Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Conservation practices'

This thesis examines the translation of global environmental norms within an individual nation state right down to the grassroots level. It combines case studies of the conservation of two 'charismatic megafauna' - the Komodo dragon and the orangutan - in Indonesia, with a critical engagement with social constructivist international relations literature In both case studies, the interactions between the national, provincial, and local levels within the conservation matrix are explored through a qualitative methodology based on interviews with key actors and documentary analysis. The analysis reveals that national-level practices have hooked into prominent global conservation norms, but that translation through to the provincial and local levels has proved problematic. Factors that have shaped the transmission of these norms include competing responsibilities and goals across national ministries, particular characteristics of the species and their geographical surroundings, and the historical construction of species identity. The overall argument is that the adoption of international standards of conservation within Indonesia has been shaped by significant internal structures and localised factors. This finding suggests that a better understanding of these local factors, which have been largely neglected in the assessment of conservation strategy, might help improve future global conservation policy. The thesis makes a significant contribution to the wider understanding of global norms, conservation policy and Indonesian policy making.

Miami-Dade County implemented a series of water conservation programs, which included rebate/exchange incentives to encourage the use of high efficiency aerators (AR), showerheads (SH), toilets (HET) and clothes washers (HEW), to respond to the environmental sustainability issue in urban areas. This study first used panel data analysis of water consumption to evaluate the performance and actual water savings of individual programs. Integrated water demand model has also been developed for incorporating property’s physical characteristics into the water consumption profiles. Life cycle assessment (with emphasis on end-use stage in water system) of water intense appliances was conducted to determine the environmental impacts brought by each practice. Approximately 6 to 10 % of water has been saved in the first and second year of implementation of high efficiency appliances, and with continuing savings in the third and fourth years. Water savings (gallons per household per day) for water efficiency appliances were observed at 28 (11.1%) for SH, 34.7 (13.3%) for HET, and 39.7 (14.5%) for HEW. Furthermore, the estimated contributions of high efficiency appliances for reducing water demand in the integrated water demand model were between 5 and 19% (highest in the AR program). Results indicated that adoption of more than one type of water efficiency appliance could significantly reduce residential water demand. For the sustainable water management strategies, the appropriate water conservation rate was projected to be 1 to 2 million gallons per day (MGD) through 2030. With 2 MGD of water savings, the estimated per capita water use (GPCD) could be reduced from approximately 140 to 122 GPCD. Additional efforts are needed to reduce the water demand to US EPA’s “Water Sense” conservation levels of 70 GPCD by 2030. Life cycle assessment results showed that environmental impacts (water and energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions) from end-use and demand phases are most significant within the water system, particularly due to water heating (73% for clothes washer and 93% for showerhead). Estimations of optimal lifespan for appliances (8 to 21 years) implied that earlier replacement with efficiency models is encouraged in order to minimize the environmental impacts brought by current practice.

Costs and benefits associated with erosion reduction and adoption of soil conservation practices for a representative farm in a watershed in Honduras are examined in a linear programming framework. Special attention is paid to income-soil loss tradeoffs, income-risk tradeoffs, and on the effect of different farmers' planning horizons on net farm income. A representative farm model for the area was constructed to achieve the objectives of the study. Twelve farmers in the region were surveyed, crop budgets were prepared, and soil loss values were calculated to provide the information required to construct this representative farm. A linear programming model that maximizes net farm income is used to examine the effect of different soil loss levels on farm income. A MOTAD model that minimizes deviation in income (risk) is used to determine risk levels while income and/or soil loss levels restrictions are imposed. Results indicate that considerable reductions in the amount of soil loss can be achieved in the study area. Erosion is reduced from 328.24 ton./mn./year to 6.56 ton./mn./year1 when constraints are imposed on the model. The reduced erosion lowers income from L.5929.24/year for high erosion rates to L.2825.8l/year for low erosion rates. Low levels of soil erosion are achieved at the expense of higher levels of risk. High levels of income are associated with high levels of risk regardless of whether soil loss constraints exist or not. Small differences in income exist among the four planning horizons analyzed. The best soil conservation practices for this region turned out to be the cultivation of coffee on the highest slopes, the use of live barriers and terraces, and the use of conventional and minimum tillage.
Master of Science

Many farms in the United States impose negative externalities on society. Population growth and the accompanying increase in demand for food further promote this trend of environmental degradation as a by-product of food production. The USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides financial assistance to farmers who wish to address natural resource concerns by making structural improvements or implementing best management practices (BMPs) on their farms. Regional examinations of program implementation and incentive levels are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of EQIP at both the farm and environmental level. This research addresses this need in the following two ways. First, conjoint analysis was used to calculate the willingness to accept incentive levels desired by Vermont farmers for implementing three common BMPs and the relative importance of each attribute in their adoption decisions. Next, a survey was conducted to document Vermont farmers' experiences, or choices not to engage, with EQIP. The results of the conjoint analysis indicated that farmers' adoption decisions are most heavily influenced by the available implementation incentives and that the higher the incentive level offered, the more willing farmers are to adopt a practice. The survey results triangulated these findings as cost was the most frequently cited challenge farmers face when implementing BMPs and one third of respondents felt the cost-share amount they had received was inadequate. Although 46% of respondents reported receiving nonmonetary benefits, 43% had encountered challenges when enrolling or participating in EQIP. In addition, though contracts are designed to address specific resource concerns, 30% of respondents had not fully fixed the original issues with their contracts. This also indicates that the incentive levels offered in EQIP contracts may be lower than Vermont farmers' preferred incentive levels, affecting the adoption rate of BMPs and subsequently the environmental health and long term sustainability of Vermont's agricultural systems. Program areas ripe for improvement, key points for farmers weighing the costs and benefits of program participation, and future research opportunities are discussed in order to guide efforts to improve the effectiveness of EQIP in Vermont. This research also raises awareness of how much it costs to simultaneously support environmental health and food production in our current food system and who ultimately should bear this financial burden.

In recent years ideas about connectivity have become increasingly influential in theories pertaining to wildlife conservation. These ideas range from concerns with spatial habitat linkages or species' movements, to the forms of connection existing between 'people' and 'nature'. This thesis is concerned with how these various forms of connectivity are enacted in wildlife conservation through varied spatial practices. Following Mol (2002), I suggest that these modes of connectivity are enacted not separately but as a multiple. Indeed, through tracing how connectivity is enacted in a series of conservation situations relating to woodland mammals in England and Wales (red squirrels, pine martens, and wild/feral boar), I suggest that these multiple spatial practices of connectivity shape the biopolitical possibilities for living with non-human life. Since the connectivity multiple is composed, following Latour (2010) I further argue that it can be recomposed. Thus, I make the normative suggestion that contemporary trends in conservation policy (towards larger-scale action, process-based objectives, and neoliberal modes of governance) might be rethought and differently articulated through a conceptual and practical approach I term revitalizing conservation. This thesis thus makes several important contributions to geographic literatures. Following a widespread (re)affirmation of nonhuman agency in social science (e.g. Latour, 2005; Callon et al, 2009; Braun & Whatmore, 2010), and particularly the agential capacities of animals (Wolch & Emel, 1998; Philo & Wilbert, 2000), it foregrounds the role of woodland mammals in enacting connectivity through developing the concept of animal mobilities. Furthermore, it engages with existing work tracing affirmative possibilities for conservation (bio)politics (Whatmore, 2002; Lulka, 2009; Hinchliffe et al, 2005; Hinchliffe, 2008; J.Lorimer, 2010, 2012, 2015), by illuminating the intersection of spatial practices of connectivity, and the potential these offer for alternative modes of 'living with' more-than-human lives.

From the Proceedings of the 1988 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Association and the Hydrology Section - Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science - April 16, 1988, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
The availability of quality water is an important issue facing the residents of Tucson, Arizona and several communities in the Southwestern United States. As cities continue to grow, more emphasis is being placed on the importance of adopting efficient water use practices and behaviors. A water conservation demonstration, education, and research single family residence named Casa del Agua (Spanish for House of Water) has been established in Tucson, Arizona. Water conservation information is presented to the public via oral and video presentations and a guided tour of the perimeter of the residence. A questionnaire is given to the visitors as they arrive for the tour. The responses to this questionnaire make it possible to determine the types of water conservation behavior being practiced by the visitors to Casa del Agua. Water conservation attitude questions were also included in the questionnaires as were questions about several water issues. From this preliminary study, it has been determined that the levels of adoption of water conservation behaviors have been low to modest. It appears that many of the visitors to Casa del Agua have about the same level of knowledge concerning water conservation as the general public, although the random survey data for the Tucson area has yet to be analyzed. A comparison was made of similar questions asked in a random survey conducted in the Phoenix metropolitan area March 17 -20, 1988. Some of the findings include: 1) The amounts of self- reported water conservation behavior adoption are similar, although the residents of the Phoenix area seem to report a slightly higher percentage of water conservation practices being implemented. 2) Few respondents from either survey indicated they have attended a water conservation demonstration or workshop. 3) Negative public perceptions of water utilities need to be addressed. 4) Water conservation programs that include economic incentives are favored by both survey populations.

Conservation biology emerged as an activist discipline in the 1980s in response to increasing evidence that Earth is undergoing a biodiversity crisis. Building on foundations of biological science and applied resource management methods, this new discipline called upon its practitioners to both undertake scientific research to improve understanding of all species and ecosystems, and to take social and political action to protect and enhance endangered biodiversity. In the current era of declining budgets for biodiversity research and management, volunteer citizen science is gaining recognition as an important strategy for expanding and extending the work of embattled professional conservation biologists. New technologies such as handheld computers, GPS, GIS, interactive map services, and the internet, and the wide-spread availability, adoption and adaptation of these technologies by the general public, have created an environment where citizens can be rapidly mobilized to gather, process, and communicate data in support of conservation biology’s twin goals. In this thesis I explore citizen science within conservation biology and within the concept of the GeoWeb. I trace the history of citizen science in biology since the late 1800s to the current day, to better understand the practice and its contribution to conservation science. I find that citizen science is often employed to undertake research at large spatial scales, and that often location is a key attribute of the data citizens gather; as a result, the infrastructure and methods of the GeoWeb are fundamental to many citizen science projects. In the spirit of conservation biology, I pair my research of citizen science with the assembly of a set of best practices for increasing the impact of the practice on the conservation agenda, and then evaluate twelve current citizen science projects currently underway in British Columbia against these practices. I conclude that citizen participation in biological science furthers both of conservation biology’s goals: it both increases our body of knowledge about biodiversity, and helps to develop an informed and empowered constituency for conservation action and ecologically sustainable stewardship.

Many poor farmers, especially in Africa, have not adopted recent farming innovations to improve their yields. One theory is that poor farmers are risk averse and therefore do not invest in high risk high return innovations and that risk averse farmers will only adopt larger innovations if they experience success with small ones. Risk preferences were measured in two districts in Uganda (Tororo and Kapchorwa) where adoption of agricultural innovations has been slow, and where a program is underway to encourage use of conservation agriculture practices (CAPs) to reduce soil erosion and sequester carbon. An ordered lottery selection was used to measure risk preferences and an ordered probit model was estimated. Thirty five percent of a random sample of 200 farmers in Tororo (and fifty three percent of 200 farmers in Kapchorwa) made lottery choices that implied severe or extreme risk aversion. However there was no indication that risk preferences correlate with willingness to adopt new technologies (such as CAPs). Neither wealth nor previous success with technology adoption were found to correlate with farmers' risk preferences.
Master of Science
CCRA-6 (Economic and Impact Analysis)

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Kentucky, 2001.
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The people of northern Ghana are poor peasants depending almost exclusively on natural resources for their livelihoods. The poverty is caused partly by inadequate water availability and deteriorating soil conditions. As a result, various organizations promote the use of soil and water conservation practices in the area, but the link between the use of the practices and fanner efficiency is yet to be shown empirically. The current study thus set out to broadly investigate the factors that motivate farmers' adoption of resource conservation practices in northern Ghana and assess its effect on their technical efficiency using data from 445 households in the area. Using probit models, the empirical results reveal that household adoption decisions are influenced principally by variables classified as farm or plot and cropping characteristics, and socio-economic and institutional variables. An analysis of the decision to intensively adopt the conservation practices using count data models shows that besides the variables categories identified under the adoption decision, personal and household characteristics also play a major role in determining the intensity of use of the practices. Results from the use of parametric frontier and nonparametric DEA models show levels of technical efficiency in crop production among smallholders are low with technical efficiency levels increasing with adoption of soil and water conservation practices. But the results of the multi-output multi-input models show high levels of technical efficiency among smallholders in their multiple production activities emphasising the importance of conducting smallholder efficiency analysis at the multi-activity level. The multi-output models also show adoption of conservation practices exerts positive effect on technical efficiency. The results further reveal significant diversification economies in smallholder production with complementarity effects in crop-livestock and crop-off-farm combinations, and substitutability effects in crop-off- farm combination thereby highlighting the need for a holistic development of both the farm and off-farm sectors.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Agricultural Economics
Jason S. Bergtold
In recent years, great attention has been placed on conservation systems for agricultural production. Conservation practices offer economic and environmental benefits, yet conventional practices remain the prevailing system in some regions. As conservation efforts are launched by different local and federal agencies, understanding farmers’ motivations when adopting conservation practices is important to ensure the continuation of adoption through the development of programs that are tailored to meet farmers’ preferences and constraints. The purpose of the first essay was to identify the factors affecting farmers’ choice of tillage practice at the crop level. Farmer’s choice of No-till, Strip-till and Conventional tillage was modeled for dryland corn, wheat and soybean production in Kansas. The results show that tillage decisions are crop-specific and that factors such as risk aversion, baling and grazing of crop residue, crop acreage, and farmers’ approach to adopting new technologies are significant factors affecting farmers’ decisions. The second essay focused on the adoption of continuous no-till, conservation crop rotation, cover crops, and variable rate application of inputs and the effect that incentive payments, payment mechanism, and off-farm environmental benefits from conservation have on the decision to adopt. This essay also examined the risk associated with the variability of net returns and its effect on farmers’ willingness to adopt using a non-linear extended expected utility framework, allowing for the estimation of a utility parameter for net returns, farmer’s subjective judgment of probabilities, and farmers’ risk attitudes. Farmers were found to exhibit risk aversion, with an estimated risk premium of approximately 3% of net returns. Results also suggested a preference for federally-run programs and for programs with higher off-farm environmental benefits. The third essay examined the timing of adoption of continuous no-till, cover crops, and variable rate application of inputs. This study found that risk aversion delays the timing of adoption of cover crops and variable rate application of inputs. However, the timing of adoption of continuous no-till was not affected by risk aversion. Findings also indicated that farmers who consider themselves innovators adopt at a faster rate than their counterparts.

This practice-led study poses the question ‘What can a close analysis of conservation methods, treatments and theories with its temporal implications contribute to drawing practices that primarily employ the use of pre-existing artwork?’ Through the lens and action of art practice this study challenges certain understandings of both drawing and conservation as temporally possessing linear chronological properties. Employing an emergent, qualitative practice-led methodology each chapter charts a discrete terrain that identifies and discusses key comparative issues and problems that affect both drawing and conservation. These include: the difficulties of definitions and terminology in both contingent fields and the space this opens for interpretative responses, a critique of positivistic claims made by scientific conservation in identifying artist’s intention using an anachronic analysis of the detail. The fluctuating values of the authorial and substitutional presence of the indexical mark and trace in restoration and representational drawing is examined, and an evaluation of formats and strategies in drawing that position themselves relevant to a depiction and representation of anachronic states of transience is investigated. To focus the range of discourses within conservation this work concentrates on the paintings of Johannes Vermeer. Specifically, on the conservation activities and diagnostic imagery that have informed treatments to these works. This study is further supported by documented conversations with key restorers of Vermeer’s work, and artists who also employ representational drawing strategies in response to pre-existing works. This research concludes its findings by arguing for the conditions and ontologies of drawing and conservation to be understood temporally as anachronic activities. Whereby, as each can respond to pre-existing works, their relationship to time is non-chronological, durational and plural. This work is intended to contribute to the fields of drawing practice and research, anachronic art historical studies, contemporary conservation theory, and to practice-led epistemologies.

This study examines whether water conservation is actually being incorporated into municipal water management practices. The development of a conservation policy from a general goal declaration to specific programmatic practices is reviewed for a Texas state water agency, the Texas Water Development Board. From January 1986 through September 1989, 102 political units in Texas applied to the Board for water-related loan funds and thus were required to implement municipal water conservation plans. Two aspects of this conversation policy are assessed: one, the Board's procedural arrangements for the development and review of water conservation plans, and two, the conservation plans of each political unit. It is concluded that Texas state water managers, and local manager also, have yet to incorporate conservation as a significant planning tool for the achievement of water management goals.

Iowa first started seeing largescale changes to its landscape with the arrival of Europeans and ensuing conversion of forest and prairie to row crops and pasture and would see its landscape altered again in the early 1900s through the conversion of wetlands to row crops. Watersheds in Iowa, and the Midwest at large, have been drastically altered hydrologically—through land use change, tile drainage, digging of drainage ditches, and channelizing of meandering streams. Though drainage practices maximize arable land, they also induce higher flood peaks. Along with these practices, climate change also has the potential to increase flood peaks. Conservation practices —typically employed to reduce erosion and agricultural pollution—have been proposed to be used to reduce flood peaks, but little analysis has been done on their ability to do so at the watershed-scale. To quantify the impact implementing conservation practices at the watershed-scale has on flood peaks, a novel hydrologic model is run to simulate five conservation scenarios under both historic and increased precipitation continuously for seventeen years. The Generic Hydrologic Overland-Subsurface Toolkit (GHOST) is used to model the Boone River, an agriculturally dominated watershed in Iowa. The Boone River model is calibrated against the United States Geological Survey gaging station near the outlet of the watershed and achieves notable success. For the seventeen year study period from 2002 to 2018, calibration achieved a Nash Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.79, percent bias of -6.0 percent, and R2 of 0.80. To simulate the change from the baseline to a conservation practice, changes were made to the parameters of the baseline, calibrated model to reflect the effects of conservation practices. Scenarios run were the return of row crop acres to native vegetation, improved soil health via cover crops and no-till farming, distributed wetlands, conversion of river-adjacent row crop elements to native vegetation, and conversion of stream order one river-adjacent row crop elements to native vegetation. Results for the seventeen year study period show the average peak flow reductions simulated for the conservation scenarios are 82, 39, 9, 13, and 9 percent respectively for annual maximums and 75, 29, 10, 11, and 7.5 percent respectively for the peaks over the 2-year flood threshold. Of the five scenarios modeled, only native vegetation and cover crops were able to offset the increased precipitation anticipated from climate change.

This study uses data from a special tabulation of the USDA Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey to examine the relationship between farm size and adoption of a variety of water management practices across seven Colorado Basin states. Parametric (Cochran-Armitage trend test) and non-parametric (Goodman-Kruskal gamma) methods were used to estimate associations between farm size and adoption of water management practices, use of water management information, and participation in conservation programs. Farms were divided into five categories: small farms, medium farms, large farms and very large farms, based on their gross sales. In all seven states, very large farms relied on a greater number of different information sources for water management than small farms. The relationship between farm size and information source use was not always monotonic, however. Small farms were more likely to rely more on their neighbors and irrigation district staff for water management information. Large and very large farms relied on a more diverse set of information sources and relied more on privately provide sources, such as consultants. In very few cases was a public or private information source used by more than half of any group of farmers. There is no "one-stop shopping" for irrigation management information. Smaller farms were more likely to not have investigated ways to improve water or energy conservation practices in the previous five years. Farmers cited economic factors as the most important largest constraints on adoption of conservation investments. Larger farms were more likely to participate in government (federal, state, or local) other conservation programs. These farms, though, account for the greatest share of water use. Many smaller farms do not have control over the timing of their irrigation applications, but rather depend on irrigation districts to supply water "in turn." Extension messaging to improve irrigation timing may be more effective if they target irrigation district staff that control irrigation scheduling.

British Columbia's Forest and Range Practices Act seeks to balance environmental, economic and social interests within Crown forests. In pursuit of this goal, government is able to create conservation areas to protect species at risk habitat, ungulate winter ranges, and old growth forests. There has been concern from both government and non-governmental organizations that the implementation of conservation areas has been slow, and that these areas are inadequate to protect the biodiversity values for which they are designed. This thesis measured the progress of conservation area establishment in the Chilliwack and Squamish forest districts, identified and explained problems occurring during the implementation process, and assessed the extent to which conservation areas for species at risk, ungulates and old forests were protecting these values. The research found that the most significant barriers to achieving government's conservation goals were due to economic restrictions built into the regulations themselves. Specifically, limitations on the extent to which conservation areas can impact the timber supply render them inadequate for the protection of most species at risk examined (marbled murrelet, coastal giant salamander, coastal tailed frog, pacific water shrew and grizzly bears); ungulate winter ranges for deer and mountain goat in Chilliwack; and old growth forest ecosystems. The actual establishment process has been challenged by the unwillingness of senior government officials to support reserve implementation when there is substantial resistance from forest licensees, and by unclear direction about the extent and location of conservation areas permitted across the landscape. The establishment of legally approved conservation areas has been slow due to inadequate government resources, an uncoordinated implementation process, and conflict over particular conservation areas. The only approved conservation areas for species at risk are for grizzly bears, and these have taken up to seven years to establish. Ungulate winter ranges have been approved in Squamish, after taking five to seven years of planning and negotiation; they are still in draft form in Chilliwack, with industry and government in disagreement over their specific boundaries. Lastly, only 60% of landscape units have legally approved conservation areas for old growth, despite this being part of government policy since 1995.
Science, Faculty of
Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for
Graduate

This thesis examines the relationships between human societies, the material landscape and nonhuman life in the archipelago of Svalbard. The investigation draws inspiration from posthuman, neomaterialist geographies and political ecology. Frameworks, processes and practices of value are traced through conservation initiatives and everyday actions and ideas around protecting Svalbard’s environment. Practical, political and ethical questions underscore this work: what can and should be ‘saved’; how and for whom are we trying to save species, landscapes, and artefacts? If saving is possible, is it the ‘right’ thing to do? Svalbard, as a place undergoing climatic change, economic and social transitions in a physically and politically fragile environment, provides a setting where such questions are particularly pertinent. This thesis develops a theoretical approach to value, which demonstrates that when value is treated as contingent practice and process, as verb rather than noun, it can be a useful analytical tool for uncovering complex, multi-scalar processes, such as conservation practice. I advance this methodologically to combine a value-as-practice approach with feminist care ethics, assemblage thinking and the notion of a ‘humble’ research practice. This humble research practice brings together recent thinking around situated knowledges, participatory and posthuman geographies. Through documentary research, extensive site-based interviews and ethnographic empirical material, I uncover what is valued as natural and cultural heritage in Svalbard and how value is practiced. I chart how political, economic and cultural frameworks shape, circulate and manipulate value through categorisation and legitimation processes. Everyday practices of care and the dynamic life and ‘thingyness’ of Svalbard challenge value frameworks which seek to measure and fix value. I contend that future ecologies and conservation strategies need to more fully take into account the value(s) of human and more-than-human life in Svalbard and beyond.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Agricultural Economics
Jason S. Bergtold
The adoption of new technologies on-farm is affected by socio-economic, risk management behavior, and market factors. The adoption of cellulosic biofuel feedstock enterprises and conservation practices plays an important role in the future of Kansas agriculture. No set markets currently exist for bioenergy feedstocks and farmers may be reluctant to produce the feedstocks without contracts to mitigate uncertainty and risk. Adoption of conservation practices to improve soil productivity and health may be affected by risk considerations also. The purpose of this dissertation is to study how market mechanisms and risk influence Kansas farmers’ willingness to adopt cellulosic biofuel feedstock enterprises and conservation practices on-farm. The first essay examines farmers’ willingness to grow switchgrass under contract using a stated choice approach. Data were collected using an enumerated survey of Kansas farmers and analyzed using latent class logistic regression models. Farmers whose primary enterprise is livestock are less inclined to grow switchgrass. In addition, shorter contracts, greater harvest flexibility, crop insurance, and cost-share assistance increase the likelihood farmers will grow switchgrass. The second essay examines how farmers’ risk perceptions impact conservation practice adoption. Factor analysis of survey data was used to identify primary risk management behaviors of Kansas farmers. A multinomial logit model of conservation practice adoption incorporating these risk behaviors was developed. Estimation results indicate that different risk management factors may have no significant impact on practice adoption. Farmers may not consider certain aspects of risk significant in their adoption decision. The third essay examines the effect of different risk management behaviors on farmers’ willingness to produce alternative cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks under contract. Data were collected using a farmer survey with a set of stated choice experiments and analyzed using factor analysis and latent class logistic regression models. While farmers approach risk management differently, the risk management behaviors identified have no significant impact on farmers’ willingness to produce corn stover and switchgrass but have a negative impact on farmers’ willingness to produce sweet sorghum as a biofuel feedstock. These results may indicate that farmers are indifferent toward adopting new bioenergy cropping enterprises when traditional crop production is profitable and more certain.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Agricultural Economics
Jason S. Bergtold
Timothy J. Dalton
Adoption of technological improvements are crucial to increase agricultural productiviy to help reduce poverty by obtaining higher farm incomes due to higher productivity and lower production costs. However, the introduction of new agricultural technologies has not always been successful or had diffuse adoption. Factors that determine farmers’ adoption decisions are: 1) farm and farmers' characteristics; 2) technology attributes, and 3) the farming objective. Understanding these factors and how they affect adoption of new technologies on the farm is crucial to assure higher levels of adoption. The over all purpose of this thesis is to explore the adoption process of new technologies and practices by farmers. This is accomplished through three essays to meet the objectives of the thesis. The purpose of the first essay was to evaluate whether or not farmers in the western U.S. are willing to grow specialized oilseed crops that could be used for certified hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) fuel production and incorporate them into existing wheat-based production systems under contract. Results indicate that providing oilseeds crops and contracts with desired attributes and features would positively affect farmers' decisions to incorporate oilseed crops into their rotation system. Preferred seed and contract attributes that may affect a farmer’ adoption decision differ across different geographic regions of the U.S. The second essay focused on identifying factors that impact participation and farmers' decision to adopt soil conservation and fertilization management practices for cassava producers in Thailand and Vietnam. Results indicate that asset ownership and cassava yield positively influence participation. Adoption of new practices was positively linked to farmers’ participation in training activities, use of fish ponds (as a measure of alternative agricultural practices), presence of a nearby starch factory, and slope of the land. Finally, the purpose of the third essay was to examine extension educators' characteristics that affect educators' selection decision of outreach methods in the U.S. This essay examines the diffusion process that impacts adoption of best management practices by farmers. The decision extension educators make for selecting a teaching method is affected by the relationship between the objectives of the learning process and the characteristics of the teaching method.

In 2016 the Iowa Watershed Approach (IWA) was created to increase community resiliency against flooding, to develop hydrologic assessments that would identify strategies to reduce flooding, and to implement those strategies within nine identified watersheds that experienced flooding between 2011 and 2013. One of the nine watersheds was the Upper Iowa watershed located in northeast Iowa. This thesis focuses on the work that has been done to create a hydrologic assessment of the Upper Iowa watershed. The hydrologic assessment identifies potential conservation practices, creates a hydrologic model to assess the hydrologic cycle over the past ten years, and identifies strategies to reduce flooding within the watershed. Many potential agricultural conservation practices within the Upper Iowa watershed were identified and trends relating to the soil, land use, and topography were determined. In addition, a methodology to compare potential conservation practices with existing conservation practices actually in place was developed including a tool to estimate the size of grassed waterways to NRCS design guidelines. The comparison validated the methodologies used to identify potential practice placements, identified locations where potential practices could be implemented, and showed how stakeholder preferences influence conservation implementation. Additionally, a hydrologic model of the Upper Iowa watershed was developed, using the new Generic Hydrologic Overland-Subsurface Toolset model and calibrated to simulate the time period of 2007 through 2016. The model was evaluated against water balance ratios and performance statistics calculated from measured data. The model achieved Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency scores for streamflow above 0.7 and percent bias scores between ±12% for the three wettest years of 2008, 2013, and 2016. With the calibrated model, the benefits of continuous cover crop implementation were investigated under current conditions and under increased extreme precipitation intensity expected from climate change over the next half century. The results of this investigation determined that continuous cover crops increased evapotranspiration within the early half of the year creating more storage within the soil. Thus the flood risk from convective storms during the summer was lowered. In addition, the benefits from cover crops in terms of peak flow and volume reductions were cumulative increasing each consecutive year and were proportional to the percentage of cover cropped area. Lastly, a scenario using cover crops in a future extreme precipitation environment resulted in a reduction of peak discharge to current conditions. The results of this thesis will guide both future work within the Upper Iowa watershed and contribute to the knowledge of hydrologic planning and modeling within agricultural watersheds.

Thesis (MScConEcol)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Reductionism, an approach to understanding complex systems based on reducing the system to its individual components and the interactions between these components, is the linear and rigid approach to traditional management and research that allows us to understand complicated systems. Yet its application to complex systems has likely added to the degradation of social-ecological systems. In recognition of this, there is currently a shift to holism: the concept that a system is greater than the sum of its components and that the system has emergent properties that are only present through the complex interactions of the whole system. The inclusion of this natural complexity within social-ecological systems is thought to promote resilience – the ability of a system to absorb shock and thus promote sustainability. However, these concepts are largely theoretical and few examples exist that demonstrate ways of transferring them to pragmatic land management. Holistic ManagementTM (HM) could potentially be such a working example. It is a decision-making framework that provides a holistic context for the adaptive management of natural resources. However, limited peer-reviewed research has been applied to this potential to promote sustainability. Thus the current study aimed to address this apparent gap by determining if HM land managers were a distinct group from non-HM (NHM) land managers in regards to their management practices and if HM land managers had a greater adaptive capacity (the management of resilience) than non-HM land managers. The study was conducted in a community of livestock farmers in the arid rangelands of the Karoo, South Africa. Data were mainly gathered through face-to-face interviews with land managers – including 20 self-defined HM land managers and 20 self-defined NHM land managers. To compare the reported management approaches of land managers, two scoring systems were developed. The HM Adoption Index measured the extent to which participants were aligned with key principles and practices of HM (including having a holistic goal, testing decisions, applying the Holistic Planned Grazing, demonstrating continuous learning and innovation). The Adaptive Capacity Index measured the extent to which participants demonstrated key traits of adaptive capacity as identified from the literature. In addition, participants were also asked to describe the strategies they apply to deal with local livestock farming challenges including parasite control, predation management and drought management. A significant difference was found between HM and NHM land managers for both the HM Adoption Index and Adaptive Capacity Index (p<0.01). The majority of HM land managers adopted ―true holistic and ―adaptive management practices (80%) while NHM land managers were mostly ―semi holistic and ―coping (65%). HM land managers also notably tended to report more innovative and environmentally aware methods in dealing with farming challenges and were more likely to be part of study groups which build social capital and promote social learning. Results imply that HM provides a framework that introduces holistic principles to land management, making the holistic context and resilience accessible to individual managers for practical day-to-day decision-making.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Reduksie, 'n benadering om komplekse sisteme te verstaan deur om die sisteme te besnoei tot sy individuele komponente en interaksies tussen die komponente, is die liniêre en rigiede benadering tot tradisionele bestuur en navorsing. Dit laat ons toe om komplekse sisteme te verstaan. Tog het die toepassing van reduksie op komplekse sisteme waarskynlik bygedra tot die degradasie van sosiaal-ekologiese sisteme. In herkenning van laasgenoemde is daar tans 'n skuif na holisme: die konsep dat 'n sisteem groter is as die somtotaal van al sy komponente en dat die sisteem voortkomende eienskappe het wat net navorekom deur die komplekse interaksies van die sisteem. Die insluiting van die natuurlike kompleksiteit binne sosiaal-ekologiese sisteme bevorder moontlik weerstandigheid; die vermoë van 'n sisteem om 'n skok te absorbeer en so volhoubaarheid te bevorder. Hierdie konsepte is egter meestal teoreties en min voorbeelde bestaan wat metodes demonstreer om die konsepte oor te dra na pragmatiese grondbestuur. Holistiese BestuurTM (HB) kan moontlik so 'n werkende voorbeeld wees. Dit is 'n raamwerk vir besluitvorming wat 'n holistiese konteks verskaf vir die aanpasbare bestuur van natuurlike hulpbronne. Daar is min eweknie-hersiende navorsing wat HB se potensiaal om volhoubaarheid te bevorder ondersoek. Dus het die huidige studie beoog om die gaping aan te spreek deur te bepaal of HB praktiseerders onderskei kan word van 'n groep van nie-HB (NHB) praktiseerders in terme van bestuurspraktyke en of HB praktiseerders 'n groter aanpasbaarheid (die bestuur van weerstandigheid) toon as NHB praktiseerders. Die studie het plaasgevind in 'n gemeenskap van veeboere in die dorre veld van die Karoo, Suid Afrika. Data was versamel deur aangesig tot aangesig onderhoude met grondbestuurders; 20 self-geïdentifiseerde HB praktiseerders en 20 self-geïdentifiseerde NHB praktiseerders. Twee puntestelsels is ontwikkel om die gerapporteerde benaderings van grondbestuurders te vergelyk. Die HB Toepassing Puntelys het gemeet tot watter mate 'n deelnemer inskakel met die kern beginsels van HB (insluitend om 'n holistiese doelwit te hê, om besluite te toets, om Holistiese Beplande BewydingTM toe te pas en om 'n voortsetting van leer en innovasie te demonstreer). Die Aanpasbaarheid Puntelys het gemeet tot watter mate 'n deelnemer die kern kenmerke van aanpasbaarheid, soos geïdentifiseer in literatuur, demonstreer. Bykomend was deelnemers ook gevra om die strategieë te beskryf wat hulle toepas om die uitdagings van plaaslike veeboerdery tegemoed te kom insluitend die beheer van parasiete, die bestuur van roofdiere en die bestuur tydens droogtes. 'n Betekenisvolle verskil was gevind tussen HB en NHB praktiseerders vir die HB Toepassing Puntelys en die Aanpasbaarheid Puntelys (p<0.01). Die meederheid van HB praktiseerders het ―ware holistiese en ―aanpasbare praktyke toegepas (80%) terwyl NHB praktiseerders se metodes meestal ―semi-holisties en ―korttermyn probleem hantering was (65%). HB praktiseerders het ook 'n waarneembare neiging gehad om innoverende en omgewingsbewuste metodes te rapporteer in verband met veeboerdery uitdagings en was meer waarskynlik deel van 'n studie groep wat sosiale kapitaal gebou en sosiale leer bevorder het. Die resultate het aangedui dat HB 'n raamwerk voorsien wat holistiese beginsels oordra na grondbestuur en so die holistiese konteks en weerstandigheid toeganklik maak vir die individuele bestuurder vir daaglikse praktiese besluitneming en toepassing.

Ecotourism has emerged as one of the fastest- growing sectors of the tourism market, influenced primarily by public demand for more environmentally responsible tourism. When planned properly, it has been asserted that ecotourism can integrate conservation of biodiversity with socio-economic development of local communities. For this reason, many governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are eager to develop ecotourism in protected areas in order to maximize these benefits. However, ecotourism can have significant negative impacts when poorly planned and managed including severe environmental degradation, negative cultural changes and decreased welfare of individuals or communities. Ecotourism should not be regarded as a panacea for harmonizing rural development with environmental conservation until the industryâ s influence on developing countries has been thoroughly analyzed. This paper shall explore whether ecotourism has proven to be an effective tool for integrating conservation and development. Through the examination of existing literature pertaining to ecotourism, I investigate the environmental, economic and social impacts of 14 ecotourism development projects in seven developing countries: Belize, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nepal and Peru. The case study analysis reveals that local communities adjacent to protected areas are often not fully involved in the tourism development planning process. Ecotourism as a mechanism for achieving local conservation and development goals is more successful when projects prioritize local involvement and control. Through the identification of trends emerging from the case studies, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of ecotourism as a development strategy and suggests that local participation should be encouraged in ecotourism development.
Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Doctor of Philosophy
Environmental Design and Planning
Timothy D. Keane
Kenya has been adversely affected by soil erosion due to population growth, changes in land use and land cover, and unsustainable agricultural practices. Issues related to land degradation cost the Kenyan government approximately $390 million or 3 percent of the country’s GDP yearly (Government of Kenya, 2013). Despite extensive land degradation, many attempts to encourage the use of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices have been unsuccessful. The study focuses on Merigi Ward, Kenya. Merigi Ward lies within the Mara River Basin (MRB), an ecologically and economically important river basin that has experienced extensive erosion problems. Increased agricultural activities driven by population growth in the area and changes in land use and land cover have degraded the landscape. SWC practices are greatly needed to mitigate the effects of erosion and conserve the natural resources within the MRB. Past studies suggest that social capital may increase the adoption of SWC practices (Knowler & Bradshaw, 2007; Nyangena, 2008). This study defines social capital as the groups and networks, trust and reciprocity, formal and informal rules, and information that informs the interactions among persons that lead to collective action. Twenty-five smallholder farmers within Merigi Ward were interviewed and the relationship between the adoption of SWC practices and social capital was explored through a qualitative analysis. Additionally, the MRB is home to the Mau Mara Serengeti Sustainable Water Initiative (MaMaSe). The MaMaSe initiative is a public private partnership (P3) with the goal to promote sustainable water use, economic growth, and environmental conservation within the basin. The effect the MaMaSe initiative had on the level of social capital amongst the study participants was also investigated. Findings suggest that social capital is an important aspect of SWC adoption in Merigi Ward. Groups and networks provide farmers with implementation support and information. Particularly, the local farmers’ cooperative provides farmers with implementation assistance and links (bridging capital) to experts at the MaMaSe initiative and the Ministry of Agriculture. Strong bonding capital works in the favor of this community allowing for high levels of trust. Thus, farmers collaborate to help one another implement practices and exchange information, materials, and experiences. In general, social capital has helped facilitate better environmental conservation awareness and the use of SWC practices. The largest impact the MaMaSe initiative had on the community’s social capital was expanding networks (particularly bridging and linking capital) and providing in depth information and guidelines for SWC practice use. The P3 has also helped the farmers integrate environmental conservation into their daily lives and has helped promote a shared understanding of the importance of conservation. The findings of this study will help environmental conservation professionals understand how to use social capital to strengthen natural resource management.

As the urban environment rapidly changes, conservation management plays a significant role in increasing people’s awareness about heritage, its protection and enhancement. With increasing attention paid to the care of cultural heritage, conservation management systems that protect and enhance cultural heritage, and control new development, continue to evolve at local, national and international levels. The pilgrimage city of Najaf, in Iraq, has a long history yet many of its buildings are under threat as a result of unclear conservation management in practice. This thesis addresses questions about the value and significance of Najaf’s heritage, the city’s development policy relating to conservation and the impact of interventions in its historic fabric. It explores levels of understanding about conservation values in the context of contemporary Iraq. To achieve this, three case studies are presented that examine conservation knowledge in terms of the value placed on preserving physical and social fabric, local and national development control procedures and current conservation practices. The original contribution to knowledge that this thesis makes is in outlining how heritage has been understood, designated, protected and managed in Iraq, along with a critical analysis of current conservation infrastructure. The findings show that the Iraqi people and authorities have a limited understanding of conservation management and few clear policies or controls are currently being employed in practice. In Najaf, key decision makers prioritise accommodating pilgrims and modernisation of the city, rather than safeguarding heritage. The thesis argues that the heritage documentation system is inadequate and that there is significant overlap in decision-making responsibilities. The study therefore proposes the rationalisation of policies and regulations; overhaul of Iraqi heritage education programmes to include architects, planners, politicians, archaeologists, key-workers and others; and further support for better rehabilitation procedures where conservation plans are often lacking and building activities involve unqualified workers.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the costs of reducing pesticide, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment losses of a representative risk-neutral and risk-averse peanut-cotton farmer in Southeast Virginia. Five currently popular rotations and eight alternative conservation rotations are evaluated for the representative farm. The Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) model is used to simulate pesticide, nitrogen, phosphorus, and soil loss from each rotation using actual rainfall and temperature data from the study area. A Target-MOTAD mathematical programming model, REPVAFARM, is developed and solved with GAMS. The objective of the farmer is to maximize expected net return, while meeting a target income with certain allowable expected shortfall from the income target. The farmer is also constrained by land, labor, peanut quota, and levels of pesticide, nitrogen, phosphorus, and soil losses. Major findings of this study are: reducing pesticide, nitrogen, phosphorus, and soil losses imposes costs to the farmer regardless of his risk attitude, with costs ranking from high to low in the order of reducing all pollutant losses, reducing nitrogen losses, reducing phosphorus losses, reducing soil losses, and reducing pesticide losses. Costs of reducing pollutant losses are higher for more risk-averse farmers than for less risk-averse and risk-neutral farmers implying that risk-aversion is an obstacle to the adoption of alternative conservation practices. Reducing pesticide losses has little impact on other pollutants. Reducing pesticide and nitrogen losses simultaneously achieves similar reductions in soil loss and phosphorus loss.
Master of Science

Soil erosion has been recognised as a global threat against the sustainability of natural ecosystem. The work in this thesis has been undertaken to assist in combating this threat, and addresses the soil erosion issues associated with urban construction activities. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was employed in this research work and the parameters associated with the model were calibrated. This model was chosen for calibration, as it has been proven to be an easy to use tool yet providing reasonable results. Large scale rainfall simulators developed at UWS were used for rainfall simulation at two sites with diverse soil types: dispersive clayey soils at Penrith and highly permeable sandy soil at Somersby (Both in New South Wales, Australia). It is concluded that RUSLE can be successfully used in single storms for erosion prediction. Calibrated values of RUSLE parameters are useful in predicting soil erosion from the construction sites in NSW. It is also identified that in rolled smooth land condition, clayey soils are more erodible than sandy soil. Specific support practices such as short grass strips, gravel bags and silt fences are identified as very effective erosion control measures in reducing soil erosion from 45% to 85%. These results will be very useful in soil erosion prediction planning and conservation management in NSW.
Master of Engineering (Hons)

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Annual medic pastures play an important role in conservation agriculture (CA) practices in the Western Cape, because of the beneficial role it plays in rotation systems and the fact that it can re-establish on its own. In the Overberg medic pastures are the main pasture short rotation crop, but farmers in recent years shifted away from including medics. This was due to unsuccessful re-establishment and a visible decrease in dry matter production. This trend started after CA practices were implemented for a few years. A field study conducted during 2013 investigated medic re-establishment and production following a wheat, barley, oat and medic pasture production year ( WM, BM, OM and MM) of which residues were left on the soil surface at different cover percentage levels (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0%). The objective of this study was to determine what the effect of different amounts of residues was on annual medic re-establishment and production. Data from this study suggest that management of annual medic pastures should aim to re-sow the medic pasture if plant count drops below 78 pants per square meter. Weed management is of cardinal importance as it competes for resources, light and space and decrease medic pasture re-establishment and production. The data also indicates that the wheat/medic sequence is the best option when applying a short cash crop/annual pasture cropping system. Producers should manage their animals to ensure that a 50% to 75% cover is left on top of the soil following the grazing of residues during the summer months. The study in 2013 should have been replicated, but due to the low levels of re-establishment and production a decision was made to re-plant the trial sites. The field study conducted during 2014 investigated the medic/clover establishment and production following a re-plant. Medics were replanted following a W, B, O and M season, respectively. Residues again were manipulated to different cover percentages (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0%). The objective was again to look at the amount and type of residues on medic/clover establishment and production following re-plant. Data from this study indicated that it might be advisable for annual medic/clovers to be re-sown after a cereal production year rather than a medic pasture year. With the production of medic/clover pastures not being affected by the residue cover percentage, a 100% residue cover following re-plant is best in rotations, if the optimal effect of CA wants to be observed. If animals are included in the production cycle, grazing of residues during summer months can occur until 50% cover is left. Soils will take longer to reach its potential, but by including animals the gross margin is more stable year on year. Two supplementary studies were conducted to investigate the germination of annual medics under controlled conditions. The objectives of the first supplementary study was to investigate the physical barrier effect of residues at different percentage cover (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0%) and a possible allelopathic action from different types of residues (wheat, barley, oat and medic) on the annual medic cultivar Cavalier (one of the cultivars used during 2014 field re-plant). The different amounts of residue had no significant effect on percentage emergence of Cavalier. The 0% residue cover having the slightly higher germination could be because there are no physical obstructions preventing seedlings to establish. The different types of residue cover had no significant effect on the germination of annual medics, as the germination under wheat, barley, oats and medic residues did not differ from the control. The control had a slightly higher germination percentage (85%), while germination under residues was just below the recommended germination rate of 80-85%. This could be an indication of allelopathy from residues. The objective of the second supplementary study was to investigate the allelopathic effects of different residue leachates (wheat, barley, oat and medic) at different levels of concentrations (100% leachate, 75%, 50%, 25% and distilled water being the control) on Cavalier germination. The interaction between leachate type and concentration were significant. Low levels of leachate concentration did not have a significant impact on medic germination when compared between each other and the control. When the concentration percentage was increased differences were detected. Cavalier germination decreased drastically when medic leachate concentration increased, indicating allelopathic effects. Cavalier germination followed the same trend, just not as drastic, when wheat leachate concentration increased. This indicates that wheat could also have a negative allelopathic effect. With oat leachate Cavalier germination did not decrease except when 100% concentrate was used, which could indicate a small allelopathic effect. Cavalier germination following barley leachate showed no effect as concentration increased, even showing the odd increase. Depending on repeatability or follow-up studies of these experiments, data suggest that re-plant of medic pastures is beneficial if plant count drops below sustainable levels. Management of weeds during the medic pasture year improves production. Annual medic pastures should be re-planted following a cereal production year rather than a previous pasture year. Thus single medic rotations are preferred, for example WMWM rotation. Greater amounts of residues are beneficial for CA effects, but allelopathic effects of wheat and oat residues should be taken in consideration during re-establishment and residue levels should be lowered.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Eenjarige medic weidings speel ʼn belangrike rol in bewaring landbou (CA) praktyke in die Wes Kaap, vanweë sy vermoë om jaarliks op sy eie te hervestig en sy voordelige rol in rotasie stelsels. Eenjarige medic weidings is tans die hoof kort rotasie gewas in die Overberg, maar boere is tans besig om dit uit die rotasie uit te sluit. Dit is as gevolg van lae hervestiging sowel as die opvallende afname in produksie. Hierdie waarnemings het na ʼn paar jaar na die toepassing van CA praktyke begin. Gedurende 2013 is daar ʼn veldstudie voltooi rakende medic weiding hervestiging en produksie wat na ʼn koring, gars, hawer en medic weiding produksie jaar volg (WM, BM, OM en MM). Gedurende die studie is stoppels by verskillende persentasie vlakke van bedekking op die grond gelaat (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% en 0% bedekking). Die doel van die studie was om die invloed van verskillende tipes en hoeveelhede stoppels op die hervestiging en produksie van eenjarige medic weidings vas te stel. Data van hierdie studie dui aan dat jaarlikse medic weidings so bestuur moet word dat medics in die Overberg area se plant telling nie laer as 78 plante per vierkante meter daal nie. Onkruid bestuur is van kardinale belang, omdat dit kompeteer met medics en veroorsaak ʼn verlaging in hervestiging en opbrengs. Data dui ook aan dat ʼn koring/medic stelsel die beste opsie is wanneer ʼn kort kontant gewas/eenjarige weiding gewas stelsel toegepas word. Produsente moet hul vee so bestuur dat ʼn 50 tot 75% stoppel bedekking gedurende die somer maande oorgelaat word na beweiding. Die herhaling van die 2013 veld studie was van plan, maar ag gevolg van lae hervestiging en produksie was die proef kampe oor geplant. Die veldstudie in 2014 was medic/klawer vestiging en produksie na herplanting ondersoek. Die medic/klawer saad is geplant na ʼn koring, gars, hawer en medic weiding seisoen onderskeidelik. Stoppels is weereens na verskillende bedekking persentasies verander (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% en 0% bedekking). Die doel was om te kyk wat die effek van verskillende tipes en hoeveelhede stoppels op eenjarige medic/klawer weiding is na herplant. Data wys dat medic/klawer weidings verkieslik herplant moet word na ʼn graan produksie jaar as ʼn medic weiding produksie jaar. Die medic/klawer weiding is nie geaffekteer deur die hoeveelheid stoppels op die grond oppervlakte nie, dus is ʼn 100% stoppel bedekking verkieslik vir optimale CA effekte. As diere in die sisteem teenwoordig is, kan stoppels bewei word gedurende die somer maande tot ʼn 50% bedekking bereik word. Grond sal langer vat om sy potensiaal te bereik, maar die jaarlikse bruto marge sal meer stabiel wees. Twee aanvullende studies is onderneem en ontkieming van eenjarige medics is ondersoek onder beheerde toestande. Die doelwit van die eerste aanvullende studie was om te kyk na die fisiese versperring effek van stoppels by verskillende persentasie bedekking (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% en 0%) en ʼn moontlike allelopatiese effek van verskillende tipe stoppels (koring, gars, hawer en medic) op die eenjarige medic kultivar Cavalier. Verskillende hoeveelhede stoppels het geen beduidende uitwerking op die vestiging van Cavalier gehad nie. Die 0% stoppel bedekking het ʼn effens hoër vestiging gehad. Dit kon wees as gevolg van geen fisiese versperring wat die saailing verhoed om te vestig nie. Die verskillende tipes stoppels het geen beduidende uitwerking op die ontkieming van eenjarige medics nie, die vestiging onder koring, gars, hawer en medic stoppels het nie statisties verskil van die kontrole nie. Die kontrole het wel ʼn effense hoër persentasie vestiging gehad (85%), terwyl die vestiging onder die stoppels onder die aanbevole koers van 80-85% was. Dit kan dalk ʼn allelopatiese effek van die stoppels aandui. Die doel van die tweede aanvullende studie was om die allelopatiese effek van die verskillende tipes stoppels (koring, gars, hawer en medic) by verskillende vlakke van konsentrasie (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% van die onverdunde loogsel en gedistilleerde water as kontrole) op Cavalier ontkieming. Daar was ʼn beduidende interaksie tussen tipe en konsentrasie loogsel. Met lae konsentrasie vlakke van loogsel was daar nie ʼn werklike impak op Cavalier ontkieming tussen die verkillende tipes en die kontrole nie. Slegs wanneer die konsentrasie persentasie verhoog is, is verskille waargeneem. Cavalier ontkieming het drasties af geneem soos die medic loogsel konsentrasie toegeneem het, wat ʼn negatiewe allelopatiese en verhoogde osmolaliteit effek wys. Cavalier ontkieming het dieselfde tendens gewys wanneer koring loogsel konsentrasie verhoog was, maar nie so drasties soos medic loogsel. Dit dui daarop dat koring ook ʼn negatiewe allelopatiese effek wys. Met hawer loogsel het Cavalier ontkieming slegs by die 100% konsentrasie pyl afgeneem, wat op ʼn lae allelopatiese effek dui. Cavalier ontkieming onder gars loogsel het geen verandering gewys as konsentrasies toegeneem het nie, en het selfs ʼn toename in ontkieming in party gevalle ondergaan. Afhangend van herhaling of op-volg studies van hierdie eksperimente, wys die data dat dit voordelig is om medic weidings te herplant as plant telling onder 78 plante per vierkante meter daal. Die bestuur van onkruid tydens die medic weidings jaar verbeter opbrengs. Eenjarige medic weidings moet herplant word na ʼn graan produksie jaar liewer as ʼn vorige weidings jaar. Medics moet dus in ʼn eenjarige rotasie stelsel wees, byvoorbeeld WMWM rotasie. Meer stoppels is voordelig vir CA promosie, maar allelopatiese stowwe van koring en hawer stoppels moet in ag geneem word en stoppels moet verlaag word vir hervestiging.

Micro-irrigation scheduling, fertigation and mulching can be used by growers to improve the nutrient and water-use efficiency of crop production. Agriculture contributes to global warming through emission of greenhouse gases CO₂ N₂O, and CH₄. There is little information about how management practices affect N₂O emissions from vineyard and orchard soils. In a two year field experiment, N₂O fluxes from a grape (Vitis vinifera L.; Merlot) vineyard and an apple (Malus domestica Borkh; Ambrosia) orchard under microirrigation in the semiarid Okanagan Valley of British Columbia were measured using static chambers. Soil mineral N and organic carbon, environmental variables and fruit yield were also monitored. Treatments in the grape vineyard involved micro-irrigation types (Drip or Micro-sprinkler), nitrogen sources (surface-applied compost or fertigated Urea; 40kg N ha‐¹), and two floor managements (surface-applied shredded bark and wood Mulch or Clean - bare soil). Treatments in the apple orchard involved drip irrigation frequency (twice per day or twice per day on every 2nd day) delivering the same total amount of water, orchard floor management (Mulch or Clean) and nitrogen application rate applied as calcium nitrate by fertigation (20 or 40 g N tree‐¹). Spring thaw accounted for 30 to 50% of annual emissions in both experiments. Over a period of two complete years in the grape vineyard Micro-sprinkler irrigation reduced growing season N₂O emissions by 29% (compared to Drip) and on an annual basis Mulch decreased them by 28% (compared to Clean ). In the apple orchard irrigation every 2nd day reduced N₂O emissions by 30% and application of Mulch reduced them by 20%. Reduced drip irrigation frequency and mulching may provide an opportunity for suppressing N₂O emissions from drip-irrigated vineyards and orchards. There was alsolarge spatial variability of N₂O and CO₂ emissions with respect to distance relative to the apple tree and dripper locations. The emission factor (N emitted as N₂O per unit of total applied N) from the applied fertilizer (uncorrected for background emission) across all treatments averaged 2.8% in the vineyard and 2.4% in the orchard. The 1% default IPCC emission factor likely underestimates N₂O emissions from these systems.
Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences (Okanagan)
Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department of (Okanagan)
Graduate

Strategic planning in conservation of natural protected areas should include a human component, since human activity can threaten the health of the natural site. It is the competition for the resources that makes management of these areas a contentious issue. Effective education is key in resolving such issues and in ensuring that informed decisions are made concerning the uses of these valuable natural assets. This study tests this assumption in two phases.The first phase addresses the need to present a wider picture on the current state of environmental education practices in Mexico: Who is engaging in environmental education practices? How important is it for their organization? Who are they targeting and which methods and settings are they choosing and what environmental issues are they addressing? To achieve this, we administered a survey to 118 representatives from conservation and environmental education agencies and organizations in Mexico. Results show that conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are taking the lead in the field of environmental education in Mexico. Education appears to be an important tool that is used widely by environmental and conservation organizations. At the same time, there seems to be a serious lack of funding.The second phase concentrates on conservation education, a specific aspect of environmental education that focuses on biodiversity issues. This is a growing field in Mexico, thanks especially to the system of Natural Protected Areas and the supporting network of conservation NGOs. This phase of the study presented a comparative analysis of perceived roles of education in the conservation of nature, between Mexico and the US and between practitioners and funders. In this phase we also compared the prescribed parameters defined by well known frameworks from academia with those perceived by education and conservation practitioners. We used a combination of online surveying and content analysis to evaluate this issue. Results illustrate that there are similarities between Mexico and the U.S., but with key differences in the target audiences, methods and settings. Funders do not consider education one of their high priorities, while practitioners do. This discrepancy may hamper the growth and maturation of conservation education in Mexico.

Conservation practices are frequently used to try and restore the natural resilience of the landscape to retain water, decrease nutrient loads, and mitigate flooding. Quantifying the potential benefits of conservation practices can inform stakeholders and improve the effectiveness of watershed planning. To this end, an existing Hydrological Simulation Program --- FORTRAN (HSPF) model of the English River was enhanced to enable detailed modeling of conservation practices. Using site-specific nutrient removal wetlands and water and sediment control basins (WASCOBs) derived from the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) two 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC-12) watersheds within the English River, Headwaters North English River and Gritter Creek, were selected for modeling. Wetlands drain much larger areas than ponds that currently exist in the two watersheds. Average flood peak reductions are over 50% near the wetland sites, and diminish moving downstream to a few percent or less at the watershed outlets. Many WASCOBs exist in the two watersheds, but WASCOB use is minimal in other areas of the state. WASCOBs provide slightly more flood storage than ACPF wetlands but the storage isy distributed throughout the watershed. As a result the simulations show that the peak reduction is greater than for wetlands at many locations.

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009."
Advisor(s): King, Cynthia. ; Salem, Anita. "December 2009." "MBA Professional report"--Cover. Description based on title screen as viewed on April 12, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Energy Conservation; Strategic Communication; U.S. Navy Energy Conservation Programs; Motivations; Incentives; Behavior Change Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-87). Also available in print.

This research is composed of three essays. It highlights the driving factors of land conversion and crop acreage response focusing on North Dakota agriculture and estimates the benefits of conservation land measures at west central South Dakota watershed. The major questions that are addressed here are how and why agricultural producers decide among different land use choices, crop selection, and land conservation measures and how their decision vary over time? The first essay examines the long run land conversion trend interconnected with change in crop, oil, and ethanol prices, climate and renewable fuel policy mandates. Data are obtained from Cropland Data Layer from 1997 to 2015 period of National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at the USDA. The first essay employs a Seemingly Unrelated Tobit Regression approach to better understand the connection between land conversion and crop prices, biofuel policies, biophysical environment. Key findings indicate land-use conversion from grassland to cropland is relatively higher across the ND counties. The second essay is designed to investigate the relationship between crop acreage response and socio-economic and environmental drivers. We use prices for crude oil, planted acres of major crops (corn, wheat, soybean, hay) and prices from the period of 1990 to 2015. This essay focuses on corn acreage response due to crop prices, energy policies, climate and other socio-economic factors using a Fixed Effect parameter framework. The final essay estimates environmental benefits due to adoption of conservation practices. In other words, it analyzes the economic and environmental benefits of implemented conservation practices at Bad River watershed in South Dakota using an integrated framework. For example, in an article in the Global Journal of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development (2016), a Benefit Cost Analysis model is utilized to assess soil conservation benefits and evaluate economic impacts of conservation measures at a watershed scale. The economic analysis includes estimation of benefit cost ratio, annual rate of return of conservation practices. Key findings suggest that benefit value of sediment reduction average $2.13 per ton expressed in constant (year = 2000) dollars and the ratio of benefits to costs is greater than 1.

This thesis explores the potential impacts of the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) in Upper Roberts Creek (URC) watershed in northeast Iowa as part of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center (INRC). The INRC was formed in response to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirement that the states along the Mississippi River develop and implement strategies for reducing the nutrient load leaving their states and entering the Gulf of Mexico. The impacts of BMP implementation in URC were evaluated through the use of HydroGeoSphere which was used to develop a three dimensional, coupled surface/subsurface model of the watershed. The URC model was used to evaluate the hypothetical impacts of the widespread implementation of cover crops on agricultural land within the watershed, the construction of eight Iowa Conservation Enhancement Reserve Program (CREP) style wetlands, and the combination of these two BMPs. Through the comparison of these simplified, hypothetical scenarios to a baseline condition, potential nitrate load reduction estimates were made for each practice or combination of practices. These estimates indicate that neither of the individual practices would be likely to achieve the nitrogen reductions targeted by the EPA and in order to achieve these goals a combination of practices would likely be required.

Due to the growing recognition of the social and ecological consequences of the global decline in pollinator species, the need for more effective policies for the conservation of pollinator habitat is now more than ever. These trends call for research that provides a deeper understanding of farmers' decision-making processes. In this regard, this study tested a modified version of the Theory of Planned Behavior as a conceptual model for explaining farmers' perceptions and behavior regarding the adoption of pollinator conservation programs and practices. Specifically, the study tested how farmers' perceived behavioral control, attitudes, subjective norms, concern about herbicide resistance issues, and sociodemographic variables influence their intentions and actual adoption of pollinator conservation programs and practices. Quantitative survey data were gathered from 41 principal farm operators in the state of Illinois through the administration of a web-based survey. The resulting data were first explored using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, following which multiple regression analysis was used to test four hypotheses on the predictors of farmers' intentions to adopt, as well as their adoption of pollinator conservation practices and programs. The results from the regression analysis showed that farmers' attitudes and their subjective norms had statistically significant positive effects on their adoption of pollinator conservation practices on their farms, as well as their intentions to adopt those practices in the near future. Perceived behavioral control also had a statistically significant positive effect on farmers' adoption of federal pollinator conservation programs, as well as their intentions to enroll in these programs in the future. Overall, these findings call for comprehensive pollinator conservation policies that facilitate the provision of information and incentives for farmers to voluntarily adopt pollinator conservation practices on their farms, as well as the provision of appropriate resources and opportunities for farmers to enroll in pollinator conservation programs over which they have minimal control.