Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

How Effective Are Biodiversity Conservation Payments In Mexico?, Sebastien Costedoat, Esteve Corbera, Driss Ezzine De Blas, Jordi Honey-Roses, Kathy Baylis, Miguel Angel Catillo-Santiago

Kathy Baylis

Marine Noise Pollution - Increasing Recognition But Need For More Practical Action, Mark P. Simmonds, Sarah J. Dolman, Michael Jasny, E. C. M. Parsons, Lindy Weilgart, Andrew J. Wright, Russell Leaper

Mark P. Simmonds, OBE

Over the last two decades, marine noise pollution has become increasingly recognized as an issue of major significance. The issue has become a primary focus of marine mammal research, but is also of concern to the public and policy makers. The result has been efforts involving a variety of disciplines, and relevant legislation and associated guidance are now in place in many parts of the world. Most current mitigation efforts are directed at reducing the risk of injury from exposure to intense noise, although the effectiveness of such mitigation measures in terms of risk reduction has rarely been quantified. Longer-term …

Progress Made With Early Warning Systems In Australia Since 2005, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Interdisciplinary Gis And Data Curation Librarians In Enhancing Authentic Scientific Research In The Classroom, Benjamin D. Branch, Michael Fosmire

Michael Fosmire

Data science is a recently evolved area of scientific inquiry, where data, often collected by others, is analyzed by independent investigators to draw new conclusions. As such, data literacy needs to be incorporated into authentic research activities. The earth sciences in particular have a trove of data that resides in national data centers as well as individual investigators’ labs, which can be repurposed to provide the inputs for students to make their own inquiries into the data. With the amount of data available, students can make more substantive conclusions than if relying just on data they’ve collected themselves.

Sebkhet Karkura: An Example Of A Semi-Arid Mediterranean Climate Wetland Rich In Biotic Sediments;, Mansour M. Elbabour, Esam O. Abdulsamad

Mansour M Elbabour

Habitat wetlands in Libya may be grouped into several distinct varieties, according to climate, water supply, soils, and biotic diversity. They include coastal Sabkhas (salt marshes), karst lakes, Wadi estuaries, below sea-level desert lakes, and balat flats (playas) where the soil is saturated part of some rainy seasons forming a kind of ephemeral, shallow lakes in pre-desert areas. The most prominent, however, are the extensive coastal salt marshes. These have either organic or inorganic soils, or both, depending on their location and climate conditions. Soils common to most coastal wetlands are composed largely of inorganic material in the form of …

Parcel-Level Redevelopment Strategies For Distressed Neighborhoods, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander

Michael P. Johnson

Certain distressed neighborhoods cannot support traditional residential-focused development. For these communities, we develop decision models for acquisition and redevelopment of chronically vacant lands and structures for primarily non-residential and greening uses. We address social benefits and costs of redevelopment strategies, parcel clustering to exploit economies of scale, and conflicting values among stakeholders. We illustrate our models using data from Baltimore, MD.

Land Use And Land Cover Dynamics Under Climate Change In Urbanizing Intermountain West: A Case Study From Cache County, Utah, Enjie Li

Enjie Li

Climate change is tightly linked with urbanization. Urban development with increasing greenhouse gas emission worsens climate change, while climate change in turn influence hydroclimate and ecosystem functions, and indirectly affect urban systems. The Intermountain West is experiencing rapid urban growth, climate change interacting with urbanization poses new challenges to the Intermountain West. Urban planning needs to adapt to these new changes and constrains, and to develop new tools and plans to effectively respond to climate changes. An urban growth model SLEUTH is applied to predict the future urban growth and land use dynamics in the Intermountain west, using Cache County …

Association Of Children's Perceived Access And Sense Of Affinity And Stewardship Towards Nature Within Tehran's Schoolyards., Zahra Zamani

Zahra Zamani

Interacting with natural environments during childhood can impact children’s mental and physical well being. Comprehending children’s environmental orientation is a significant topic as their chance for contact with nature is decreasing. In this research, natural environments are considered as spaces that incorporate a variety of trees and vegetation that are free of human control, or part of human’s manipulation (such as in zoo, park, gardens, etc.). However, urbanized conditions and lifestyles have limited children’s daily contact opportunities with natural environments. This disconnection with nature is defined as “natural deficit disorder” (Louv, 2005), which can impact children’s knowledge, environmental orientation and …

Comparison Of Physical Activity Behavior Affordances Of Natural And Manufactured Elements In Preschool's Outdoor Playground Settings, Zahra Zamani

Zahra Zamani

Interacting with natural environments during childhood can impact children’s mental and physical well being. Comprehending children’s environmental orientation is a significant topic as their chance for contact with nature is decreasing. In this research, natural environments are considered as spaces that incorporate a variety of trees and vegetation that are free of human control, or part of human’s manipulation (such as in zoo, park, gardens, etc.). Read more...

Geopolitics Of The Kaliningrad Exclave And Enclave: Russian And Eu Perspectives, Alexander Diener, Joshua Hagen

Joshua Hagen

Two U.S. political geographers examine a range of geopolitical issues associated with the shifting sovereignty of Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast (a part of the former German province of East Prussia) during the 20th century, as well as the region's evolving geopolitical status as a consequence of the European Union's enlargement to embrace Poland and Lithuania. They argue that Kaliningrad today can be considered a "double" borderland, situated simultaneously on the European Union's border with Russia as well as physically separated from Russia, its home country, by the surrounding land boundaries of EU states. Although technically neither an exclave nor an enclave, …

Theorizing Scale In Critical Place-Name Studies, Joshua Hagen

Joshua Hagen

Building on broader developments in critical social theory, geographers have made significant strides in explicating the assumptions, motivations, and values involved in place naming. This has led to an emphasis on understanding the processes involved in the inscription, subversion, and revision of place names. Despite the increasingly sophisticated approaches found in place-name studies, the field of toponymy occupies a relatively minor position in academic geography. There are varied and complex reasons for this marginality, but perhaps the most salient critique is that place-name research has been slow to engage broader developments in geographic and social theory.

Geomorphic Determinants Of Species Composition Of Alpine Tundra, Glacier National Park, U.S.A., George P. Malanson

George P Malanson

Because the distribution of alpine tundra is associated with spatially limited cold climates, global warming may threaten its local extent or existence. This notion has been challenged, however, based on observations of the diversity of alpine tundra in small areas primarily due to topographic variation. The importance of diversity in temperature or moisture conditions caused by topographic variation is an open question, and we extend this to geomorphology more generally. The extent to which geomorphic variation per se, based on relatively easily assessed indicators, can account for the variation in alpine tundra community composition is analyzed versus the inclusion of …

Wallace-Mcharg’S Plans For Greater Baltimore, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

This essay considers the growth of the partnership between David Wallace and Ian McHarg into one of the nation’s dominant urban design and environmental planning firms. It focuses on the firm’s undertaking in the Greater Baltimore region in the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s. With the benefit of fifty years of hindsight it looks at the successes and failures of their plans for Charles Center, the Green Spring and Worthington Valleys, and the Inner Harbor. Surprisingly, prize-winning innovations praised in one generation came to be judged as the design flaws of the next. Less surprisingly, their plans to “design with nature” …

Mountain Treelines: A Roadmap For Research Orientation, George P. Malanson

George P Malanson

For over 100 years, mountain treelines have been the subject of varied research endeavors and remain a strong area of investigation. The purpose of this paper is to examine aspects of the epistemology of mountain treeline research—that is, to investigate how knowledge on treelines has been acquired and the changes in knowledge acquisition over time, through a review of fundamental questions and approaches. The questions treeline researchers have raised and continue to raise have undoubtedly directed the current state of knowledge. A continuing, fundamental emphasis has centered on seeking the general cause of mountain treelines, thus seeking an answer to …

Anthropogenic Landform Modeling Using Gis Techniques Case Study: Vrancea Region, Adrian Ursu, Dan A. Chelaru, Florin C. Mihai

Florin C MIHAI

Anthropogenic landforms are the result of significant changes in the Earth's crust due to technological development of human society, guided by its economic, social and cultural needs. nthropogenic landforms of the studied area was analyzed using GIS techniques at the general scale, conducting the entire study area maps, and detailed modeling of representative samples in detail. Representing the anthropogenic landforms on the digital elevation model can be very important in studying natural hazards, such as hydrological modeling on flood plains, which could influence the direction of the flood wave. The digital elevation model (DEM) made by traditional methods can not …

(Re)Scaling Gender And Globalization: Livelihood Strategies In Accra, Ghana, Ann M. Oberhauser

Ann Oberhauser

Megafauna Demography And Late Quaternary Climatic Change In Australia: A Predisposition To Extinction, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

Arguments about the extinction of Australia's megafauna have largely rested on anthropogenic factors consequent upon the arrival of humans there, and have lacked any appreciation of the possibilities of climate/environmental changes taking place during the late Quaternary. Moreover, the status of the megafauna at the extinction and in the period leading up to it has largely been ignored. This article assesses the species that existed during the late Quaternary, their continental dispersal, the likely impact of negative climate change during that time and the effect this had on their demography and variety. These factors are discussed together with a synthesis …

Using Palaeobotanical Techniques To Guide Peatland Restoration. A Case Study From Byron Bay, Australia, Kathryn H. Taffs, Jeffrey F. Parr, Keith G. Bolton

Jeffrey Parr

No abstract provided.

Using Palaeobotanical Techniques To Guide Peatland Restoration. A Case Study From Byron Bay, Australia, Kathryn H. Taffs, Jeffrey F. Parr, Keith G. Bolton

Dr Kathryn H Taffs

No abstract provided.

Applicability Of Satellite Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques And Ground Data In Watershed Planning: The Case Of Kubili, Nigeria, Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

Watershed land and hydrology are resources that are very important in agricultural development. Adequate and proper land use planning and management of these resources is of ultimate importance in sustainable development. In this study remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques were used to generate information on the current status and utilization potentials of the Kubili watershed and generate local specific micro watershed development plans for the area. The study revealed that about 33.25 per cent of the land cover is used for rain fed agriculture that lacks sufficient soil and moisture to support good yield. The drainage density …

State Laws And The Independent Judiciary: An Analysis Of The Effects Of The Seventeenth Amendment On The Number Of Supreme Court Cases Holding State Laws Unconstitutional, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

In recent years, the Seventeenth Amendment has been the subject of legal scholarship, congressional hearings and debate, Supreme Court opinions, popular press articles and commentary, state legislative efforts aimed at repeal, and activist repeal movements. To date, the literature on the effects of the Seventeenth Amendment has focused almost exclusively on the effects on the political production of legislation and competition between legislative bodies. Very little attention has been given to the potential adverse effects of the Seventeenth Amendment on the relationship between state legislatures and the federal courts. This Article seeks to fill part of that literature gap, applying …

Proceedings Of The Workshop On Spatio-Temporal Data Models Of Biogeophysical Fields For Ecological Forecasting, Geoffrey Henebry, Jan Chomicki, Tony Fountain

Geoffrey Henebry