Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Improving Environmental Protection: One Imagined Touch At A Time, Luke Ingalls Liska

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Can imagined touch of flora and fauna (i.e., the plants and animals of the natural world) make you more willing to support environmental protection efforts? Across seven studies, I demonstrate that by asking consumers to imagine touching fauna, marketers can encourage consumers to become more engaged in environmental protection efforts. This effect occurs because imagined touch generates haptic imagery, which enhances a consumer’s emotional attachment to fauna. I demonstrate that emotional attachment to fauna induced via imagined touch enhances individual’s willingness to share Facebook posts, improves their willingness to support increased fines for environment-related offenses, and increases the number of …

The Little Things That Count: Mapping Diversity Of West Florida’S Shelf, Nicole L. Seiden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biodiversity is essential to the ecosystem functions responsible for generating the multi-billion-dollar industries that the US relies on for food, storm mitigation, tourism and recreation, but is facing increasing natural and anthropogenic threats. High-resolution diversity data covering large spatial areas would enhance current ecology knowledge and better address conservation concerns in the Gulf of Mexico. However, acquiring and handling data of this nature is resource intensive and has not yet been established. In this study, high spatial resolution data was collected from gastropod living and death assemblages collected over 10 years from the West Florida Shelf (WFS). A multivariate regression …

Shorebird Response To Human-Induced Changes At Three Pinellas County Beaches, Rebecca J. Ruthberg-Campagna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Worldwide, shorebird habitat is being destroyed and degraded by development and sea level rise. Shorebirds depend on availability of pristine, undisturbed coastal habitats for resting and feeding during migration as well as for reproduction. Migratory shorebirds using the East Atlantic Flyway visit the Gulf of Mexico Beaches of Pinellas County, Florida as a stopover site during Fall and Spring migration. In addition to hosting migratory species, Pinellas County beaches are home to several year-round resident species that breed during Summer. Pinellas County is the most densely populated county in Florida, and its Gulf Coast is heavily developed with commercial and …

Linking Landscape Attributes To Salmon And Decision-Making In The Southern Kenai Lowlands, Alaska, Usa, Coowe M. Walker, Dennis F. Whigham, I. Syverine Bentz, Jacob M. Argueta, Ryan S. King, Mark C. Rains, Charles A. Simenstad, Chris Guo, Steven J. Baird, Conrad J. Field

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

While Pacific salmon are economically and culturally important worldwide, Alaska, USA is one of the few remaining places on earth where sustainable management of salmon is possible, even in the face of wide-ranging threats, including overharvesting and the impacts of climate change. A continuing challenge that we face is to understand the ecological processes that result in sustainable salmon populations and report that science to stakeholders in a way that promotes decision-making to avoid the destruction of salmon populations that has occurred in most areas of the lower 48 states. To address this challenge, our studies in the southern Kenai …

Culture And Conservation: Beyond Anthropocentrism, Nathan Poirier

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Developing A Sustainable Water Supply In The American West: The Case Of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, Hubert B. Stroud, Mary K. Kilmer

Suburban Sustainability

Suburban and urban communities in the American West are challenged by rapid population growth combined with limited natural resources. Supporting sustainable development is of great concern in this region and in similar regions throughout the world. This research examines the sustainability of the water supply within a rapidly growing suburban city in the American West. The city, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, began as an interstate land sales operation and rapidly became a “boom” town, in part because of its location near metropolitan Albuquerque.

Because of a very limited water supply and an increasing demand for water associated with population growth, …

U.S. Oil Reserves And Peak Oil, Trang Luong

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

We use calculus methods to estimate the quantity of U.S. oil reserves. We consider a model that consists of an exponential function with four unknown constants. We fit real oil production data to determine the unknown constants. With the constants determined we use the function to find the year in which the U.S. oil production reached its peak. We also estimate the amount of petroleum produced until the end of 2006, and the undiscovered oil reserves to be produced in the future.

Management In A Neotropical Show Cave: Planning For Invertebrates Conservation, Thais Giovannini Pellegrini, Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira

International Journal of Speleology

Lapa Nova is a dolomitic cave about 4.5 km long located in northwestern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The cave experiences intense tourism, concentrated over a single period of the year, during the Feast of Our Lady of Lapa. In order to evaluate the impacts felt by the invertebrate community from this tourism, a new methodology was proposed. Four types of areas (intense visitation area, outlying visitation areas, moderate visitation areas and no-visitation areas) were sampled for invertebrates. There was one sampling prior and another on the last day of the 128^th feast, to evaluate the effects of visitation on …

The Subterranean Fauna Of A Biodiversity Hotspot Region - Portugal: An Overview And Its Conservation, Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira, Paulo A.V. Borges, Fernando Gonçalves, Artur R.M. Serrano, Pedro Oromí

International Journal of Speleology

An overview of the obligate hypogean fauna in Portugal (including Azores and Madeira archipelagos) is provided, with a list of obligated cave-dwelling species and subspecies, and a general perspective about its conservation. All the available literature on subterranean Biology of Portugal since the first written record in 1870 until today has been revised. A total of 43 troglobiont and 67 stygobiont species and subspecies from 12 orders have been described so far in these areas, included in the so-called Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity. The subterranean fauna in Portugal has been considered moderately poor with some endemic relicts and it remains …

Forest Conservation In A Changing World: Natural Or Cultural? Example From The Western Carpathians Forests, Romania, Angelica N. Feurdean

Studia UBB Geologia

In order to plan for the future management of some of the most biodiverse forests of Europe, it is essential that we understand under which condition they arose and the time and processes responsible for their variability. Here, I highlight the main findings from the palaeoecological (pollen and charcoal), archaeological and historical investigation comprising the last 6000 years, in the Apuseni Natural Park, NW Romania and discuss the effect of the past land use and forest management on these forests. I then ask what does it mean in term of conservation values if these forests are not natural but a …

Baia Mare Geological And Mining Park – A Potential New Geopark In The Northwestern Part Of Romania, Marinel Kovacs, Alexandrina Fülöp

Studia UBB Geologia

The Baia Mare region is a very well known mining area, with an excellently studied regional geology in Romania. The geological heritage has been strongly incorporated in the economic and social development of the region which is now subject to the cease of the mining-based activities. The natural heritage, as well as the historical and cultural values of the region, will contribute substantially to the future development. The region of Baia Mare has a high potential for founding a new Geopark in the Gutâi Mts. volcanic area. The main geological, mining/archaeological/historical, ecological and cultural issues of the Baia Mare region …