Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

The Effect Of Marine Protected Areas On Fishers' Income In The Philippines, Giselle Pb. Samonte, Victoria C. Ramenzoni, Terence U. Dacles, Dominik Fortenbacher

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

The fisheries sector is vital to the Philippine economy, providing substantial employment and income, contributing export earnings, and meeting local food security and nutrition requirements. To protect coastal and marine habitat and to sustain fisheries, over 1000 marine protected areas (MPAs) have been established, in the Philippines. This paper provides empirical evidence on the variance of net revenues linked with MPA establishment and the possible range of relocation costs for fishing effort displaced by an MPA. A total of 424 households were randomly selected from 18 barangays (villages) adjacent to MPAs in three regions in the Philippines. Results show that …

Assessing Non-Market Benefits Of Seagrass Restoration In The Gulf Of Gdańsk, Tobias Börger, Joanna Piwowarczyk

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Seagrass meadows (Zostera marina) are an important ecosystem in the coastal environment of the Baltic Sea. This study employs a discrete choice experiment to value a set of non-market benefits provided by seagrass meadows in the Gulf of Gdańsk, Poland. The benefits valued in this study are a reduction of filamentous algae in the water and on the beach; access to seagrass meadows for boaters and divers; and improved water clarity. Results show significant willingness to pay for each attribute and differences of value estimates across different groups of survey respondents. It is discussed how to link choice …

Quantitative Evidence For The Effects Of Multiple Drivers On Continental-Scale Amphibian Declines, Evan H. Campbell Grant, David A. W. Miller, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Michael J. Adams, Staci M. Amburgey, Thierry Chambert, Sam S. Cruickshank, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Maxwell B. Joseph, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse, Maureen E. Ryan, J. Hardin Waddle, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Andrew M. Ray, David S. Pilliod, Steven J. Price, Daniel Saenz, Walt Sadinski, Erin Muths

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Since amphibian declines were first proposed as a global phenomenon over a quarter century ago, the conservation community has made little progress in halting or reversing these trends. The early search for a “smoking gun” was replaced with the expectation that declines are caused by multiple drivers. While field observations and experiments have identified factors leading to increased local extinction risk, evidence for effects of these drivers is lacking at large spatial scales. Here, we use observations of 389 time-series of 83 species and complexes from 61 study areas across North America to test the effects of 4 of the …

Northern San Francisco Bay Ecological Risk Assessment: Potential Crude By Rail Incident, Meagan Bowis

Master's Projects and Capstones

Oil spill models, ecological risks, response options, and costs were assessed for a discharge of Bakken crude oil into the Northern San Francisco Bay from a train derailment. This assessment was based on the risk of crude by rail derailments into the San Francisco Bay; in 2014, California oil refineries imported over 240 million gallons of Bakken crude oil by rail for processing. A hypothetical scenario was developed from a derailment on the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge and discharging 100,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil into the Northern San Francisco Bay. The oil trajectory impacted the Carquinez Strait, Suisun, San …

Impacts To Anadromous Fish Through Groundwater Extraction, Aaron Hebert

Master's Projects and Capstones

California uses more groundwater than any other state in the United States in order to meet agricultural demand during the growing season when water is naturally least available due to the state’s Mediterranean climate. The state also hosts populations of anadromous fish that are otherwise found exclusively in the wetter Pacific northwest. Groundwater has historically helped maintain baseflow in the summer and fall low-flow periods and acted as a natural buffer against the regular droughts that occur in California. Today, groundwater provides 30-40% of the state’s water supply, but the pumping in many cases has reduced groundwater discharge and baseflow, …

Laying The Foundation For Effective Natural Resource Management, Teresa Scanlon

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The following portfolio describes three distinct, yet not mutually exclusive, approaches for managing water and other resources. A common theme throughout the three approaches is that they “lay the foundation” for future management, and each piece depicts a different approach to natural resource management planning. Part One is the final report for a research and planning contract for Lolo Watershed Group. Watershed science and restoration field techniques are used to inform and develop a scope of work document for Montana Department of Environmental Quality for a future revegetation restoration project on Lolo Creek. Part Two describes some of the co-facilitation …

Do Catastrophes In Poor Countries Lead To Event-Related Policy Change? The 2010 Earthquake In Haiti, Denise D. P. Thompson

Publications and Research

Prompted by Birkland and Warnement‘s (2014) findings that the earthquake was not a significant focusing event in Haiti, the author reassessed the issue. Using the 2010 earthquake as the starting point, a detailed content analysis of evaluation and strategy report and DRR and developmental plans to find the level of policy adopted and implemented after the earthquake. Using the criterion of event-related implementation as a proxy for event-related policy change the author judges whether and to what extent was the earthquake a focusing event. Among the findings are that not only were there event-related policy change inside and outside of …

The Use Of Semi-Structured Interviews For The Characterisation Of Farmer Irrigation Practices, Jimmy O’Keeffe, Wouter Buytaert, Ana Mijic, N. Brozovic, Rajiv Sinha

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

For the development of sustainable and realistic water security, generating information on the behaviours, characteristics, and drivers of users, as well as on the resource itself, is essential. In this paper we present a methodology for collecting qualitative and quantitative data on water use practices through semi-structured interviews. This approach facilitates the collection of detailed information on actors’ decisions in a convenient and cost-effective manner. Semi-structured interviews are organised around a topic guide, which helps lead the conversation in a standardised way while allowing sufficient opportunity for relevant issues to emerge. In addition, they can be used to obtain certain …

Chapman University 2016 Environmental Audit: Residence Life Dining Services Equipment, Alexandra Fw Sidun, Devon T. Bloss

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Chapman University accommodates over 1700 student meal plans per day through the on-campus dining services provided by Sodexo Restaurant Services. The commercial-grade kitchens found in the Randall Dining Commons (RDC) of Sandhu Conference Center are frequently used to prepare food for students for every meal, seven days a week. The RDC kitchen facility has staff working around the clock and high consumption electrical, water, and gas appliances constantly running to parallel the high demand. The frequent use of commercial kitchen appliances results in an enormous consumption of energy and water resources leading to comparably high utility bills. Measuring the energy …

Submerged Area Of Typical Torrential Flood And Debris-Flow Disasters In Mengzong Gully, China, Ai-Di Huo, Wen-Ke Guan, Jian Dang, Tian-Zhong Wu, Hainiken Shantai, Wei Wang, Michael W. Van Liew

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The torrential flooding and debris flow disasters associated with global climate change pose not only serious threat to individual lives and property, but also impact economic development. Accurately simulating flood scenarios can help to reduce the losses caused by torrential flooding and debris flow by making early warning, evacuation planning, and risk analysis possible. In this study, HEC-RAS software and HEC-GeoRAS module were employed in GIS (geographic information system) to simulate the flood overtopping in the Mengzong Gully of Batang River in flood scenarios occurring once in 20, 50, and 100 years, respectively. The simulated floods provided valuable information including …

Nonnative Forest Insects And Pathogens In The United States: Impacts And Policy Options, Gary M. Lovett, Marissa Weiss, Andrew M. Liebhold, Thomas P. Holmes, Brian Leung, Kathy F. Lambert, David A. Orwig, Faith T. Campbell, Jonathan Rosenthal, Deborah G. Mccullough, Radka Wildova, Matthew P. Ayres

Dartmouth Scholarship

We review and synthesize information on invasions of nonnative forest insects and diseases in the United States, including their ecological and economic impacts, pathways of arrival, distribution within the United States, and policy options for reducing future invasions. Nonnative insects have accumulated in United States forests at a rate of ~2.5 per yr over the last 150 yr. Currently the two major pathways of introduction are importation of live plants and wood packing material such as pallets and crates. Introduced insects and diseases occur in forests and cities throughout the United States, and the problem is particularly severe in the …

How 5-Day Weather Patterns And Buoyancy Regulation Impact Algal Community Assemblage, Roberta Brunkalla

Student Research Symposium

The purpose of this study is to model how 5-day weather patterns and algal buoyancy regulation influence the competition between two bloom forming cyanobacteria species in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Sudden changes in weather patterns can quickly impact lake thermal structure, which can rapidly influence the competition between buoyancy regulating cyanobacteria. By modeling competition, I hope to address how altered climate would shift the competitive advantage to toxin forming cyanobacteria. I plan on accomplishing this by coupling a one-dimensional hydrodynamic and algal competition model, with lake specific physiological parameters. A sensitivity test of the model could reveal dramatic shifts in …

Fluctuating Survival Selection Explains Variation In Avian Group Size, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Erin A. Roche, Valerie A. O'Brien, Catherine E. Page

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Most animal groups vary extensively in size. Because individuals in certain sizes of groups often have higher apparent fitness than those in other groups, why wide group size variation persists in most populations remains unexplained. We used a 30-y mark– recapture study of colonially breeding cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) to show that the survival advantages of different colony sizes fluctuated among years. Colony size was under both stabilizing and directional selection in different years, and reversals in the sign of directional selection regularly occurred. Directional selection was predicted in part by drought conditions: birds in larger colonies tended …

Development Of A Decision Support System For Post Mining Land Use On Abandoned Surface Coal Mines In Appalachia, Matthew Zimmerman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Decision support systems are diverse and have been used to solve multiple problems ranging from the complex to the simple. With the complexity of environmental decisions today, these systems provide a logic based approach to evaluating and choosing environmental solutions. Abandoned mining lands (AML) are an issue for the environment in the Appalachian region. Given this a decision support system was designed using previously created frameworks and indices from other systems created. The system is comprised of two main sections, selecting the ideal post-mining land-use (PMLU), and maximizing the potential of land to be reclaimed under budgetary constraints. This system …

Evaluation Of Alternative Strategies To Prevent Leopard Predation On Livestock Around Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, Sanjiv Fernando

Sustainability and Social Justice

In recent years, many livestock herders living near Yala National Park, Sri Lanka have reported livestock losses due to predation by leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya). Despite herders’ attempts to safeguard their cattle, livestock depredation remains an issue, sometimes causing herders to kill leopards in retaliation. In an effort to mitigate the human-leopard conflict, protective cattle enclosures made from steel pipes and mesh wire were introduced to prevent leopard attacks on cattle. This study aims to assess the severity of leopard predation on livestock, understand the methods used in retaliatory killings, examine the effectiveness of existing livestock protection methods, …

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Hydrogeology, Aquifer Properties And Groundwater Chemistry, D L. Bennett, John Andrew Simons, Richard J. George Dr, Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

Cockatoo Sands are recognised as potentially suitable for irrigated agriculture because they are generally well drained and not subject to waterlogging or inundation. These characteristics allow them to be cultivated and prepared for planting various crops during the wet and dry seasons of northern Australia. Expanding agricultural production onto the Cockatoo Sands around Kununurra will increase opportunities for agriculture by increasing the overall scale of agriculture, allowing year-round agricultural enterprise, new crops and new market opportunities.

DAFWA has assessed the soil characteristics and agriculturally suitable areas of Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas near Kununurra. Potential …

Nitrogen And Phosphorus Enrichment Effects On Nutrient Supply In Reservoirs: A Small-Scale Approach, Jessalyn G. Kohn

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Eutrophication is a problem in many lakes, but the reduction of nutrient inputs such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to combat eutrophication can lead to an oligotrophic state, which may be unable to support healthy aquatic ecosystems. This study examined how different rates of chemical fertilization with N and P during times of nutrient limitation (mid-summer) could affect particulate N and C concentrations in four lakes in northwest Arkansas. Fertilization experiments were conducted in microcosms during the month of July 2014. Water samples from each lake were collected and divided into six treatments: control, P-only, N:P 10, 20, 40, …

Gaur (Bos Gaurus) Abundance, Distribution, And Habitat Use Patterns In Kuiburi National Park, Southwestern Thailand, Supatcharee Tanasarnpaiboon

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Population status of gaur (Bos gaurus), a wild cattle, in most habitats where they are present, is still unknown. As the use of camera traps in wildlife studies are widespread, I developed photographic individual identification procedures and utilized encounter histories of gaur individuals from camera trap data to estimate gaur abundance and density using the spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis. The study was conducted at Kuiburi National Park, southwestern Thailand, comprised of dry evergreen forest, moist evergreen forest, and man-modified secondary forest during November 2013- January 2015. I conducted 71 direct observations in a savannah-like habitat area to observe …

Initial Wetland Hydrology And Vegetation Composition In Predicted Wetlands Adjacent To Lake Naconiche, Nacogdoches County, Texas, Amy L. Urbanovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plans for the construction of Lake Naconiche, located in northern Nacogdoches County, included a monitoring project to demonstrate at least 176 acres of land adjacent to the lake would be converted into wetlands. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the creation of wetlands around the lake and establish a benchmark of vegetation composition and condition for future comparison. Eight locations, placed where the majority of wetlands were expected to form, were chosen for monitoring from the shoreline at 348 feet above mean sea level (ft MSL) to the county fee take line at 357 ft MSL.

Shallow groundwater …

Aligning Conservation Goals And Management Objectives For Bonneville Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus Clarki Utah) In The Logan River, Utah, Harrison E. Mohn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rivers are often managed without informed knowledge of how sportfish use different areas of the river to reproduce, and rarely take into account the relationship between fish movement and how they are distributed within the river when making management decisions. The population of native Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki utah) within the Logan River is the largest documented population remaining for this imperiled species, and still maintains extremely high numbers of fish in the upper river. Currently, fishing is not allowed in the upper 20 kilometers of the Logan River watershed during spawning, based on the assumption that …