Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Predicting Groundwater Spring Locations From Topographic And Climatic Data Using Maxent Modeling, Ayten Ece Koc

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The World Resources Institute reveals that 17 countries face extremely high levels of water stress. Moreover, with increasing population and industrialization, the gap between water supply and demand increases day by day around the world. Groundwater is a key freshwater source, and springs are important resources as they enable to access groundwater. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor, protect, and manage groundwater springs. The first step in spring management is to recognize and define freshwater resources and to determine the locations of groundwater springs that serve as natural discharge points. Traditionally, field studies have been employed to determine the locations …

A Study On The Integration Of Multivariate Metocean, Ocean Circulation, And Trajectory Modeling Data With Static Geographic Information Systems For Better Marine Resources Management And Protection During Coastal Oil Spill Response – A Case Study And Gap Analysis On Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico Tidal Inlets, Richard Ray Knudsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires the development of Regional and Area Contingency Plans. For more than 20 years, the State of Florida, under both the Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, has worked closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop these plans for coastal and marine oil spill response. Current plans, developed with local, state and federal stakeholder input, use geographic information systems (GIS) data such as location and extent of sensitive ecological, wildlife, and human-use features (termed Environmental Sensitivity Index data), pre-defined protection priorities, …

Translations Of Climate Change: Perspectives From A Florida Suburb, Christopher Noel Metzger

Suburban Sustainability

A disconnect exists between the scientific knowledge of global climate change, arguably the most important issue of our time, and the publics’ interpretations and acceptance of that knowledge. Without broad-based public support for mitigation policies and adaption strategies, irreversible climate “tipping points” could be breached, according to some of the most prominent climate scientists, over the course of the next few decades. This study examines why the preponderance of scientific evidence surrounding climate change has not produced a sea change in public perceptions of the climate change problem consistent with the dire projections of climate science. This cognitive disjuncture is …

Response Of Benthic Foraminifera To Ocean Acidification And Impact On Florida's Carbonate Sediment Production, Paul O. Knorr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are in dynamic equilibrium with the oceans. The absorption of CO2 by seawater causes a decrease in seawater pH and calcite saturation state (SS). This process, termed ocean acidification, exerts deleterious effects on marine calcifiers. Studies of symbiont-bearing large benthic foraminifera (LBF) have reported a generally unfavorable response to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide ([CO2]).

Experiments and analyses were undertaken to examine the effect of increased [CO2] on the growth rate, ultrastructure, stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen, as well as Mg/Ca of the high-Mg miliolid Archaias angulatus and the low-Mg rotalid Amphistegina gibbosa. A …

Connecting Pixels To People: Management Agents And Social-Ecological Determinants Of Changes To Street Tree Distributions, Shawn Landry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Street trees are an important component of the urban forest that can provide direct and indirect benefits to social and ecological sustainability in cities. Temporal and spatial interactions between human and non-human management agents determine the distribution and health of street tree populations in urban areas. This dissertation seeks to enhance our understanding of the spatial patterns and processes affecting street trees by investigating the agents and social-ecological determinants of changes to street tree distributions in urban residential neighborhoods. The research was guided by three primary questions: (1) Are recent changes to the spatial distribution of street trees influenced by …

Environmental Change And Place-Based Identities: Sponge Fishing In Tarpon Springs, Florida, Michael Suver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

As the environmental consequences of urbanization and climate change become apparent in coastal communities, it has become important to understand how residents of these communities experience and approach their changing environments. This becomes especially significant in places where nature-based livelihoods constitute a major part of the economy. This thesis focuses on the city of Tarpon Springs, located along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, where sea sponge fishing is an important contributor to the local economy while also being central to place-based tourist and ethnic identities. It seeks to understand how environmental changes in the sea sponge economy will …