Geography Commons^™

Volume 28, Issue 1 Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: Bruce Bigelow, 1943 - 2025, Kenneth Colburn

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Call For Papers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Spatial Temporal Patterns Of Us Landslides In Recent Decades And Climate Change, Karissa Duff

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events are on the rise in recent decades around the world due to climate change and the trend is projected to continue. Intensified rainfall is a well-known trigger for landslide hazards. The impact of climate change on landslide hazards is a research question of practical importance, as landslides can cause billions of dollars in damage and significant loss of human lives annually. However, previous studies have often focused on specific events with limited spatial and temporal scales. Here we report our preliminary results of leveraging modern geospatial statistical tools in GIS using both …

Remote Sensing - Based Mapping And Analysis Of Winter Cover Crop Adoption For Sustainable Agriculture, Minnehaha County, Belinda Buechler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Winter cover crops planted by farmers such as cereal rye, crimson clover, radishes, hairy vetch, and winter wheat are used to conserve and protect the soil during winter. These crops offer numerous benefits such as improving soil health, reducing erosion, fixing nitrogen, increasing carbon sequestration, and weed suppression. Over time, winter cover cropping has been recognized as a sustainable agricultural practice and has gained attention from Federal and State conservation programs, farmers, and non-governmental organizations. Due to their vital benefits, agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conversation Services (NRCS) have partnered with cost-share programs …

Shifting Waters: A 41-Year Time-Series Analysis Of Surface Water Change In The Prairie Pothole Region, Madison Dejarlais

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Prairie Pothole Region (PRR) is a landscape defined by a dynamic surface water system, with wetlands, lakes, and rivers playing critical roles in supporting biodiversity, regulating floods, and maintaining hydrological balance. This study conducts a time-series analysis of surface water change in the PPR from 1984 to 2024, using remote sensing tools including Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS Pro, and ENVI. 41 annual surface water presence rasters were compiled into a cumulative dataset, allowing for both year-to-year comparisons and broader trend analysis. Results indicate that the presence of surface water in the PPR has not followed a simple linear trend. …

Family Roots And Research Journal Unm Emeritus Professor José A. Rivera, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

This article is an abbreviated life narrative of UNM Emeritus Professor of Community and Regional Planning, José A. Rivera. It begins with highlights of his family ancestry and continues with an account of his educational experiences K-12 and into a decade of university life as a student while earning a bachelor’s, two master’s and a doctorate. He taught at UNM for 35 years while also conducting research in his areas of interest, mostly in community irrigation studies, mutual aid societies, and rural development. The main body in the article focuses on positions he held at UNM and on publications that …

Potential 2050 Distributions Of World Terrestrial Ecosystems From Projections Of Changes In World Climate Regions And Global Land Cover, Roger Sayre, Charlie Frye, Sean Breyer, Patrick R. Roehrdanz, Paul R. Elsen, Kevin Butler, Clint Brown, Jill Cress, Deniz Karagulle, Madeline Martin, Florencia Sangermano, Regan L. Smyth, Terry L. Sohl, Nicholas H. Wolff, Dawn J. Wright, Zhouting Wu

Geography

The urgency to address ecosystem loss is paramount, as both land use change and climate change will continue to rapidly alter and degrade natural ecosystems and reduce the many services they provide. To support conservation actions that mitigate impacts from these dual threats, we have developed potential World Terrestrial Ecosystem (WTE) distributions for 2050 following IPCC best practice guidelines. This projection of ecosystem distributions builds on the previously released 2015 WTEs, a snapshot of the distribution and conservation status of 431 terrestrial ecosystem types defined as distinct combinations of 18 global climate regions, 4 global landform classes, and 8 global …

Life Stories Of Garment Workers In India: Toward A Labor-Centric Labor Regimes Framework, Siobhán Mcgrath, Madhumita Dutta

Geography

This article contributes to a recent wave of literature formulating a renewed labor regimes framework as a means to understand the processes, relations, actors, and institutions through which conditions of work are produced under contemporary capitalism. This scholarship (partially) incorporates a feminist lens highlighting the centrality of social reproduction to the construction and persistence of particular labor regimes, and further calls for “labor-centric” analyses to counter a “capital-centric” tendency. We take up this call through analyzing the life stories of three garment workers in India, centering their own perspectives about their labor and motivations for entering and exiting particular labor …

Impact Of Geography On Institutions In Agricultural And Nomadic Societies, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

How geography affects the choice of institutions is studied in a theoretical model. In this model, nations are located around a circle. Rulers compete through choosing tax rates, the level of military spending, and the degree of formality of institutions. Geographic condition is captured by population density. It is shown that societies with higher population densities choose lower tax rates, establish more formal institutions, and give government officials lower levels of autonomies than those with lower population densities do. A higher level of external threats induces a ruler to choose a higher level of autonomy for officials. The model is …

Restored Wetlands Show Rapid Vegetation Recovery And Substantial Surface-Water Expansion, Thilina D. Surasinghe, Yin-Hsuen Chen, Kunwar K. Singh

Center for Geospatial Science, Education & Analytics Faculty Publications

Ecological restoration is essential for improving the ecological integrity of degraded ecosystems to enhance ecosystem services and biodiversity. In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of wetland restoration on retired cranberry farms by analyzing vegetation recovery and surface-water dynamics using the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI) derived from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. To quantify temporal dynamics of both vegetation recovery and surface-water cover, we identified the spectral distinctions among restored wetland plant communities. Our results indicated the emergence of distinct plant communities upon restoration. Restored wetlands in general showed significant and progressive vegetation recovery and expanding …

Factors Contributing To Fatalities In Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Accidents, Jenna Korentsides, Joseph R. Keebler, Mihhail Berezovski, Alex Chaparro

Publications

INTRODUCTION: T his study aimed to update and reinforce previous research on helicopter emergency medical service accidents in the United States. By investigating predictors of fatalities after helicopter emergency medical service crashes through the application of machine learning techniques, we updated existing data sets and sought to uncover patterns that traditional analysis might not reveal.

METHODS: Using the National Transportation Safety Board database, the authors analyzed a dataset of 267 helicopter emergency medical service accidents between 1991–2022. We first calculated fatalities odds ratios for each condition. We then plotted geospatial locations of all reported accidents. Finally, we used XGBoost regression …

Evaluating Spatiotemporal Vegetation Index Variation To Detect Salt Marsh Dieback On The Georgia Coast, Emmanuella Bosompemaa Obeng

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Salt marshes, essential for coastal protection and carbon sequestration, are increasingly vulnerable to dieback events, threatening ecosystem resilience and vital services. Detecting these shifts early is essential for timely intervention. However, few studies have applied Early Warning Signals (EWS) to coastal marsh systems. Most EWS research has focused on lakes, forests, or climate tipping points, with limited application to salt marsh dieback in the southeastern U.S. Site-specific, long-term spatial analyses are also lacking, as prior work often examines short time frames or single disturbance events. This study investigates the spatiotemporal patterns of salt marsh dieback on the Georgia coast from …

Annual Diversity Of Honey Bee Pollen Sources In Two Pumpkin Growing Landscapes, Machakos County, Kenya, Marystella W. Nang’Oni, Muo Kasina, Rebecca Karanja, Mary M. Guantai, Rahab N. Kinyanjui, Evanson R. Omuse, Michael H.G. Lattorff, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Marian Adan, Samira A. Mohamed, Thomas Dubois

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Multi-floral foraging sources for honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) have been threatened by landscape changes and unsustainable farming practices. In East Africa, the biodiversity of forage resources that could support honey bees, especially in agricultural lands, remains least explored. This study investigated pollen diversity for honey bees in Yatta and Masinga Sub-counties in Machakos County, Kenya. Honey bee hives were installed on eight pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne ex Lam) farms (one hive per farm) in two varying landscape vegetation classes (low and medium) based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Pollen traps were installed at the hive entrance and pollen …

Rethinking Rural Identity: Reimagining Rural Politics, Matthew B. Kirk

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This work chiefly consists of a genealogical critique of rural identity. Tracing the development and deployment of the concepts of rurality and rural consciousness, I argue that our current depictions of rurality as “spatial other,” replete with its harmful stereotypes, stem from a misconception about the nature of power. Political theorists’ and political scientists’ appraisals of rurality suggest that the set of actions that define rural politics are a product of their relative powerlessness. Rural locales’ removal from the center of power in urban spheres means that rural politics is reduced to reactionary, violent, and conservative political thought and engagement. …

Booklet Of Green Prompts, Fatima Iqbal, Ali Fayyaz

Institute for Educational Development Pakistan (IED-PK) Archives

This short stories book is an outcome of the Climate Action Fellowship carried out by the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) and funded by the U.S. Mission in Pakistan.

How Much Antisemitism Is There In The United States? Incidences Vs. Impacts, Ira Sheskin

FIU Law Review

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (www.adl.org), founded in 1913, is one of the nation's premier civil rights organizations and was formed to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Every year since 1979, the ADL has published an Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in the US (https://www.adl.org/resources/report/audit-antisemitic-incidents-2023). The Audit receives significant publicity and is important in communicating the problem of serious antisemitic incidents and the year-to-year increases in such incidents. But, based on surveys of American Jews, the Audit underestimates the extent to which American Jews are being impacted by antisemitism. Survey data …

Earth Observations Reveal Impacts Of Climate Variability On Maize Cropping Systems In Sub-Saharan Africa, Adomas Liepa, Michael Thiel, Hannes Taubenböck, Doris Klein, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Marcell K. Peters, Sarah Schönbrodt-Stitt, Insa Otte, Tobias Landmann, Zeyaur R. Khan, Michael Ochieng Obondo, Frank Chidawanyika, Emily A. Martin, Tobias Ullmann

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

In Kenya, climate variability and change threaten smallholder, rainfed farms, with crop failures, yield reductions, and pest infestations. Efficient agroecological strategies, such as Push-Pull intercropping, offer documented benefits including pest control, improved soil fertility, and water conservation compared to traditional maize monocropping. To date, no studies exist comparing traditional maize monocropping and Push-Pull intercropping using earth observation tools over several growing seasons in East Africa. Our research addresses this by harmonizing Landsat 7, 8, 9 with Sentinel-2 remote sensing time series from 2016 to 2023. Phenological metrics of 15 growing seasons are extracted based on a threshold method using the …

The Geography Of Care: Rural Versus Urban Caregiver Perspectives On Community Resources For Parkinson’S Disease Management, Rebecca Jones

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the experiences and perceptions of caregivers for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) in rural versus urban settings, with particular emphasis on their access to and utilization of community resources. Through semi-structured interviews with 30 caregivers, the research explored how geographical location impacts caregiving challenges, support systems, and resource accessibility. Using Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use as a theoretical framework, the study revealed both universal caregiving challenges and location-specific barriers. While all caregivers reported significant emotional burden and healthcare system navigation difficulties, rural caregivers faced distinct challenges related to resource accessibility and specialized care availability. …

Wildlife Distribution Mapping And Analysis In Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Using Site And Satellite Imagery Data, Pinho Joaquim Munhequeira Mr

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

One of Mozambique's most important conservation sites, Gorongosa National Park has seen critical ecological changes over the past several decades resulting from climate variability, habitat loss, and political instability. This research integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing to examine the relationship between vegetation dynamics and wildlife population, and distribution. The main goals of this study are to evaluate the spatial distribution of particular wildlife species: buffalo (Syncerus caffer), elephant (Loxodonta africana), hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), and zebra (Equus quagga), and determine the impact of vegetation density and land cover on their …