol industry expands to areas that apply more irrigated water than …

A Semi-Analytical Solution For Transient Streaming Potentials Associated With Confined Aquifer Pumping Tests, B. Malama, A. Revil, K. L. Kuhlman

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

We consider the transient streaming potential response due to pumping from a confined aquifer through a fully penetrating line sink. Confined aquifer flow is assumed to occur without fluid leakage from the confining units. However, since confining units are typically clayey, and hence more electrically conductive than the aquifer, they are treated as non-insulating in our three-layer conceptual model. We develop a semi-analytical solution for the transient streaming potentials response of the aquifer and the confining units to pumping of the aquifer. The solution is fitted to field measurements of streaming potentials associated with an aquifer test performed at a …

Abstract: Estimating Soil Erosion After Fire And Fuel Treatments In Coast Redwood: A Gis-Based Approach, Eric J. Just, Christopher Dicus

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Predicted Fire Behavior And Societal Benefits In Three Eastern Sierra Nevada Vegetation Types, Christopher Dicus, Kenneth Delfino, David R. Weise

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

We investigated potential fire behavior and various societal benefits (air pollution removal, carbon sequestration, and carbon storage) provided by woodlands of pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla) and juniper (Juniperus californica), shrublands of Great Basin sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa), and recently burned annual grasslands near a wildland-urban interface (WUI) community in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Fire behavior simulations showed that shrublands had the greatest flame lengths under low wind conditions, and that pinyon-juniper woodlands had the greatest flame lengths when winds exceeded 25 km hr^{-1 …}

Modeling Slug Tests In Unconfined Aquifers With Both Oscillatory And Overdamped Responses, And With Low-K And High-K Skin Effects, M J Thoma, B Malama, W Barrash, G Bohling, J J Butler

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Tall Fescue (Lolium Arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire) Cultivar Performance In The Central California Coastal Region, Seril Shimizu

Master's Theses

Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire) has long been known as a turfgrass that utilizes lower levels of inputs than most other cool season turfgrasses (Turgeon, 2005). In recent years, turf breeders have been selecting for cultivars of tall fescue that have finer leaf textures. As the use of tall fescue expands, consumers want to now what cultivar to use and how to manage it. This study looked at 18 tall fescue cultivars grown at two mowing heights of five and 10 centimeters and evaluated plant quality based on stand density, leaf texture, and genetic plant color. In the …