Geography Commons^™

A Contemporary Decennial Examination Of Changing Agricultural Field Sizes Using Landsat Time Series Data, Emma V. White, David P. Roy

GSCE Faculty Publications

Field size distributions and their changes have not been studied over large areas as field size change datasets are not available. This study quantifies agricultural field size changes in a consistent manner using Landsat satellite data that also provide geographic context for the observed decadal scale changes. Growing season cloud-free Landsat 30 m resolution images acquired from 9 to 25 years apart were used to extract field object classifications at seven sites located by examination of a global agricultural yield map, agricultural production statistics, literature review, and analysis of the imagery in the US Landsat archive. High spatial resolution data …

Placeness: Mongolia A Call For The Creation Of A Human Impact Assessment, C. Winston Kies

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sense of place, place-­‐based identities, and “placeness” are fundamental ways through which human beings understand their physical place in the world. The means by which most Mongolians—and indeed most human beings—strive for placeness is fairly simple. First, one decides what location will become their place. Their place may be predetermined (i.e. a birthplace) or chosen (based on the wildlife, the scenery, the neighborhood, etc.). Once one has a place, sense of place necessarily follows. One’s place becomes the standard by which locations are understood, and by which one understands oneself. The latter process constitutes the formation of place-­‐based identities, which …

Influx: Why Everyone Benefits From Migration, Ethan Rutledge

Ex-Patt Magazine

Ex-Patt editor Ethan Rutledge reviews Paul Collier’s most recent book.

Geography News, V38n1, Spring 2015, Geographic Alliance Of Iowa.

Geography News

Inside This Issue:
--Coordinator's Corner
--Teaching the Holocaust Today: Why and How
--National Parks and Bioblitz
--2015 Workshops

The Perpetual Uncertainty Of Civil Society: Case Study Of An Anti-Hunger Organization In South Africa, Daniel N. Warshawsky

Geography Faculty Publications

South Africa has one of the most active civil societies in the world, with more than 85,000 registered civil society organizations (CSOs). However, the growth of CSOs in post-apartheid South Africa does not necessarily imply that the sector is strong. While it is true that the demise of the apartheid regime increased democratic representation within South Africa, CSOs have experienced a series of institutional challenges which have weakened their organizational stability. This has included increased oversight by the state, inefficient and inconsistent funding from government, fickle demands by private donors, and competition from other sectors. Through an in-depth case study …

Tracking The Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) Corridor And The Human-Wildlife Conflict In Selela Village, Nicole Chlebek, Laura Stalter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The beastly journey of long-distance migration for the African Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) is important for upholding their connections between diminishing protected areas, especially in northeastern Tanzania. However, human development is encroaching into these corridors, creating a human-elephant conflict, which can ruin livelihoods of villagers, depending on the extent of conflict. This study focused on exploring the hypothesized human-elephant conflict on the Selela corridor, specifically in Selela village, as well as GPS (Global Positioning System) mapping evidence of elephant travel along the projected Selela elephant corridor connecting Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), to Selela Forest Reserve (SFR), and finally to Manyara Ranch. …

Automated Segmentation, Detection And Fitting Of Piping Elements From Terrestrial Lidar Data, Yun-Ting Su

Open Access Dissertations

Since the invention of light detection and ranging (LIDAR) in the early 1960s, it has been adopted for use in numerous applications, from topographical mapping with airborne LIDAR platforms to surveying of urban sites with terrestrial LIDAR systems. Static terrestrial LIDAR has become an especially effective tool for surveying, in some cases replacing traditional techniques such as electronic total stations and GPS methods. Current state-of-the-art LIDAR scanners have very fine spatial resolution, generating precise 3D point cloud data with millimeter accuracy. Therefore, LIDAR data can provide 3D details of a scene with an unprecedented level of details. However, automated exploitation …

Hospital To Home: Interoperability In The Health Ecosystem, Francis Puno

Asian Management Insights

Mobile health solutions have created a revolution in the global healthcare ecosystem.

The Industrial Impact On Wetlands In Jinja And The Nexus Of Industry, Wetlands, And Community (A Rights-Based Sustainable Development Approach), Ranger Ruffins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Uganda is a beautiful country filled with an extensive amount of natural resources, one of the most profound being wetlands. It is said that these wetlands are a crucial source of food and water for almost 3 million people (NEMA, 2012 and Oguttu et.al, 2008). They also provide many more invaluable socioeconomic benefits for the country. As Uganda experiences increasing development as well as a rapidly increasing population, the wetlands become increasingly necessary, at the same time they become increasingly threatened. It is written in the 1995 Ugandan constitution that Ugandan policy is aimed at ensuring sustainable development for the …

Non-Compliance In Marine Reserves: Measuring The Drivers Of Behavior Among Recreational Fishermen Within The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Nick Manning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) provides outstanding ecological, cultural, social, and economic services to the number of communities that use it. Most of the park is regulated via a zoning system designed to protect its biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use of its resources (GBRMPA, 2004). Like any social institution, zoning regulations rely heavily on compliance in order to be effective. Recreational fishing on the GBRMP accounts for most of the noncompliance behavior associated with zoning (Arias and Sutton, 2013). Thus, understanding fishers compliance behavior is central to understanding how to best manage these areas. Using results from …

Existential Avalanche The Lived Experience Of Climate Change In Dolpo And Mustang, Nepal, Keegan Mcchesney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Himalayan communities stand precariously in an era of phenomenological uncertainty. Climate change is merely a lens through which we may observe and begin to understand such localized modern complexities. The people of the Tarap Valley in Dolpo, Nepal have experienced an increase in avalanches, snow leopard attacks and unpredictable precipitation patterns in recent years. In upper Mustang, Nepal, people have endured the harshest winter in generations and suffered from reduced water access. Environmental, climatic and weather related changes in both Himalayan districts have severely impacted traditional livelihoods and led some to adopt modern means of adaptation. Despite the scientific evidence …

On Nine Mile, Allen Morris

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The photographs of On Nine Mile were made to explore my developing relationship with the place I now inhabit. They compare the reality of a place against preconception and actual experience versus idealized expectations. I made this work to help understand a landscape to which I was transplanted and to which I had no connection. This exhibition is comprised of photographs taken at a section of untilled prairie called Nine Mile that most closely resembled my visual preconception of the Great Plains. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by the mountains, forests, and shoreline that typify the landscape …

Things Fall Apart? The Political Ecology Of Forest Governance In Southern Nigeria, Prakash Kashwan

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Bus Rapid Transit Implementation On Residential Property Values: A Case Study In Reno, Nv, Steven Thomas Ulloa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since literature that evaluates the impacts that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has on surrounding property values is limited, this research contributes to this research by investigating if proximity to a BRT station has an effect, either positive or negative, on residential housing values. Further, it investigates if the nature and extent of this effect varied during different stages of implementation of the BRT system and different housing market conditions. Fluctuations in sale prices were mitigated based on a six month moving median. Four hedonic price models were then used to evaluate the influence of independent variables on the dependent variable, …

Editorial, Michael Leitner, Marco Helbich

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hurricane Risk Variability Along The Gulf Of Mexico Coastline, Jill C. Trepanier, Kelsey N. Ellis, Clay S. Tucker

Faculty Publications

Hurricane risk characteristics are examined across the U. S. Gulf of Mexico coastline using a hexagonal tessellation. Using an extreme value model, parameters are collected representing the rate or λ (frequency), the scale or σ (range), and the shape or ζ (intensity) of the extreme wind distribution. These latent parameters and the 30-year return level are visualized across the grid. The greatest 30-year return levels are located toward the center of the Gulf of Mexico, and for inland locations, along the borders of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Using a geographically weighted regression model, the relationship of these parameters to sea …

Historical Common Names Of Great Plains Plants, With Scientific Names Index. Volume I: Common Names, Elaine Nowick

Zea E-Books Collection

Containing thousands of entries of both vernacular and scientific names of Great Plains plants, the literature that informs this exhaustive listing spans nearly 300 years. Author Elaine Nowick has drawn from sources as diverse as Linnaeus, Lewis and Clark, and local university extension publications to compile the gamut of practical, and often fanciful, common plant names used over the years. Each common name is accompanied by a definitive scientific name with references and authority information. Interspersed with scientifically-correct botanical line drawings, the entries are written in standard ICBN format, making this a useful volume for scholars as well as lay …

Historical Common Names Of Great Plains Plants, With Scientific Names Index. Volume Ii: Scientific Names Index, Elaine Nowick

Zea E-Books Collection

Containing thousands of entries of both vernacular and scientific names of Great Plains plants, the literature that informs this exhaustive listing spans nearly 300 years. Author Elaine Nowick has drawn from sources as diverse as Linnaeus, Lewis and Clark, and local university extension publications to compile the gamut of practical, and often fanciful, common plant names used over the years. Each common name is accompanied by a definitive scientific name with references and authority information. Interspersed with scientifically-correct botanical line drawings, the entries are written in standard ICBN format, making this a useful volume for scholars as well as lay …

Geospatial Analysis Of Smart Growth And Transit Oriented Developments, Michelle J. Nichols

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Rapid population growth, water and air pollution, overloaded public services, and traffic congestion can stress economies and result in unsustainable communities. Geographic Information Science (GIS) is a valuable technology for reversing negative these types of trends by identifying areas that may presently exhibit Smart Growth characteristics. Rather than expand on the current transportation infrastructure and develop new Smart Growth communities, San Diego Metropolitan’s Transit System (SDMTS) intends to use this study to review the current transit routing infrastructure in an effort to support communities exhibiting Smart Growth potential. Communities along existing transportation infrastructure will analyzed as potential Smart Growth and …

Remote Sensing Of Hidden Objects, Mark G. Hoelscher, Michael A. Marciniak

AFIT Patents

An apparatus and method are provided for creating an indirect image of an object. The apparatus includes a light source and an imaging system. Light emitted from the light source is reflected by a first non-specular surface toward the object. Light reflected by the object is further reflected by a second non-specular surface toward the imaging system. The imaging system is configured to create the indirect image from the reflected light.

Improving Lidar Data Post-Processing Techniques For Archaeological Site Management And Analysis: A Case Study From Canaveral National Seashore Park, Christopher James Griesbach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methods used to process raw Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data can sometimes obscure the digital signatures indicative of an archaeological site. This thesis explains the negative effects that certain LiDAR data processing procedures can have on the preservation of an archaeological site. This thesis also presents methods for effectively integrating LiDAR with other forms of mapping data in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment in order to improve LiDAR archaeological signatures by examining several pre-Columbian Native American shell middens located in Canaveral National Seashore Park (CANA).

Signed Peer Reviews As A Means To Improve Scholarly Publishing, Linwood H. Pendleton

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Peer review is a necessary process with a long history of complaints, including over-solicitation of a small number of reviewers, delays, inadequate numbers of reviewers, and a lack of incentives to provide strong reviews or avoid reviews with little helpful information for the author. In the era of Web-based distribution of research, through working paper or project reports, anonymous peer reviews are much less likely. The Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics will use signed peer reviews and an open communication process among authors, reviewers, and editors. This approach, to be developed over time, should lead to stronger communication of …

Who Is At The Forest Restoration Table? Final Report On The Blue Mountains Forest Stewardship Network, Phase 1, Rebecca J. Mclain, Kirsten Wright, Lee Cerveny

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Forest collaboratives have emerged throughout the western U.S. as a governance model to address complex ecological challenges that occur at the landscape scale across multiple landownerships and jurisdictional boundaries. Collaborative groups typically involve multiple parties with diverse interests working together to address complex management challenges. Collaboratives often provide input on or make recommendations about public lands actions and decisions. The Blues Stewardship Project was developed to better understand the size, composition, participation, and diversity of forest collaboratives and to identify organizations that may not currently be represented at the collaborative ‘table.’

The study focuses on five collaborative groups in the …

Moor Movement: Automated Docking On Drought-Stricken Reservoirs, Daniel Beck

Landscape Architecture

Moor Movement establishes a mechanized docking system for unpredictable shoreline fluctuations on inland lakes and reservoirs. Due to climate change and warmer global temperatures, the threat of ocean level rise has initiated massive proposals to address the interface between ocean and man-made infrastructure. While this is a monumental problem, ocean level rise is not the only immediate threat. The recently declared emergency drought conditions in California are finally bringing attention to inland lakes and reservoirs. While ocean levels might rise 2-7 feet in 100 years, a lake could drop 100 feet in 5 years. What happens to access roads, marinas, …

Diversification And Adaptive Capacity Across Scales In An Emerging Post-Frontier Landscape Of The Usumacinta Valley, Chiapas, Mexico, Zachary Christman, H. Pearsall, B. Schmook, S. Madero

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

This study investigates impacts and implications of recent landscape change in rural Mexico, through a case study in the Usumacinta Valley of eastern Chiapas. It addresses types of livelihood diversification strategies associated with changing land cover from 1984–2013, and the processes and roles that vary by actors and their scales of influence. After widespread forest loss and the expansion of extensive cattle ranching during the twentieth century, the region has exhibited several new economic and livelihood strategies in recent decades. Results from a combination of satellite imagery analysis and individual interviews from a wide range of land use decision makers …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2014 Annual Report, Michael Prowatzke, Stephen K. Wilson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2014 at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN).

During the fourth full year of field work, crew members from NGPN visited six plant community monitoring plots to collect data on the vegetation at AGFO. This is part of a long-term monitoring effort that will sample six of 15 randomly located upland plots every year, so that each plot is visited for two consecutive years and then rested for three years, on a five-year rotating basis. NGPN staff captured data …

Mixing It Up: Poetry For The Goose, Camilla Nelson

The Goose

Poetry Editorial by Camilla Nelson

Four Poems, Roger L. Nash

The Goose

Poetry by Roger Nash

From 'Forced Fingers', Dan Eltringham

The Goose

Poetry by Dan Eltringham

Reading Wordsworth In The Tar Sands, Stephen S. Collis

The Goose

A report, in the form of a long poem, on the author's participation in the 5th annual Tar Sands Healing Walk, organized by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, in Fort McMurray Alberta.