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- Creator:
- Wu, Jindong
- Description:
- Urban trees provide various important ecological services, the quantification of which is vital to sustainable urban development and requires accurate estimation of tree biomass. A limited number of allometric biomass equations, however, have been developed for urban species due to the prohibitive cost. Remote sensing has provided cost-effective means for estimating urban forest biomass, although the propagation of error in the estimation process is not well understood. This study aimed to offer a baseline assessment of the feasibility of estimating urban tree biomass with remote sensing-based general equations applicable to broad taxonomic groups by conducting a large urban tree inventory on a university campus. The biomasses of 191 trees of seven species from the inventory, separated into two categories (i.e., evergreen and deciduous), were calculated exclusively with urban-based species-specific allometric equations. WorldView-2 satellite imagery data were acquired to retrieve normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values at the location, crown, and stand levels. The results indicated that biomass correlated with NDVI in varying forms and degrees. The general equations at the crown level yielded the most accurate biomass estimates, while the location-level estimates were the least accurate. Crown-level spectral responses provided adequate information for delivering spatially explicit biomass estimation.
- Resource Type:
- Article
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Delyser, Dydia
- Description:
- Amid growing attention by geographers to materiality, emotion, and work, we draw together practices of making and communities of enthusiasm to autoethnographically trace the restoration of three Indian motorcycles, revealing restoration as a dynamic aesthetic and political practice that links restorers to communities of enthusiasm as well as to the agentic materiality of the things they restore. Restoration, we show, is a culturally and geographically situated skilled practice that links material agency to labors of love and devotion. Such devotion to things, in turn, suggests a provocative counternarrative to the unsustainable throwaway society of the Anthropocene. Emotional labor, material devotion, and handcraft skill could, we suggest, proffer positive pathways as we endeavor to make, restore, and, indeed, sustain our material world.
- Resource Type:
- Article
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Blondell, Curtis
- Description:
- Plants have long served as a primary source of medicines for humans. In the mid1990s, that began to change. Innovations in genomic biotechnology appeared on the scene. Some researchers felt frustrated by the recently adopted Convention on Biological Diversity. Bioprospectors looked elsewhere for an additional source of medicines and found it in microbial organisms. Bioprospecting had entered a new era. How and why this expansion into microbial bioprospecting occurred, and what it means for the future of bioprospecting, is the subject of this thesis. Viewed historically, certain events since the European Age of Discovery and onward, are responsible for driving bioprospecting into this new era. Microbial organisms of the greatest interest are called extremophiles. These organisms thrive in places long thought impossible for life. Microbial bioprospecting plays out in distinctly different geographies than that of plants. Humid tropical rainforests have given way to fumaroles in America’s Yellowstone National Park. Deep sea vents thousands of feet beneath the ocean surface offer opportunities for bioprospecting. The frozen expanse of Antarctica has become the focus of bioprospectors. Searching for microbes in two of these three locations has not only changed how bioprospecting is conducted, it has the potential to create geopolitical tensions.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Foltz, Eric
- Description:
- Global climate change is the most important environmental issue currently facing mankind and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the only method that has been identified as way to slow down the rate of change that is being experienced. Production of electricity through carbon based technologies is a major contributor to the emissions entering the atmosphere and can be reduced or eliminated by transitioning to the use of renewable energy sources such as wind or solar in energy production. This paper studies the use of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on commercial and residential rooftops in a distributed generation model as an alternative to the centralized production and transmission model of electricity that currently exists to determine if distributed generation has the potential to replace the existing system. The paper examines the history of the centralized system and explores some of the weaknesses associated with this model of energy production. The solar potential of the City of Irvine was calculated to determine what percentage of the city’s energy demands could be met through rooftop PV systems and recommendations are made regarding public policies that would assist the city in reaching that potential. This model could then be transplanted to other municipalities with similar characteristics and potential.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Sanchez, Juan Carlos Garcia
- Description:
- Public parks are important urban resources that promote health, enrich communities, and enhance the local environment. However, the literature on public parks suggests that these resources are not always equitably distributed. Research has shown that communities of color, characterized with low-household incomes and limited political weight, often lack adequate public park opportunities when compared to their more affluent counterparts. Empirical cases allude to recurrent themes within the framework of environmental justice as the drivers inducing the shortage of public parks in many marginalized communities. the city of Santa Ana, California is a predominantly Hispanic community with a documented shortage of public parks. Using this city as a case study site, this study will implement a mix-method approach to address several questions about the inequitable distributions of public parks. through in-depth archival research of park provisions, along with interviews of advocates and decision-makers, and cartographic analysis this study will attempt to answer the following questions. First, why is Santa Ana so park-poor? Second, are the drivers found in environmental justice literature present in Santa Ana? And, what steps can be made to mitigate the shortage of public parks?
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- George, Sanford H.
- Description:
- The purpose of this thesis is to explore new methods of geographic visualization and to prototype a method to capture images of geographic landscapes, including both physical and human geographic landscapes, and then display them in immersive visualization through virtual reality (VR), giving the observer a sense of “being there.” This thesis will answer the following questions. Does the technology exist to provide an immersive visual experience of geographic landscapes by producing spherical panoramic stills and short spherical panoramic videos that are capable of being displayed in virtual reality goggles and in full-dome theaters? Can the immersive experience also provide an interpretation of human spiritual geographic perspective for the landscape through narration? Is the capture and preservation of geographic and spiritual landscapes in virtual reality something that is useful, worthwhile and of value to society? the thesis will include in the prototype a methodology to portray the sacred and spiritual aspect of the landscape perspective through interpretive audio narration. the methodology will provide geographers, archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and cultural resource managers a way to visually and audibly document geographic physical landscapes, and sacred landscapes in virtual reality. the prototype will develop a process to use photographic equipment, audio recording equipment, computer systems and software to render photographs with audio tracks into immersive visualization in a format compatible with virtual reality display equipment.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Kulkarni, Vaishali
- Description:
- This research studies the objective and subjective walkability of the community of Ladera Ranch, California. Ladera Ranch is a community built on New Urbanist principles and its design includes aspects to make the neighborhood pedestrian friendly. the community was objectively measured using four components of a walkability index to test the design for walkability. in addition, the 10 districts and villages within Ladera Ranch were compared to each other in the index. Ladera Ranch was found to be highly walkable. the villages within had various states of walkability with Avendale being the most walkable and Covenant Hills being the least. Service area analysis of destinations within the community showed a high percentage of residents able to walk to recreational facilities in 10 minutes, but lower percentages able to walk to other destinations such as schools and retail. Using an online survey instrument, an analysis of the residential perceptions of the walkability of Ladera Ranch and its villages was conducted. Perceptions of walkability were varied but a high percentage of all residents believe Ladera Ranch to be a walkable community. the objective and subjective measures were compared to each other and to the stated rates of walking by residents. There was no statistical correlation between the score on the walkability index or the residential perceptions of walkability with the low rates of walking for transport in Ladera Ranch or the villages.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Davis, Cynthia R.
- Description:
- Japanese animation, commonly referred to as anime, has earned a strong foothold in the American entertainment industry over the last few decades. Anime is known by many to be a more mature option for animation fans since Western animation has typically been sanitized to be “kid-friendly”. This thesis explores how this came to be, by exploring the following questions: (1) What were the differences in the development and perception of the animation industries in Japan and the United States? (2) Why/how did people in the United States take such interest in anime? (3) What is the role of anime conventions within the anime fandom community, both historically and in the present? These questions were answered with a mix of historical research, mapping, and interviews that were conducted in 2015 at Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime convention. This thesis concludes that anime would not have succeeded as it has in the United States without the heavy involvement of domestic animation fans. Fans created networks, clubs, and conventions that allowed for the exchange of information on anime, before Japanese companies started to officially release anime titles for distribution in the United States. With the advent of the internet fans do not need to rely on conventions to access new content. Fan conventions continue to grow and thrive due to the temporary communities that fans form at these conventions, which give them opportunities to express themselves and their love of anime that they feel they cannot do in everyday life.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- King, Cheryl L.
- Description:
- The challenge of coordinating geography classes in a K-12 setting is that the constituent elements are split artificially between two separate courses—physical science and social science—which are never taught in conjunction. Unfortunately, the regulations of the California Common Core State Standards make finding a complete geography course in K-12 education complicated because geography is interrelated with many subjects and thus can easily find itself divided between a number of superficially similar topics. in this study, I will attempt to pinpoint geography’s ideal position in K-12 curriculum, determine where the standards are being taught, and if the standards are being met. Though current mandated national standards are nonexistent, and the California Common Core State Standards call only for geography to be taught to a level of “college and career readiness,” I argue that college and career readiness are substandard expectations. We need our students to be educated to a level of global citizenship where they can comfortably match the levels set by other leading nations. Herein, I will define global citizenship, lay out standards of geography education which will prepare students to achieve this mindset, and provide a template for the future of education wherein the current gaps could best be closed in the California K-12 curriculum. in conclusion, I suggest a call to action for research if we are indeed preparing American youth to become global citizens.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
10. Exploratory Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Drug Arrests: A Case Study of San Francisco California
- Creator:
- Chacon, Pedro
- Description:
- This study looks at different drug arrest patterns. While extensive research has been done on crime and drug mapping, very little has been done on drug arrests as a whole and even less has been done on specific drug types. This study addresses the following questions: are all drugs arrests located in the same part of the city? Has there been a spatial and or temporal trend in each type of drug arrest? In addition, this study will explore several different spatial statistical methods to determine if any one method is more appropriate for each type of drug, and if there are any temporal trends that might be apparent for each drug. San Francisco was picked as a case study city because of its cultural association with drugs, its dramatic economic change over the past 15 years and its accessibility of crime data. The results indicate that most drug arrests happen at the same times and in the same place in the city with little variation. Marijuana is the only drug that has a significantly different spatial pattern. Each test used produced the same results and it is appropriate to use each in further analysis. Further research is needed to determine what some of the causes might be and what methods could possibly best measure the factors that influence drug activity in the city of San Francisco.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Meister, Chelsea Marie
- Description:
- Tourism is an informal way that developing countries are able to enter into the global economy. Ecotourism, the fastest growing sector of this industry, is an economic development tool that also seeks to achieve social development, and environmental preservation. the tourism industry in Panama is relatively new and therefore has significant potential for failure or success, in social and environmental terms, depending on whether or not it chooses to become sustainable. Proper planning for ecotourism as opposed to commercial tourism needs to happen before huge international investors take advantage of Panama’s efforts to become relevant in the global economy. Using geographical-spatial analysis and Panamanian government publications, I argue that Panama has considerable potential for ecotourism development. the components of successful ecotourism are identified and used to create a spatial analysis development tool as well as geographical maps. through these buffer analysis maps, I identify the best locations for future successful ecotourism development based on tourist convenience and proximity to existing amenities—transportation hubs, unique attractions inherent in nature reserves, and other resources. Because lax governmental standards and regulations have historically allowed for some unsustainable mass commercial developments, improved adherence to ecotourism standards, by developers and tourists alike, is important for future sustainability of the industry in the beautiful country of Panama.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Leyh, Julius
- Description:
- Increasing tourism in Nosara, Costa Rica brings along more challenges for sustainable development of the community. as local resources become stressed and overdevelopment interferes with wildlife, the community is continuously developing strategies to mitigate environmental degradation and include the local population to benefit of the ecotourism industry. Using mixed methods, this thesis is examining the current challenges that Nosara is facing and the strategies that are in place to guarantee sustainable development. the research for this study was done through semi-structured interviews with employees of the hospitality industry and non-governmental organizations in Nosara. Questionnaires were used to gather information about tourists visiting Nosara. Additionally, secondary sources were used to identify the overall development goals of the tourism industry of Costa Rica. the current challenges in Nosara were identified as the lack of commitment from the local authorities to protect pristine beaches and wildlife, as well as neglecting the waste collection. Sustainable development in Nosara is only prevalent because of the voluntary actions taken by some local hotels, restaurants, and the many NGOs located in town. Future development strategies need to focus on more education of local businesses and a better motivated and willing governmental authority to support sustainable development in Nosara.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Identifier:
- 9780438054684
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Voeks, Robert A.
- Description:
- In the mysterious and pristine forests of the tropics, a wealth of ethnobotanical panaceas and shamanic knowledge promises cures for everything from cancer and AIDS to the common cold. To access such miracles, we need only to discover and protect these medicinal treasures before they succumb to the corrosive forces of the modern world. A compelling biocultural story, certainly, and a popular perspective on the lands and peoples of equatorial latitudes—but true? Only in part. In The Ethnobotany of Eden, geographer Robert A. Voeks unravels the long lianas of history and occasional strands of truth that gave rise to this irresistible jungle medicine narrative. By exploring the interconnected worlds of anthropology, botany, and geography, Voeks shows that well-intentioned scientists and environmentalists originally crafted the jungle narrative with the primary goal of saving the world’s tropical rainforests from destruction. It was a strategy deployed to address a pressing environmental problem, one that appeared at a propitious point in history just as the Western world was taking a more globalized view of environmental issues. And yet, although supported by science and its practitioners, the story was also underpinned by a persuasive mix of myth, sentimentality, and nostalgia for a long-lost tropical Eden. Resurrecting the fascinating history of plant prospecting in the tropics, from the colonial era to the present day, The Ethnobotany of Eden rewrites with modern science the degradation narrative we’ve built up around tropical forests, revealing the entangled origins of our fables of forest cures.
- Resource Type:
- Book
- Identifier:
- 9780226547718
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment
- Creator:
- Higgins, Elizabeth
- Description:
- This thesis seeks to understand the sociocultural, political, and economic influences of the growing nonreligious population in the United States. This study will be conducted through examining the demographics of the nonreligious population, their socio-political involvement within society, as well as the creation of a community specifically designed for those who do not claim belief in a religious dogma. As the nonreligious do not have formal physical places to congregate such as their religious counterparts do, I argue that the population of those in the United States who claim to be religious “nones” has created a community of their own. This has gained much momentum in the 21st century with the use of social media as a platform, that in turn resulted in the creation of a virtual geography, with a time and a place that exist online for the nonreligious to meet. Once these virtual geographies were established and strengthened, especially in more recent years, this led to the creation of physical communities for the nonreligious population through conventions and regular monthly meetings. As the nonreligious has grown into an active community of people seeking to make change in the culture around them, they have become more involved in activism, policymaking, and have begun to make impacts in the political and sociocultural sphere. The extent to which the community is impacting society has been underreported in academia, and this study seeks to inform and fill in some of those gaps.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Identifier:
- 9780438393691
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Geography and the Environment