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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson
Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson
Scripps Senior Theses
We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …
Examining Soil Microbial Diversity In Transition Zones Between Corn Fields And Restored Prairie In The Upper Midwest, Anna M. Burns
Examining Soil Microbial Diversity In Transition Zones Between Corn Fields And Restored Prairie In The Upper Midwest, Anna M. Burns
Scripps Senior Theses
Prairies were once the largest ecosystem in North America, but agriculture and settlement has destroyed up to 99% of their pre-colonization extent. Prairie restorations are a strategy to recover the biodiversity and carbon sequestration functions of these grasslands, but typically occur in isolated strips between agricultural fields. My thesis analyzes how effective prairie restorations in the Liberty Prairie (northeastern Illinois) are at recovering the diversity of the prairie soil microbiome, focusing on verrucomicrobia abundance, alpha diversity, and soil physical characteristics.
Power In Numbers: An Abundance Of Small Corals Responsible For Storing Over Half Of The Carbon Stored By All Alaskan Primnoa Pacifica Deep-Sea Corals, Sylvie Alexander
Power In Numbers: An Abundance Of Small Corals Responsible For Storing Over Half Of The Carbon Stored By All Alaskan Primnoa Pacifica Deep-Sea Corals, Sylvie Alexander
Scripps Senior Theses
Gorgonian deep-sea corals (DSCs) are biologically linked to ocean carbon cycling converting ocean carbon to gorgonin and calcite in their skeletons. As such, gorgonian DSCs likely accumulate and store carbon in their skeleton throughout their lifespans, acting as carbon sinks on historic timescales. Yet, DSC carbon storage hasn’t been investigated to date. This study evaluates gorgonian DSC carbon storage capacity through an evaluation of the carbon stored by Alaskan Primnoa pacifica corals. The development of a model relating coral height to biomass in specimens with this data available was used to determine biomass values in a suite of Alaskan P. …
Footprints On The Prairie: Examining The Interlocking Land Histories Of The Liberty Prairie Reserve, Illinois, Anna M. Burns
Footprints On The Prairie: Examining The Interlocking Land Histories Of The Liberty Prairie Reserve, Illinois, Anna M. Burns
Scripps Senior Theses
This thesis begins with the local history of the Liberty Prairie, the land where I conducted the ecological field-work that I later discuss in my second thesis on soil microbiome diversity (“Examining Soil Microbial Diversity in Transition Zones Between Corn Fields and Restored Prairie in the Upper Midwest"). I examine the Indigenous histories of the land, and the conflicts between the Bodwéwadmi and Euro-American settlers that resulted in the land being farmed for cattle, corn, and soy for over a hundred and fifty years. I then take a step back and analyze the broader historical contexts of Midwestern Corn Belt …
Intercropping For Water Conservation: Environmental And Economic Implications Of A Sustainable Farming Practice In California's Central Valley, Sophie Baker
Scripps Senior Theses
California’s agricultural sector is the biggest water consumer in the state and faces intense pressure to reduce its overall water usage. Industrialized monoculture systems dominate the industry and often disregard long-term environmental and economic externalities for short-term profit maximization. To maintain longstanding food security and economic stability as well as protect the state’s water supply, it is critical that these systems transition to more sustainable and resilient production mechanisms. As an alternative to monoculture, intercropping affords greater potential to conserve water, protect soil quality, and increase crop yields, among other metrics of sustainability. However, there has been much controversy over …
Colonialism And Its Aftermaths In Vieques, Puerto Rico: How U.S. Hegemony Led To Contamination, A Superfund Site, And Local Mistrust, Kaya Mark
Scripps Senior Theses
After sixty-two years of U.S. military testing, the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques and its residents continue to fight against ongoing environmental and social effects of U.S. hegemony. Starting with the arrival of the Spanish, then with U.S. occupation and use of Vieques as a military stopover, Viequense residents are used to U.S. governmental presence on their land. Despite the military’s removal from Vieques in 2003, many local residents have a fundamental lack of trust for the U.S. government. Because of this lack of trust and transparency with U.S. governmental actions in the post- World War II period, residents …
Using Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequence (Caps) Genetic Markers To Determine The Extent Of Hybridization Between Castilleja Affinis And Castilleja Mollis As A Mechanism For Adapting To Climate Change On Santa Rosa Island, Elizabeth Medford
Scripps Senior Theses
Hybridization, the process of interbreeding between individuals of different species, is one method by which plants and animals adapt to a changing environment. One example of such adaptation through hybridization may be occurring on the California Channel Islands with two species of Castilleja. While United State Geological Survey (USGS) researchers have been studying the populations of Castilleja affinis and Castilleja mollis to determine if hybridization is occurring on Santa Rosa Island since the early 1990s, up until this point primarily overt phenotypic characteristics have been used to differentiate between the two species. Genetic methods of differentiation were adopted to …
The Pacific Crest Trail: A History Of America’S Relationship With Western Wilderness, Jenn Livermore
The Pacific Crest Trail: A History Of America’S Relationship With Western Wilderness, Jenn Livermore
Scripps Senior Theses
The Pacific Crest Trail has become increasingly popular since Clinton Clarke first envisioned such a trail in the 1930’s. By comparing the original motives and experience of the trail to the realities of the trail today, the trail’s fluid narrative becomes apparent. While this narrative is ever changing, over the course of the trail’s history one theme has remained constant – a notably problematic relationship with wilderness rooted in an exaltation of the sublime and post-frontier ideals. This thesis focuses on how the Pacific Crest Trail’s development over the past eighty years has created an experience that, on the surface, …