Tourist industry

Muslims in Varanasi city

Hydrological response to climate change may alter the biogeochemical role that peatlands play in the global climate system, so an understanding of the nature and magnitude of this response is important. Simple hydrological models have predicted the effects of climate change on the hydrology of these systems, and estimated a ~20 cm water table draw down. This draw down amount was modeled to estimate the changing role that wetlands may play in global biogeochemical cycling, but failed to account for modifications of the peatland structure, which has profound implications for the hydrology of these systems. Volume change in compressible soils occurs as the result of different processes, mainly compression and oxidation. Compression occurs instantaneously as a change in water pressure (e. g. , from water table draw down) occurs and the peat matrix is unable to withstand the increased pressures and subsides. Oxidation is the long term chemical breakdown of the peat under aerobic conditions. <br /><br /> Consequently, in 2002 the water table in a fen peatland near Quebec City was lowered by ~20 cm (Experimental site), and the hydrological response was measured compared to a Control (no manipulation) and Drained site (previously drained c. 1994). <br /><br /> As a result of the draw-down, the surface in the Experimental pool decreased 5, 15 and 20 cm in the ridge, lawn and mat topographic locations, respectively resulting in an increased bulk density of ~60% in the Experimental lawn. Hydraulic conductivity (K) generally decreased with depth and from Control (25 to 125 cm) 10^-1 to 10^-5 cm s^-1 to Experimental (25 to 125 cm) 10^-2 to 10^-7 cm s^-1 and to Drained (25 to 75 cm) 10^-2 to 10^-6 cm s^-1. In similar topographic locations (ridge, lawn, mat), K trended Control>Experimental>Drained, usually by an order of magnitude. <br /><br /> Water table fluctuations in the Drained site were, on average, twice that of the Control site, whereas water table fluctuations within sites trended ridge>lawn>mat. The water table in the Control lawn was able to remain at a stable depth relative to the surface (~ -1 cm) because the lawn peat floats with changes in water table position. However, because of the denser, degraded peat, the Drained lawn peat was more rigid, forcing the water to fluctuate relative to the surface, further enhancing peat decay and densification. <br /><br /> While climatic change will not occur instantaneously the limitations of the experiment required an abrupt change in water table position (drainage). However, regardless of how volume change occurs in the peat (compression or oxidation) the direction of change to the hydraulic properties is the same (increased bulk density, decreased hydraulic conductivity) which affects the hydrology of these systems (increase water table fluctuations and decreases surface movement). Thus, valuable information can be obtained regarding the changing role of peatlands in global biogeochemical cycling processes.

Abstract: This thesis outlines research that was conducted on the relationship between governance, public policy and the impacts of disasters. Here, the vulnerability approach to disaster management is viewed through a political economy perspective, and I contend that political ideologies and economic structures influence vulnerability to disaster. This perspective is taken in order to determine how vulnerability reduction fits into a political agenda that combines a strong central state with a liberal economy. Khao Lak and Koh Phi Phi Don were the most severely impacted of Thailand's coastal communities in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. These two communities are used as primary case studies for the research. The population groups that were most vulnerable to the December 26, 2004 Asian tsunami are identified, and the social, environmental, political and economic factors that contributed to their vulnerability are analyzed. The methods of data collection for this project included interviews with key informants and with residents of Khao Lak and Koh Phi Phi Don. The conclusions drawn from the research fed into a series of recommendations designed to assist in ongoing disaster vulnerability reduction efforts in Thai and other developing country communities.

Riparian wetlands are important areas for regulating phosphorus (P) transfer in shallow groundwater. Limited knowledge is currently available regarding the effects of hydrological regimes on the transfer process of various P forms in shallow groundwater in upland-riparian-stream continuums in agricultural areas. This study focuses on P transfer in shallow groundwater within and between the riparian zone and hyporheic zone in Spencer Creek, and considers the effects on P transfer caused by flooding from the drawdown of the upstream Valens Reservoir, Hamilton, southern Ontario. A series of piezometer nests (each nest consisted of three piezometers at the depths of 50 cm, 100 cm and 150 cm) and corresponding wells were installed at the upland-riparian interface, riparian corridor and riparian-stream interface along two transects with different vegetation covers. Water chemistry was measured in groundwater and the stream from May 10 to October 20, 2006. The chemistry parameters included total phosphorus (TP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), soil-extractable phosphorus, dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS) and pH. Water table elevation, hydraulic head and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) were measured at each location along the transects. Groundwater TP concentrations at the two transects ranged from 11.8 µg/L to 2685.6 µg/L with an average (mean ± standard error) of 365.2 ± 25.9 µg/L and from 12.7 µg/L to 8485.5 µg/L with an average of 742.4 ± 109.0 µg/L during baseflow and flood conditions, respectively. The groundwater SRP concentrations ranged from 3.6 µg/L to 417.9 µg/L with an average of 44.0 ± 3.8 µgL-1 and from 2.1 µg/L to 280.4 µg/L with an average of 33.9 ± 5.2 µg/L during baseflow and flood conditions, respectively. For both transects, mean TP and SRP concentrations in piezometers tended to increase with increasing distance from the field during both baseflow and flood. This trend was poorly correlated with depth. SRP concentrations in groundwater did not show the same decreasing trend by depth. The flood caused by the drawdown of upstream Valens Reservoir significantly increased TP concentrations (p=0.002) but significantly decreased SRP concentrations (p<0.001) in groundwater in the riparian zone. The TP concentrations at three depths were all significantly lower at transect T1 (predominantly grass cover) than T4 (predominantly forest cover) (50 cm: p=0.001; 100 cm: p<0.001; 150 cm: p<0.001). The SRP concentrations at 50 cm were significantly lower at transect T1 than T4 (p=0.003). The results of this study suggested that hydrology was a dominant factor regulating groundwater P transfer within the upland-riparian-stream continuum while other factors such as vegetation type and substrate characteristics were less important. The effectiveness of riparian zones to reduce P transport in groundwater from agricultural fields to adjacent streams will depend highly on site-specific hydrological regimes.

The relationship between protected areas and their regions is complex, dynamic, and often based on social interactions. It is widely accepted that protected areas are not “islands” – rather they are connected to their regions through ecological interactions such as the movement of air, water, wildlife, or fire across boundaries; social interactions such as relationships between protected area agency staff and local people; and economic interactions such as the development of on-site and off-site goods and services for protected area visitors. Regional integration is a complex process by which protected area staff and regional actors engage in formal and informal social interactions in order to reach independent and shared goals related to the protected area. Regional integration is influenced by regional contextual factors such as the biophysical environment, the economy, demographics, history, and culture. In order to develop the theory and improve the practice of the regional integration of protected areas, a qualitative study of five national parks in Canada and their regions was undertaken. The case studies were Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, Nova Scotia; Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador; Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta; and Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks, British Columbia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 112 regional actors including Parks Canada staff, provincial government agency staff, local business owners, First Nations, and resource users. Each case study had a unique regional context as well as formal and informal mechanisms in place for interaction and communication between park staff and regional actors. Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site was perceived by participants to have very strong links with the scientific community, a developing relationship with First Nations, but weak links with local communities. Gros Morne National Park was perceived by participants to have undergone a significant shift in the way that park staff interact with regional actors and has several unique mechanisms in place for interacting with regional actors. The regional integration of Waterton Lakes National Park was perceived by participants to be stronger due to numerous personal relationships between park staff and key regional actors. The park is also well known for its close working relationship with Glacier National Park, Montana. Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks were perceived by participants as somewhat “in the background” in a region undergoing significant change. There are several long-standing working relationships in place between park staff and regional actors but participants’ perceptions of the parks’ connections with the tourism industry and the local community were varied. Several characteristics of strong regional integration were identified including park staff being aware of the park’s effects on the park region; principles in place for park involvement in regional issues; and regular informal interactions occurring between park staff and regional actors. An assessment was made of the strength of regional integration of the case studies based on the formal and informal mechanisms for communication and interaction in place in the case study regions, their regional contexts, and the presence or absence of the characteristics of strong regional integration. It was found that GMNP has the strongest regional integration of all of the case studies while the regional integration of the three other case studies was strong in some areas and weaker in others. Several suggestions are made for improving the regional integration of national parks in Canada including decreasing the turnover of key park staff; effectively communicating the park mandate to regional actors; improving relationships with First Nations; obtaining political and managerial “buy-in” for regional integration; and increasing informal interactions with regional actors.

Observations of sea ice from space are routinely used to monitor sea ice extent, concentration and type to support human marine activity and climate change studies. In this study, eight dual-polarization (dual-pol) (HH/HV) RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR images acquired over the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the winter of 2009 are analysed to determine what new or improved sea ice information is provided by dual-pol C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data at wide swath widths, relative to single co-pol data. The objective of this study is to assess how dual-pol RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR data might improve operational ice charts and derived sea ice climate data records. In order to evaluate the dual-pol data, ice thickness and surface roughness measurements and optical remote sensing data were compared to backscatter signatures observed in the SAR data. The study found that: i) dual-pol data provide improved separation of ice and open water, particularly at steep incidence angles and high wind speeds; ii) the contrast between new, young and first-year (FY) ice types is reduced in the cross-pol channel; and iii) large areas of heavily deformed ice can reliably be separated from level ice in the dual-pol data, but areas of light and moderately ridged ice cannot be resolved and the thickness of heavily deformed ice cannot be determined. These results are limited to observations of new, young and FY ice types in winter conditions. From an operational perspective, the improved separation of ice and open water will increase the accuracy of ice edge and total ice concentration estimates while reducing the time required to produce image analysis charts. Further work is needed to determine if areas of heavily ridged ice can be separated from areas of heavily rafted ice based on knowledge of ice conditions in the days preceding the formation of high backscatter deformed ice. If rafted and ridged ice can be separated, tactical ridged ice information should be included on image analysis charts. The dual-pol data can also provide small improvements to ice extent and concentration data in derived climate data records. Further analysis of dual-pol RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR data over additional ice regimes and seasons is required.

Location-allocation models based on optimization criteria are appropriate tools for the analysis of archaeological settlement patterns. In early agricultural societies, elite classes might maximize their control of the population and resources by optimally situating their primary settlements. Location-allocation models can simulate the multiple factors that potentially underlie settlement site location decisions. I describe several maximal covering models and their applicability to understand the degree of political centralization in the Upper Tennessee River Valley during several Mississippian archaeological cultural phases (900 to 1600 A.D.). My results support the notion that the main objective of the Mississippian elite in choosing sites for administrative centers was to maximize control of the local population and the supporting agricultural economy. The results also support the work of anthropologists and archaeologists regarding the variable degrees of political complexity during time periods of the Mississippian culture. Cultures during the earliest time period (1000-1200 A.D.) and the northern part of the study area during the latest time period (1450-1600 A.D.) in the analysis were found to be the least complex, resembling simple tribal societies unable to maximize their control over the entire Valley population and its resources. Factors such as the location of trade routes and selected resource deposits were not accounted for in the location-allocation models developed for this research and may account for the less-than-optimal results in settlement system control.

Land use and transportation interact to produce large urban concentrations in most major cities that create tremendous sprawl, noise, congestion, and environmental concerns. The desire to better understand this relationship has led to the development of land use–transport (LUT) models as an extension of more general urban models. The difficulties encountered in developing such models are many as local actions sum to form global patterns of land use change, producing complex interrelationships. Cellular automata (CA) simplify LUT model structure, promise resolution improvement, and effectively handle the dynamics of emergent growth. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) can be used to quantify the complex relationships present in historical land use data as a means of calibrating a CA-LUT model. This study uses an ANN, slope, historical land use, and road data to calibrate a CA-LUT model for the I-140 corridor of Knoxville, TN. The resulting model was found to require a complex ANN, produce realistic emergent growth patterns, and shows promising simulation performance in several significant land classes such as single-family residential. Problems were encountered as the model was iterated due to the lack of a mechanism to extend the road network. The presence of local roads in the model’s configuration strengthened ability of the model to simulate historical development patterns. Shortcomings in certain aspects of the simulation performance point to the need for the addition of a socio-economic sub-model to assess demand for urban area and/or an equilibrium mechanism to arbitrate the supply of developable land. The model constructed in this study was found to hold considerable potential for local-scale simulation and scenario testing given suitable modification to its structure and input parameters.

First viewed as an aberration by some when it began to occur in inner cities, the process of gentrification is now common and even significant in U.S. cities, as it runs counter to the urban sprawl that plagues most of them. Gentrification can have far-reaching effects, as it usually involves rising property values and changes in ethnic make-up, and sometimes gives rise to concerns over displacement of original residents and affordable housing. In the context of a broad literature on gentrification which has failed to produce much agreement on its causes or how it works, this research attempts, utilizing census data from Atlanta, Georgia for 1990 and 2000 to attempt to understand how gentrification begins and progresses in a Southern city. I conduct T-tests between gentrifying and non-gentrifying inner city neighborhoods for socioeconomic, housing and geographic characteristics, and then attempt to create a predictive model for where gentrification will occur based on these variables. I then further examine the geography of gentrification and the housing and ethnic make-up of gentrifying neighborhoods in Atlanta. Only one housing variable, percent built before 1940, and no socioeconomic variables were significant in the model. The significance of this variable, coupled with the overall difficulty in predicting gentrification, confirmed that various forms of gentrification are taking place in Atlanta, with older housing in some areas being cleared by development companies to make way for large multifamily housing developments, and in others being renovated one by one. Significantly, this research found that geography has an important role in the process, with clustering of gentrifying neighborhoods probably as a result of diffusion from maturing gentrified neighborhoods. Despite Atlanta’s sizable African-American middle class, the data did not indicate African-Americans playing a larger role in gentrification there during the 1990s. Along with these findings, this study confirms the need for further research on the ways gentrification starts, progresses, and affects the people involved.