Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

Combining A Dispersal Model With Network Theory To Assess Habitat Connectivity, Todd R. Lookingbill, Robert H. Gardner, Joseph R. Ferrari, Cherry E. Keller

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Assessing the potential for threatened species to persist and spread within fragmented landscapes requires the identification of core areas that can sustain resident populations and dispersal corridors that can link these core areas with isolated patches of remnant habitat. We developed a set of GIS tools, simulation methods, and network analysis procedures to assess potential landscape connectivity for the Delmarva fox squirrel (DFS; Sciurus niger cinereus), an endangered species inhabiting forested areas on the Delmarva Peninsula, USA. Information on the DFS’s life history and dispersal characteristics, together with data on the composition and configuration of land cover on the peninsula, …

Extractive Reserves, David S. Salisbury

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Extractive reserves are territories dedicated to environmental protection and the sustainable use of nature resources by traditional populations. Reserves follow a traditional land tenure model based on individual family and communal property rights to common areas, such as forest trails used to extract or harvest nontimber forest products. Although the extractive reserve concept originates in the tropical forests of the Brazilian Amazon, reserves have also been created in aquatic, floodplain, and savanna landscapes throughout Brazil. There are now 50 extractive reserves covering more than 10 million hectares, an area larger than Portugal, and more continue to be created. Despite their …

Bolivia's Coca Headache: The Agroyungas Program, Inflation, Campesinos, Coca And Capitalism In Bolivia, John D. Roberts

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Bolivia in the 1980s was wracked by monetary inflation approaching levels of the German Weimar Republic. Immediately following this time of great financial crisis in Bolivia, the U.N. founded a project through the U.N.D.P. to encourage peasant farmers in Bolivia to switch from growing coca (the plant used manufacture cocaine) to growing other cash crops for market. This crop substitution and development program, called the Agroyungas Project, lasted from 1985 to 1991 and is the focus of this study. While many U.N. pundits and journalists considered the program’s initial small successes promising, it has been considered since its conclusion to …

Spatial And Spatial-Temporal Analysis Of Grizzly Bear Movement Patterns As Related To Underlying Landscapes Across Multiple Scales, Barbara Lynn Carra

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Studying the movements of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in Alberta is imperative for scientifically informed management practices. To properly balance industry requirements with conservation imperatives, it is necessary to understand the spatial and spatial-temporal movement patterns of grizzly bears as they relate to underlying landscape properties. As part of the Foothills Research Institute Grizzly Bear Research Program, this dissertation explored both fine and largescale movement patterns generated from global positioning system (GPS) radiotelemetry data.

Between 1999 and 2005, grizzly bears were captured and radio-collared across western Alberta. The temporal resolution of GPS data collection had a large impact …

The Importance Of Dust: A Source Of Beauty And Essential To Life (1898), Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace Classic Writings

No abstract provided.

The Transnational Networks Of Cultural Commodities: Peruvian Food In San Francisco, Kelsey Ann Brain

Dissertations and Theses

In a setting of increased movement, communication, and flows across space, commodity chain networks bring valued cultural commodities to transnational communities. This research examines the networks bringing foreign cuisine ingredients to Peruvian transnational communities in San Francisco, California. It seeks to answer three inter-related questions: 1) What are the origins and transportation networks bringing Peruvian food items to San Francisco; 2) Who controls and benefits from the movement of this food and resulting capital; and 3) How do networks vary for different classes of end consumers?

Chefs of ten Peruvian restaurants and ten Peruvian migrants in the San Francisco area …

Examining The Effects Of Climate Change And Urban Development On Water Demand: A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Future Water Demand In Hillsboro, Oregon, Lily House-Peters

Dissertations and Theses

In the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, suburban cities such as Hillsboro are projected to grow as people seek affordable housing near a rapidly growing metropolis. This thesis examines the combined impact of'c1imate change and urban development on both neighborhood and municipal scale residential water demand in Hillsboro, Oregon. I use two models, a surface energy balance model, Local-scale Urban Meteorological Parameterization Scheme (LUMPS), and a system dynamics model, CCDomestic, to investigate changes in residential water demand in the 2040s at two distinct spatial scales, the neighborhood and the municipality. I calibrate and validate each model to the reference period and …

Climatic And Spatial Variations Of Mount Rainier's Glaciers For The Last 12,000 Years, Michael Leslie Hekkers

Dissertations and Theses

Regional paleoclimatic proxies and current local climate variables and were analyzed to reconstruct paleoglaciers in an effort to assess glacier change On Mount Rainier. Despite the dry and generally warm conditions (sea surface temperatures (SST) -0.15°C to +1.8°C relative to current temperatures), the previously documented McNeeley II advance (10,900 - 9,950 cal yr B.P.) was likely produced by air temperature fluctuations. The average SST record and the terrestrial climate proxies show cooling temperatures with continued dryness between McNeeley II and the Burroughs Mountain advance (3,442 - 2,153 cal yr B.P.). The paleoclimate during the Burroughs Mountain advance was both cool …

Emergent Geographies In Green Energy, Sean Tierney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A consensus on climate change is spurring an energy transition, but the geography of this transition is uneven and this paper evaluates the energy landscape globally, in the United States and in Colorado. Developed countries have taken the lead in installations and of next generation energy technology ownership. Green electricity has still not achieved parity with fossil fuels, which puts their adoption in the hands of policy makers who are trying to spur innovation with minimal financial disruption. Yet the future of green electricity is in question due to weak and fragmented policy regimes, but also because of inadequate R&D …

Identifying Potential Carbon Flux Responses To Shifting Hydroecological And Climactic Regimes In The Peace-Athabasca Delta, Caleb W. Light

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The CO2 flux response of organic carbon stored in lake sediments and littoral peat contained in sensitive, northern wetlands may contribute to accelerating atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Temperature and moisture conditions are important variables that affect the rate and quantity of CO2 released to the atmosphere from organic matter stored in lake sediments and peat. Antecedent hydroecological conditions also influence the direction and magnitude of CO2 fluxes to the atmosphere in a changing environment. To better understand and characterize the role of antecedent conditions on CO2 fluxes, this study combines paleolimnological reconstructions with laboratory incubations of littoral peat and lake sediment …

Controls On Terrestrial Evapotranspiration From A Forest-Wetland Complex In The Western Boreal Plain, Alberta, Canada, Scott M. Brown

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Western Boreal Plain (WBP) of North Central Alberta consists of a mosaic wetlands and aspen (Populus tremuloides) dominated uplands. This region operates within a moisture deficit regime where precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET) are the dominant hydrologic fluxes. As such these systems are extremely susceptible to the slightest to the slightest climatic variability that may upset the balance between P and ET. Vegetation composition is the dominant control on wetland ET, and itself is extremely dynamic within these wetland environments, which can be attributed to varying moisture regimes along with micrometeorological variations. To address this variability in …

United States Land Cover Land Use Change, Albedo And Radiative Forcing: Past And Potential Climate Implications, Christopher A. Barnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Land Cover Land Use (LCLU) change affects Earth surface properties including albedo that impose a radiative forcing on the climate. Recent spatially explicit satellite derived contemporary LCLU, albedo, and projected LCLU data are used to study the impact of LCLU change from 1973 to 2000, and from 2000 to 2050, on albedo and surface radiative forcing for the conterminous United States. Four research hypotheses concerned with past and potential future climate implications of LCLU change are addressed. The research described in this dissertation makes an important contribution to advancing understanding of the role of LCLU change on the climate system, …

A Late-Quaternary Record Of Environmental Variability From Lake Sediment Cores, Wind River Range, Wyoming, Tyler Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Sediment cores from two alpine lakes in Wyoming's Wind River Range were collected and analyzed to establish a record of depositional and mineralogical variability. Due to the hydrologic setting and isolation of Fiddlers and Louis lakes, these cores yielded the longest continuous limnological record in the region that extends back nearly 20,000 years to full-glacial conditions, a rarity for alpine lakes in the western United States.

To develop a paleolimnological record for Fiddlers and Louis lakes, the sediment cores were analyzed using four laboratory techniques. These techniques included particle size analysis, x-ray diffraction, heavy mineral analysis, and loss-on-ignition. Radiocarbon ages …

Modeling Shoreline Change And Resulting Wetland Response Due To Erosion And Sea-Level Rise: A Case Study In Dorchester County, Maryland, Mirtha Karinna Nunez

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The present study was focused on developing a shoreline change forecast and wetland response model for Dorchester County, MD, to evaluate the vulnerability of wetlands to shoreline erosion and inundation due to relative sea level rise. The model considers the following forces involved in wetland stability and sustainability: inundation (as a function of topography and sea-level rise), shoreline erosion, vertical accretion and horizontal migration. To predict the long-term risk to nearshore wetlands and the potential habitat zone for wetlands in the next 50 years, shoreline change due to inundation and erosion/accretion was assessed within the frameworks of two-dimensional and three-dimensional …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Western Australian Part Of The Nullarbor Region, P A. Waddell, A K. Gardner, P Hennig

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Western Australian part of the Nullarbor region, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 2005 and 2007, describes and maps the natural resources of the region. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the area's natural resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The Nullarbor region has …

Tracking Bare Sand Mobilization Arising From Landscape Manipulations In The Grasslands Destabilization Experiment (Gdex) In The Nebraska Sandhills Using Imaging Spectroscopy, Benjamin Helder

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Grassland Destabilization Experiment (GDEX) is a landscape scale manipulative experiment initiated in 2004 in the Nebraska Sandhills to evaluate changes in surface properties following the abrupt loss of stabilizing vegetation. The GDEX features five treatments allocated among ten plots of 120 m in diameter (1.13 ha). The Aggressive Bare Sand protocol included chemical defoliation and subsequent shallow disking and raking in 2004 to devegetate the plot with periodic physical disturbance to maintain bare sand. The Long Term Disturbance (Press) protocol includes an initial chemical defoliation in May 2005 and seasonal spring reapplications, but no physical disturbance. Short Term Disturbance …

Disaster Vulnerability And Evacuation Readiness: Coastal Mobile Home Residents In Florida, Margarethe Kusenbach, Jason Simms, Graham Tobin

Jason L Simms

This article examines disaster preparedness in a highly vulnerable population, mobile home park residents in hurricane-prone areas. The vulnerabilities of this population mandate evacuation as the only viable disaster response strategy, but this does not always happen. In order to explore evacuation decision making, interviews were conducted with 75 mobile home park residents in Ruskin, Florida. Descriptive results build on a conceptualization of physical, structural, socio-economic, and ‘‘residual’’ disaster vulner- ability; the latter is defined as a combination of experiences, perceptions, and preparations that inhibit the willingness and abilities of respondents to protect themselves. While residents generally prepared for disasters, …

Geology And Geomorphology Of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah, R. Ford, S. Gillman, David Wilkins, W. Clement, K. Nicoll

David E. Wilkins

No abstract provided.

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

Ann Oberhauser