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Decomposing the semantics of local food: an analysis of food flows & organizations of Arizona
No full textThe demand for ‘local food’ by U.S. consumers has grown, accompanied by confusion over howto define local food. Is ‘local’ food defined by the location of the farm, food processing factory,
distribution warehouse, or all three? Is ‘local’ food defined by geographic, political, or
biophysical boundaries? Is ‘local’ solely farm-to-table or can it include factories? This study
evaluates food commodity flow ‘localness’ using jurisdictional boundaries and physical distance
to investigate the potential for food system transformation and the tradeoffs inherent to
‘localizing’ food production. We take a supply chain approach by making data-driven
distinctions between farm-based flows of food and industrial, energy and non-food (IENF) crops
and manufacturing/distribution flows of food and agriculturally-derived industrial inputs. We
analyze the diversity, distance (a proxy for environmental impact), political boundaries,
population, weight, and price (net selling value) of food commodity flows. We find tradeoffs
between food system diversity and local food sourcing, sustainability, and self-sufficiency. As
communities look to improve food system resilience, they will need to balance food-miles and
the other values associated with local food. Though not a complete analysis, this thesis evaluates
and reviews 153 groups across the state of Arizona. These groups provide the messaging, social
norms, and dialogue for local food in the state of Arizona; their definitions define the
understanding and knowledge consumers gain on local food. Additionally, visualization tools
were used to map the content analysis of these definitions. Graphs, tables, maps, and figures
better articulate the information found than pages of texts. The goal will be to find commonalities and differences in the ways that local food is both socially derived and quantifiably measured. How Arizona groups define local food and how USDA food flow data produces different quantifiable metrics for local food. This research can then inform food
advocates and decision-makers about the reality of food sourcing in Arizona. Both data about
how food flows and how groups define local are central if people are looking to increase or
improve local food sourcing in Arizona. This information could lead to policy changes, business
innovations, increased consumer power, and support for producers
The Potential for Plant-Based Lifestyles to Address Oppression and the Ideological and Systemic Obstacles to Widespread Veganism
No full textThis research critiques how scholars, social justice advocates, and the general public oppose oppression when they ignore the domination of animals in factory farming. The focus revolves around people who choose not to adopt a plant-based lifestyle when they have the option to do so if they are not under systemic oppression. I am referring to affluent people living in industrialized countries who can change their diet. This is not geared towards indigenous people, others in food deserts, and anyone else who does not have access to alternatives. This work seeks to dismantle carnist ideology, white and human supremacy, along with providing a counternarrative to the stigma, “white vegan privilege.” This research examines how the messages of Black Veganism, a counter to mainstream veganism which only examines the plight of animals, examines the scope of colonial thought and how race extends beyond human bodies can combat oppression. Black Veganism is a tool that could prevent using the same logic system that white supremacy uses to ‘other’ anyone who does not equate to the ideal ‘Human’ (white, Christian, male). In my study, I interviewed ten vegetarians using a multi-phasing coding method to reveal if/how their dietary choices might show parallels with other social justice movements and the barriers to going vegan
Bird feeders as a tool to connect people with nature, and characteristics of ponderosa pine associated with woodpecker foraging use
No full textMy dissertation consisted of two, disjunct research topics. The first was a social science study that aimed to investigate the efficacy of using bird feeders as a method to increase connection to nature in adults and children. The second research area broadly compiled existing literature on tree-scale foraging ecology of bark-foraging insectivorous woodpeckers in North America, and based on knowledge gained from the literature review aimed to conduct primary research on that group of woodpeckers to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge on woodpecker foraging ecology. The following abstract summarizes my research on these two distinct topics in separate paragraphs. Given that connection to nature is positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior, strategies to facilitate human-nature interactions are necessary to mitigate the anthropogenic effects of urbanization to the environment. I assessed the efficacy of bird feeders as tools to connect people to nature in sixth graders and parents. I visited 19 participating classes assigned as experimental (i.e., I gave them feeders and bird seed) and control (i.e., I did not give them feeders and seed) groups. Participants who entered the study having previously-owned feeders had significantly greater baseline connections to nature compared to those who did not. Pre- and post-test assessments suggested that over the course of a one-month intervention, adults who did not previously own a feeder in experimental classrooms experienced significant increases in connections to nature compared to those in control classrooms, while those who previously-owned feeders did not. However, students’ connections to nature did not change. Parents who became new owners of feeders experienced similar, or greater, percent increases in connection to nature compared to some studies of tourism, zoo, and museum experiences, suggesting feeders may be as effective as interventions that are logistically and financially difficult to employ across diverse communities.
Woodpeckers are important forest species because they prey on tree pests and act as keystone species by creating breeding and shelter sites for numerous vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. With global estimates of forest loss due to natural and anthropogenic factors occurring at a rate of 0.6% per year, it is becoming increasingly important to understand woodpecker ecology because preservation and restoration of woodpecker habitat should have cascading positive outcomes for species that depend on their cavities, as they are often considered umbrella and indicator species. In my second chapter, I reviewed literature on the foraging ecology of bark-foraging insectivorous woodpeckers in North America to synthesize the strengths and weaknesses of our knowledge regarding associations of woodpecker foraging tree use and tree-scale characteristics. My literature review revealed that studies of woodpecker foraging ecology at the tree-scale in tropical North America were lacking, and there were also few studies in the northernmost portion of North America. Likewise, species with ranges in the tropics were unknown, or poorly-known, in the published literature. More studies existed in forests that had been altered by anthropogenic and natural alterations (e.g., wildfire, pest outbreaks, logging), and studies of woodpecker foraging associations with tree-scale characteristics of dead trees were common, while studies of live tree characteristics were rare. Therefore, my third chapter investigated associations between tree-scale foraging patterns of a bark-foraging insectivorous woodpecker species, the hairy woodpecker (Dryobates villosus), and both anatomical (bark thickness and hardness) and physiological (phloem thickness, oleoresin exudation and viscosity) characteristics of live and healthy trees, in addition to investigating if soil type influenced both woodpecker tree use and the variability of tree-scale characteristics that were related to woodpecker foraging. The major findings of the third chapter were 1) trees growing on geologically young, coarse soils that were characterized by poor water and nutrient retention were 10 times more likely to be foraged on by a woodpecker compared to trees growing on older, finer soils, 2) tree use by foraging woodpeckers and their wood-boring prey was negatively associated with bark thickness and hardness, but there were no relationships with physiological tree characteristics, 3) tree growth rate was generally greater at coarse soil sites, suggesting that although trees there were growing on poor-quality soils, high tree stress was not driving the strong pattern of tree use by woodpeckers and their prey at those sites
#massshootings in the media: the relationship between construal, perception, and emotion
No full textIn recent years, mass shootings and school shootings have received a great deal of media attention in the United States. While evidence for mass shooting “contagion” is mixed, media reporting of mass shootings may create a perception that these shootings are becoming more frequent and are causally connected. More research is needed to better understand the relationship between construal of a mass or school shooting in the media (e.g., abstract/causal vs. concrete/descriptive), perceptions of these events (including perceived contagion, perceived norms, and perceived risk) and emotional reactions such as anxiety, sadness, and anger. Two studies were conducted to examine the relationship between construal level, perceptions of contagion, norms, and risk, and negative emotions. Study 1 included an analysis of naturalistic discourse in Twitter posts and replies about the El Paso, Texas Walmart shooting that occurred in August 2019. An examination of both posts and replies found that when tweets contained concrete construal, replies included greater expressions of sadness compared to tweets that contained abstract construal. In Study 2, construal level was experimentally manipulated to examine the influence of construal on relationships between perceived contagion, perceived norms, perceived risk, and negative emotions. As predicted, the relationship between perceived risk and anxiety about mass shootings and school shootings was stronger when primed with abstract construal compared to when primed with concrete construal. Overall, these findings have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of the possible impact of media reporting of mass and school shootings on public perception and emotional response
Social and ecological dimensions of incorporating tree cover into fragmented tropical landscapes
No full textIn the tropics, increased pressure on arable and semi-arable land for commodity production is driving deforestation and the intensification of farming practices. As a result, tropical landscapes are becoming increasingly fragmented, leading to a decline in biodiversity and the robustness of ecosystem services. Because rural livelihoods often depend directly on functioning ecosystems, it is critical to ensure that agricultural areas continue to deliver ecosystem services to rural communities. This thesis research examines how trees can be incorporated into the agricultural matrix in rural Costa Rica, in order to promote the ecosystem service of seed dispersal and the values and preferences of rural landowners. I found that key fruit functional groups are important to the maintenance of seed dispersal networks and to large-bodied frugivore species. The identity of important fruit functional groups changed along a gradient of tree cover. For example, purple berries are particularly important in areas of low tree cover, whereas cecropia is particularly important in areas of high and intermediate tree cover. Furthermore, I found that seed dispersal networks in areas of intermediate tree cover are the most robust against further tree cover loss, due to the sheer size of the network. These findings help to inform our social science research, which suggests that landowners are highly amenable to having large tree configurations that support ecosystem services such as habitat provisioning, watershed protection, and seed dispersal. While landowner preference for tree spatial configurations and species compositions may inform regional landscape design, conservation programs will ultimately have to address factors that limit tree cover incorporation onto private property, such as limited space and limited financial resources
Conflict, connectivity, and confluences: limitations and possibilities for Amazon riverine ecosystem protection
Get PDFIn September 2021, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for the protection of 80% of the Amazon Basin. This call was made in recognition of its contribution to local and global ecosystem services, many of which are provided by some of the world's longest free-flowing rivers. However, spanning nine countries and 40% of South America, governing this critical Basin has proved difficult. In particular, the lack of protection of rivers has permitted the degradation of the Basin’s riverine ecosystems in exchange for development. In this study, I asked what socio-economic factors are degrading the integrity of riverine ecosystems in the Basin and what lessons can be learned from environmental governance in the Amazon to inform the creation of a basin-wide river conservation system. To address these questions, I employed (1) policy analysis; (2) qualitative and quantitative analysis of an international survey, and (3) discourse analysis of gray literature and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that riverine degradation is largely caused by a complex combination of development activities that are mostly promoted by policies that intersect at multiple scales, such as national agendas for frontier expansion, bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, and regional integration schemes that aim to export commodities to global market. Although market activities have substantial environmental costs, there are ways for Amazonian countries to collaborate and mitigate environmental degradation. Building on existing protection strategies across scales, a river conservation system grounded in integrated water resource management principals could protect riverine connectivity and improve conservation governance
Influence of the Permo-Triassic Cordilleran arc on Early to Middle Triassic deposystems, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts
Get PDFSubduction initiated beneath southwestern Laurentia along a major transform fault in Permian time, based on previous dating of ca. 275 Ma plutons in the northern Mojave Desert and northwestern Sonora. The volcanic record of the early Cordilleran arc is rare, so the sedimentary record provides the best evidence of early arc magmatism. The Lower to Middle Triassic Moenkopi Formation and its equivalents are the oldest stratigraphic units that contain evidence of the Cordilleran arc from its retro-arc region. In this study, U-Pb geochronology is used to analyze seven samples of Moenkopi Formation and metasedimentary equivalents from five ranges along a ~450 km north-south transect from southern Nevada to northwestern Sonora. Permo-Triassic grains were present in all Lower Triassic samples except the Timpoweap Member near Las Vegas, and usually were 1–6% of grains. A metaconglomerate from Ejido Serdan in northwestern Sonora, however, is arc-dominated with 83% Permo-Triassic grains. The grains yield ages that span continuously from 268 to 249 Ma, suggesting continuous magmatism throughout this time and a maximum depositional age of 249 ± 2 Ma. The trace element signature of Permo-Triassic grains from the samples suggests that they crystallized in continental crust. Th/U ratios and ages match best with northern Mojave Desert plutons, although plutons in Sonora were a closer potential source for the Ejido Serdan samples. Except for the arc-derived metaconglomerate, samples are dominated by grains sourced from the Ouachita-Marathon-Sonora orogen, peri-Gondwanan sources, the Grenville orogen, southwestern Laurentian basement, and/or recycled from upper Paleozoic strata. This indicates northwest-directed sediment dispersal throughout Early Triassic time with additional contributions from the Cordilleran arc to the southwest. The samples contain progressively fewer arc-derived grains from south to north. In southern Nevada, the arc did not appear in the detrital zircon record until deposition of the lower red member, although Timpoweap Member-equivalents in southeastern California do contain sparse arc detritus. The arc did not have a major effect on regional thickness trends during Moenkopi deposition, but data are sparse off the Colorado Plateau. The arc may have been mostly subaqueous at this time and, compared to the elevated remnants of the Ouachita-Marathon-Sonora orogenic belt, not a significant source region for the Moenkopi deposystem in the arc-distal region
Navajo teacher experiences of effective teaching practices in Navajo Reservation public schools in Arizona
No full textThe purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of successful teaching practices of effective Navajo teachers who are employed in a public school district that is serving a high enrollment of Navajo students situated in a Navajo community. Using a phenomenological design to capture the teaching experiences of teachers was the methodology. Participants in this study included 10 Navajo teachers who work in two public school districts on the Navajo Nation in the state of Arizona. The teachers from both districts teach various grade levels from kindergarten to 12th grade. Qualifying participants self-identify as a member of the Navajo Nation, have three years or more of teaching experience, and are evaluated as effective by the district’s teacher evaluation system. In a Zoom interview, teachers answered 10 researcher-generated questions to answer the two research questions. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes, and then finally evaluated to attain the essence of effective teaching practices.
Research question one (What professional experiences do effective Navajo teachers identify as contributing factors to successful teaching practices for Navajo students?) was developed to extract information about professional factors that contribute to teacher effectiveness in teaching Navajo students. Navajo teachers in the study mentioned these recurring themes when speaking about their professional experiences: building relationships and making connections with students, Navajo students learn better when lessons are hands-on and visual, teachers build confidence in themselves when they have other fellow teachers and staff members they learn from, and learning about the Navajo culture.
Research question two (What other non-professional experiences, such as personal culture, upbringing, and family norms, do effective Navajo teachers identify as contributing factors to successful teaching practices for Navajo students?) provided an overarching theme of K’é, kinship. This is because many non-professional experiences shared reflected how teachers’ families taught them various skills when growing up. Teachers instill those teachings in their students to do well in school and in life. The personal beliefs about themselves include having high expectations, perseverance, working hard, self-determination, empathy, and relationships
Hierarchical assessments of gene flow for cryptic and endangered mammals
No full textTo conserve genetic diversity today is to conserve the evolutionary product of tomorrow. If a species cannot acclimate or shift its range amid environmental change, it must adapt through natural selection. To adapt requires maintenance of genetic diversity (i.e., gene flow from one population to another), the product of which can bestow conservation insight into where and why functional connectivity could be impeded. Gene flow can also be viewed diagnostically whereby the byproduct of a species can bestow conservation insight through occupancy. Cryptic and endangered species, however, challenge the practicality of these assessments with respect to sampling capacity and quality. I conducted three assessments of gene flow (functional and diagnostic) at multiple levels of the biological hierarchy. Using mtDNA phylogeography and ecological niche modeling, I first assessed the Holocene-era range expansion of the spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) for one of the most cryptic and specimen deficient bat species in North America. Climate shifts throughout this era resulted in distinct geographic lineages, facilitating hypotheses into how each lineage may respond to contemporary climate and anthropogenic pressures. I then used 90% of fecal DNA to address landscape connectivity and diet of the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus), an Endangered riparian obligate. Patterns of functional gene flow in a landscape suggested drainages genetically structure populations but over-land dispersal should not be discounted as a mechanism of maintaining genetic diversity. Forbs and graminoids were the most important diet items for Z. h. luteus, serving as a source for primary consumption (e.g., seeds) and as habitat for less frequently consumed taxa (e.g., herbivorous insects and false truffles). Seasonal variation in the diet suggested that consumption could be synchronized with the seeding phenology of their herbaceous habitat, particularly into the late summer as they immerge into a potentially 9-month hibernation. These assessments can provide immediate conservation insight for two species but the methodologies involved are also relevant to time and cost-effective monitoring frameworks across a broad range of species
Dual-Projection Digital Holographic Tomography
No full textDigital Holographic Tomography (DHT) was applied to the microscopic imaging of biological samples. This technique creates images that retain information about the sample’s features that is lost with optical microscopy techniques, such as its physical height or its index of refraction. DHT creates two-dimensional slices through a sample at different depths, allowing for the study of internal features that can be missed with an optical microscope. The slices are intentionally created using a set of scanning mirrors which sweep across the sample. The addition of a second mirror allows for the sample to be scanned in the X direction and Y direction. The experiment is set up within a commercial microscope, allowing the system to sit in a vertical configuration. This allows the sample to rest easily on an X-Y plane granting easier analysis without manipulating the sample in any way. Slices at different heights within each sample have been generated using MATLAB and stacked to recreate a three-dimensional figure of the sample. The addition of the second mirror allows for a more complete reconstruction of the sample at each height with the additional data. This technique has proven to be excellent for studying transparent samples with no manipulation