Socioecological Assessment Of Birds In Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Socioecological Assessment Of Birds In Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve, Eli Taub
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Effective management of natural resources requires consideration of the environment through both a physical and a sociological lens. In this study, the birds in Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve were examined through both a biological mist-net survey and a socioecological series of interviews with people living in the surrounding villages. The mist-net survey compared the understory species in undisturbed and disturbed area of the forest, as well as analyzing birds caught for biologically meaningful information on subspecies and sexual dimorphism. While the mist-net survey was largely unsuccessful, highlighting the need for alternative bird capture methods in Ngezi, it found a decrease …
What Soil Is Worth: A Cost-Benefit Framework Analysis Of Syntropic Farming,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
What Soil Is Worth: A Cost-Benefit Framework Analysis Of Syntropic Farming, Aubrey Kettley
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Syntropic farming, a type of regenerative agriculture, models its farming system after a forest. This type of farming prioritizes soil health while also providing a varied yield of crops. Because it is a fairly new system globally, little research has been done on the economic impacts of syntropic farming, and therefore the feasibility of scaling up regenerative systems like this. This study aims to analyze the economic feasibility of this system through a literature review and a cost-benefit analysis framework. The results highlight the applicability, environmental advantage and economic feasibility of the system. Based on the presented framework, the short …
The Influences, Experiences, And Sentiments That Create Indonesian Identity,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
The Influences, Experiences, And Sentiments That Create Indonesian Identity, Jack Wood
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
This research delves into the multifaceted and complex concept of Indonesian identity. Indonesia is a large archipelago nation with a populace who employ a varied and diverse collection of associations with their Indonesian identity. The notion of cultural pride, its expression across different backgrounds within the Indonesian populace, and the experiences that help create this sense of Identity are the main inquiries of this research. Through focusing on these questions, this paper seeks to understand what it means for individuals to take pride in their Indonesian identity and how this sentiment varies among Indonesians of diverse backgrounds, encompassing distinctions such …
Anuran Diversity And Abundance Across Two Sites With Varying Levels Of Light Pollution In El Valle De Antón, Coclé, Panamá,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Anuran Diversity And Abundance Across Two Sites With Varying Levels Of Light Pollution In El Valle De Antón, Coclé, Panamá, Jackson Dray
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The impact of artificial light at night (ALAN) on anuran populations has been a subject of growing concern in ecological research. Anurans are particularly susceptible to the impacts of artificial light due to their nocturnal nature and an extensive exposure throughout various stages of life histories. Exposure to artificial light has been shown to impact the larval development and reproductive behavior of anurans. The impacts on anurans juvenile populations suggest a relationship between light pollution and anuran abundance. This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that ALAN negatively affects the abundance and diversity of anurans. Field surveys were conducted in …
Avian Diversity And Abundance Among Agricultural Land, Forested Land, And Their Ecotone In Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí Province, Republic Of Panamá.,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Avian Diversity And Abundance Among Agricultural Land, Forested Land, And Their Ecotone In Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí Province, Republic Of Panamá., Stella Rae Kinard
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
As the human population increases, finding the balance between modifying land use for resources and protecting areas to preserve species that are threatened by anthropogenic disturbance is an ever growing problem. Guadalupe is a town in the Western Highlands of Panamá that struggles in this balance as its primary income source is agriculture, but it is located on the border of two protected areas, Parque Nacional La Amistad and Parque Nacional Volcán Barú. By understanding the unique ways in which avifauna utilize distinct vegetative landscapes, recommendations can be made for management styles of farms in Guadalupe to implement practices that …
Vascular Epiphyte Population Dynamics Within Human-Modified Landscapes Of Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panamá,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Vascular Epiphyte Population Dynamics Within Human-Modified Landscapes Of Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panamá, Lucine Tashjian
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants non-parasitically, and globally, epiphytes compose a very large and diverse group. They are especially abundant and species-rich in the tropics- particularly, in tropical montane forest ecosystems. Human population growth in the tropics, however, has resulted in significant declines in forest cover with land being converted largely for agricultural purposes. Studies on epiphytes have traditionally been undertaken in pristine, undisturbed forest ecosystems, yet terrestrial land conversion has increased the need to understand the value of human-modified ecosystems for epiphytic populations and biodiversity conservation. This study sought to understand the relationship between human modification …
Guna Community Perspectives On Attributes, Changes, And Revitalization Of Nainu Agroecological Practices In Isla Tigre, Guna Yala Comarca, Panama,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Guna Community Perspectives On Attributes, Changes, And Revitalization Of Nainu Agroecological Practices In Isla Tigre, Guna Yala Comarca, Panama, Neshima Vitale-Penniman
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Indigenous agroecological systems are gaining international recognition for their capacity to conserve biodiversity while promoting food security and sovereignty. Nainu is the ancestral agriculture of the Guna people of eastern Panama, and it is characterized by a successional growing system that imitates the regeneration of the tropical forest in which it is practiced. This research aimed to (a) characterize how nainu is practiced by farmers in Isla Tigre, a community in Guna Yala, (b) characterize how nainu practices have changed over time, and (c) describe how farmers and community members in Isla Tigre are envisioning and actualizing the revitalization of …
On Fire And Water: The Intersection Of Wetlands And Burning Strategies In Managing The Anthropogenic Plant Communities Of Yosemite National Park,
2024
Portland State University
On Fire And Water: The Intersection Of Wetlands And Burning Strategies In Managing The Anthropogenic Plant Communities Of Yosemite National Park, Douglas Deur, Rochelle Bloom
Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations
The existing literature confirms that Native American tribes historically enhanced culturally preferred plant communities through periodic burning in what is today Yosemite National Park; in turn, beginning with nineteenth-century park development, fire suppression contributed to conifer and shrub encroachment on anthropogenic meadows and other culturally significant habitats. However, we contend that traditional burning practices cannot be understood without considering the pronounced cultural role of wetland habitats and species, and the intersection between burning practices and wetland plant communities among tribes of the Sierra Nevada Range. Our ethnographic investigations revealed that a majority of culturally important plants identified by tribal members …
Género Y Resiliencia En La Amazonía Peruana: Las Experiencias Y Respuestas De Agricultoras Indígenas Ante El Cambio Climático,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Género Y Resiliencia En La Amazonía Peruana: Las Experiencias Y Respuestas De Agricultoras Indígenas Ante El Cambio Climático, Zoe Klausner
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
El cambio climático antropogénico está redefiniendo rápidamente las relaciones humano-ambientales, especialmente en la Amazonía peruana, donde más de 66 comunidades indígenas enfrentan mayores sequías y temperaturas, afectando profundamente sus medios de vida. Crucialmente, desde la visión ecofeminista central a esta investigación se subraya que las mujeres indígenas experimentan los impactos del cambio climático más severamente y son a menudo los líderes en el fomento de la resiliencia ambiental. Esta investigación explora cómo las agricultoras indígenas de la Amazonía peruana viven el cambio climático y sus estrategias de adaptación y resiliencia. El trabajo de campo se realizó en la comunidad Ese'Eja …
Identidad Bajo Amenaza En Chinchero, Perú: El Megaproyecto Del Aeropuerto Internacional Plantea La Cuestión: ¿Cuál Es Más Importante Para El Estado Peruano—El Turismo O El Patrimonio?,
2024
SIT Study Abroad
Identidad Bajo Amenaza En Chinchero, Perú: El Megaproyecto Del Aeropuerto Internacional Plantea La Cuestión: ¿Cuál Es Más Importante Para El Estado Peruano—El Turismo O El Patrimonio?, Celeste Funari Muse
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
El megaproyecto del Aeropuerto Internacional de Chinchero inicialmente fue propuesto hace 46 años, así que ha sido un símbolo del futuro del distrito durante casi cinco décadas. Ubicado a sólo una hora de distancia de la ciudad de Cusco, el pueblo de Chinchero es conocido por su hermoso paisaje, tradición e impresionantes ruinas incas. De todo el mundo, los turistas desembarcan en el aeropuerto de Cusco y pasan por Chinchero de camino al valle sagrado y Machu Picchu. Desde el inicio de la construcción en 2017, el sitio del nuevo aeropuerto es visible desde casi cualquier lugar de Chinchero, como …
Or To Be Eaten Alive,
2024
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Or To Be Eaten Alive, Christopher Williams
School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work
“or to be eaten alive'' is a multimedia exhibition in which I merge my own coming of age story with a mythological ecology. In this work I reclaim my queer identity by communing with my past selves in a fantasy world created through the lens of Queer Ecology and Queer Eco-Futurism. The visuals in this exhibition obscure reality. They are abstractions of the landscapes I occupy—particularly the Tallgrass prairie and Ozark ecoregions. Through a speculative, fantasy world the exhibition introduces moments of adoration, death, fracturing, growth, joy, and failure. I form, draw, color and arrange the work embracing mistakes and …
Contributions Of Barad's New Materialism To Well-Being Research,
2024
Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Contributions Of Barad's New Materialism To Well-Being Research, M. Isidora Bilbao-Nieva, Alejandra Meyer
The Qualitative Report
In this article, we discuss the contributions that Karen Barad's theorizations can make to the study of well-being, particularly their ontoepistemological framework, “agential realism,” that emphasizes the inseparability of matter, ethics, and knowledge, as the relational entanglements of agencies. We use these ideas to imagine well-being as differential materializations, entanglements of human, and the non-human agencies that “intra-act” with each other and are inseparable from how we know about them and our responsibilities in their reconfigurations. From this perspective, we see well-being as a phenomenon, underpinning its dynamism and processuality. Analyzing an interview fragment, we exemplify how Barad's theorizations can …
A Path To Food Self-Provisioning And Experiences From Learning New Skills: An Autoethnographic Depiction,
2024
University of Helsinki
A Path To Food Self-Provisioning And Experiences From Learning New Skills: An Autoethnographic Depiction, Toni Ruuska
The Qualitative Report
In this autoethnographic depiction, I tell a story of change and renewal. In the narrative, I present a story of personal choices and epiphanies that have changed the course of my life. At the turning point, I portray the process of learning new skills regarding food self-provisioning. I come from a privileged, but de-skilled, middle-class suburban background, and the past four years has been a diverse journey of insecurity, alienation, and fatigue, but also of learning, empowerment, and self-realization. From a person with limited skills, to an at least somewhat skilled food neo-self-provisioner, I have partaken in a process of …
Surveying The Policy Landscape Concerning Tgd Youth In Schools,
2024
The University of Texas at Arlington
Surveying The Policy Landscape Concerning Tgd Youth In Schools, Dustin Ward
Social Work Theses - Archive
Recently, there has been a precipitous rise in anti-TGD legislation across state legislatures, growing from 143 proposed bills in 2021 to 604 in 2023. This pronounced increase in TGD-restrictive legislation may exacerbate existing stressors experienced by TGD youth. This study uses Ecological Systems Theory as a framework to conceptualize how this legislation might worsen the emotional strain and related risks experienced by TGD youth. All proposed and enacted state policies from January 1st, 2023, to December 31st, 2023, impacting the school environments of TGD youth were collected, and the characteristics were categorized according to domain, policy instruments, consequences specified, and …
The Unequal Distribution Of Social Risk For Black Men Across The Life-Span. A Novel Framework.,
2024
City College of New York
The Unequal Distribution Of Social Risk For Black Men Across The Life-Span. A Novel Framework., Waleed Y. Sami
Adultspan Journal
This conceptual overview offers a comprehensive overview of systemic pathways that negatively impact the mental health of Black Men throughout their lives. Our argument highlights the importance for counselors and mental health professionals to utilize a thorough social risk assessment that considers these pathways in order to effectively address the mental health needs of Black Men while fostering positive working relationships. This overview strongly advocates for the use of context and structural determinants when evaluating mental health symptoms. Without an appropriate understanding of social risk and determinants, counselors may inadvertently perpetuate disparities by decontextualizing symptomology, and reproducing racist discourse.
Review Of Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice,
2023
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Review Of Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice, Ava L. Corey-Gruenes
Feminist Pedagogy
Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice, by Hilda Lloréns, highlights Black Puerto Rican women’s efforts to create equitable futures for their communities in the face of capitalism, racism, colonization, and ecological collapse. This review covers key concepts in Making Livable Worlds, including matriarchal dispossession, decolonizing ethnography, the myth of a homogenous Puerto Rico, and myths of inherent economic self-interest. Analyses of these concepts through an absence lens are suggested to enrich formal and informal feminist learning spaces.
The Experience Of Awe In Nature And Its Implications For Sustainability,
2023
SIT Study Abroad
The Experience Of Awe In Nature And Its Implications For Sustainability, Ella Shriner
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Awe is a complex emotion and a relatively new field of psychological study. Previous studies have looked at the benefits of spending time in nature including spurring environmental action, and how awe is felt in nature. In this study, I investigate the connection between these two ideas by addressing the questions of how Awe is experienced in the Northern Rivers region of Australia, and whether small and big moments of awe motivate people to take environmental action and connect them to their community and the natural world. For this study, I conducted 15 interviews, collected 51 surveys, and personally explored …
Analyzing Human - Nonhuman Primate Conflict Mitigation Techniques In Mto Wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania,
2023
SIT Study Abroad
Analyzing Human - Nonhuman Primate Conflict Mitigation Techniques In Mto Wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania, Lily Adams
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Human – non-human primate conflict is particularly crucial due to primates’ high capacity to live among human populations. The study to analyze Human - Nonhuman Primate Conflict Mitigation Techniques, was carried in November 2023 at Mto wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania. To analyze techniques currently being used to mitigate human – non-human primate conflict, this study collected data through semi-structured interviews. Over 87% (n=35) of respondents used multiple mitigation techniques simultaneously. 80% of respondents (n=32) reported using projectiles to ward off foraging primates, 75% of respondents (n=30) reported using loud noises (made either by the voice/body or by manipulating noisemakers), 67.5% …
Representations And Realities: Misali Island's Biodiversity In Hybrid Narratives,
2023
SIT Study Abroad
Representations And Realities: Misali Island's Biodiversity In Hybrid Narratives, Justin Ross Whitney
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are complex organisms that ebb and flow between strict and unyielding conservation doctrines often at the cost of community engagement. Misali Island is different. Conceived and advocated for by community members, this organism has navigated a tumultuous tenure of environmental degradation, periods of high and low funding, and a looming tourism presence. On top of these challenges has been a growing fishing community attempting to share in the bounty of this shockingly biodiverse setting. This study sorts through the grey space of Misali Island by applying a hybrid narrative that interfaces the marine context of the …
Always Sunny In Zanzibar: Exploring Solar Power On The Island,
2023
SIT Study Abroad
Always Sunny In Zanzibar: Exploring Solar Power On The Island, Quinn Brannan
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
As Zanzibar continues along its developmental path, the island’s energy infrastructure takes on a central role in future plans for growth. Critically, as the population grows and tourist presence is predicted to increase, the island is presented with the combined problem of supplying a greater volume of energy, while also providing a more reliable source to its existing populace. In this study, I will examine existing solar energy systems for capacity, accessibility, and reliability, as well as evaluate their efficacy in providing a functional source of power, both now and in the future. I conduct interviews with assorted stakeholders in …
