Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Diffusion Of Collective-Action Innovations Among Pastoralists In Liben District, Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Getachew Kassa, Seyoum Tezera

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In 2001 PARIMA and her partners began to create collective-action groups among illiterate, settled pastoralists in Ethiopia. These groups—soon dominated by women—focused on savings-led microfinance, small business activity, and livestock marketing to increase incomes and diversify livelihoods. Fifty-nine groups with over 2,100 members were formed using intensive training methods, and they have subsequently merged into legally recognized cooperatives. We regard this approach as successful and sustainable. We were curious, however, if “the word has spread” and collective-action has spontaneously arisen beyond our immediate project area. Preliminary findings from recent surveys of settlements in Liben District indicate that diffusion of collective-action …

Building Effective Community Participation And Stakeholder Partnerships To Promote Positive Change In The Southern Ethiopian Rangelands, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera, Dadi Amosha

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Recently there has been increased recognition that authentic community participation and creating strong inter-institutional partnerships are both important in the process of capacity building, generating innovation, and sustaining development achievements in rural Africa. Here we summarize a process of community participation and formation of institutional partnerships in support of pastoral risk-management interventions over the past seven years on the Borana Plateau. Community involvement has been stimulated using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods. This has resulted in the proliferation of pastoral collective-action groups that have diversified livelihoods, engaged markets, and improved incomes. Implementing and sustaining positive change, however, has also been …

Can Collective Action And Capacity Building Reduce Vulnerability Among Settled Pastoralists?, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In 2001 PARIMA and her partners began to create collective-action groups among illiterate, settled pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. These groups—dominated by women—focused on savings-led microfinance, small business, and livestock marketing to increase incomes and diversify livelihoods. Fifty-nine groups with over 2,100 members were formed using intensive capacity- building methods. After six years we wanted to compare group members with their neighbors who never participated in the PARIMA program. We surveyed 180 individuals from groups and paired control (traditional) communities. Respondents were asked to assess the extent that they perceived positive, negative, or no change in their lives over the past …

Stakeholder Alliance Facilitates Re-Introduction Of Prescribed Fire On The Borana Plateau Of Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Lemma Gizachew, Dadhi Amosha, Feyissa Taffa

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The implementation of a new prescribed fire program to restore bush-encroached rangelands in southern Ethiopia—and hence increase herbaceous forage supplies for livestock—is given as an example of an integrated action involving multiple institutions to address resource-management problems. The resumption of planned fire—traditionally conducted over hundreds of years by pastoralists until the 1970s—was preceded by key activities including mobilization of the pastoral community, review of government proclamations regarding use of fire, interaction with policy makers, capacity building among pastoralists and agency personnel on how to implement and manage planned fires, development of an overall prescribed burn plan, selection of geo-referenced sites, …

Collective Action Among Agro-Pastoralists In Baringo District, Kenya: Identifying And Nurturing The Entrepreneurs, D. Layne Coppock, Mark N. Mutinda, Stellamaris K. Muthoka, Abdillahi A. Aboud

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The rural population of Baringo District in the Rift Valley of north-central Kenya faces numerous challenges including widespread environmental degradation and poverty. The region has endured decades of failed development projects, proliferation of food aid, and has been studied extensively. We have recently undertaken a different approach focused on bottom-up participatory action research and outreach among the Il Chamus and Tugen ethnic communities. The objective is to explore new ways to empower local people via provision of information, novel experiences, and initial access to resources to allow them to envision an alternative future and implement their own activities to better-manage …

Extending The Season For Sustainability In Utah, Britney Hunter

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The importance of providing fresh produce on a local level is becoming a widespread consideration among people concerned with the character of their food. For regions without an opportune growing climate, extending the growing season can drastically advance productivity. High tunnels are one way to effectively and profitably extend the growing season in cold climates. The benefits of growing in a high tunnel go beyond raising the temperature. High tunnels contribute to higher quality small fruits and vegetables. The benefits of growing in high tunnels have been explored in other states and could be exploited by Utah growers. Utah's climate …

Biofuel Feedstocks: The Risk Of Future Invasions, Joseph M. Ditomaso, Jacob N. Barney, Allison M. Fox

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

In an effort to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, expand domestic energy production, and maintain economic growth, public and private investments are being used to pursue dedicated feedstock crops for biofuel production. Unlike food crops grown for grain-based ethanol (e.g., corn), which require high inputs of fertilizers and pesticides and typically are grown on prime agricultural land, proposed lignocellulose-based energy crops (e.g., switchgrass) typically have a neutral or negative carbon budget, require relatively few economic or environmental inputs, and can be cultivated on marginal, lower-productivity land. Thus, a rapidly growing industry related to crop selection, cultivar improvement, and conversion technilogies is …

Eutrophication In Farmington Bay And Its Potential Impacts On Wildlife, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bats And Mines: Evaluating Townsend's Big-Eared Bat Maternity Colony Response To Reclamation, Gabrielle F. Diamond

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With the loss or modification of natural roosting habitat afforded by caves, abandoned mines have assumed increased importance as surrogate roosting sites for Townsend's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii) and other chiropteran species. However, increasing concerns for human safety have led to accelerated programs for mine closure. In efforts to protect roosting sites in mines showing significant bat activity, "bat compatible" gates are installed, thus allowing continued access to mine workings. Aside from ensuring public safety, these structures afford protection from disturbance to roosting bats. To date few posting-gating studies have been conducted to obtain information on the effects …

Comparison Of Water Dynamics In Aspen And Conifer: Implications For Ecology Water Yield Augmentation, Eric Martin Lamalfa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Differences in water dynamics between deciduous aspen (Populus tremuloides) and co-occurring evergreen conifer species in the Northern Rocky Mountains result from complex physical and biological interactions. A comprehensive evaluation of individual water transfer mechanisms was used to elucidate the relative importance of several components of the hydro logic cycles of aspen and conifer, and determine which water transfer mechanisms have potential to cause differences in net water yield.

Adjacent aspen and conifer stands were monitored to determine snow accumulation and ablation (snow survey), soil moisture recharge (capacitance probes), snowpack sublimation (sublimation pan), transpiration period (thermal dissipation probes), and …

Discontinuities In Stream Nutrient Uptake Below Lakesin Mountain Drainage Networks, Michelle A. Baker

Michelle A. Baker

In many watersheds, lakes and streams are hydrologically linked in spatial patterns that influence material transport and retention. We hypothesized that lakes affect stream nutrient cycling via modifications to stream hydrogeomorphology, source‐waters, and biological communities. We tested this hypothesis in a lake district of the Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho. Uptake of NO3− and PO4−3 was compared among 25 reaches representing the following landscape positions: lake inlets and outlets, reaches >1‐km downstream from lakes, and reference reaches with no nearby lakes. We quantified landscape‐scale hydrographic and reach‐scale hydrogeomorphic, source‐water, and biological variables to characterize these landscape positions and analyze relationships to nutrient …

Relative Role Of Understory And Overstory In Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling In A Southern Appalachian Spruce-Fir Forest, P. T. Moore, H. Van Miegroet, N. S. Nicholas

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

This study investigated aboveground pools and fluxes of biomass, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) in the overstory and understory of a southern Appalachian red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) – Fraser fir (Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir.) forest, following adelgid-induced fir mortality and spruce windthrow. Using fifty 20 m × 20 m plots, stratified by elevation (1700–1900 m), we estimated standing biomass and fluxes of all growth forms from periodic stand inventories (1998–2003), vegetation surveys, and existing or derived allometric equations. Total C and N pools and fluxes were calculated from plant- and tissue-specific C and N concentrations. Total aboveground biomass attained …

Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics Along A Climatic Gradient In A Southern Appalachian Spruce-Fir Forest, C. E. Tewksbury, H. Van Miegroet

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

A field study was conducted in a high-elevation spruce–fir (Picea rubens Sarg. – Abies fraseri (Pursh.) Poir) forest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to assess the effect of temperature on soil C storage and dynamics. In eight plots along an elevation gradient (1500–1900 m), we measured soil temperature, forest floor and mineral soil C, litter decomposition, soil respiration, and forest floor mean residence time. Mean annual soil temperature and annual degree-days above 5 °C were inversely correlated with elevation. Total soil C (166–241 Mg·ha–1) showed no trend with elevation, while forest floor C accumulation (16.3–35.9 Mg·ha–1) decreased significantly …

Characterization Of Power Induced Heating And Damage In Fiber Optic Probes For Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy, Nicholas E. Dickenson, E. S. Erickson, O. L. Mooren, R. C. Dunn

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Tip-induced sample heating in near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is studied for fiber optic probes fabricated using the chemical etching technique. To characterize sample heating from etched NSOM probes, the spectra of a thermochromic polymer sample are measured as a function of probe output power, as was previously reported for pulled NSOM probes. The results reveal that sample heating increases rapidly to ~55–60°C as output powers reach ~50 nW. At higher output powers, the sample heating remains approximately constant up to the maximum power studied of ~450 nW. The sample heating profiles measured for etched NSOM probes are consistent with …