Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Max Lu / This study analyzes the cross-border marriage migration of Vietnamese women to China. It is based on sixty-four in-depth interviews with Chinese-Vietnamese couples living in Guangxi province, near the border between China and Vietnam. Most of these Vietnamese women are “invisible,” or undocumented, in China because they do not have legal resident status. The women came from rural areas in northern Vietnam and generally have relatively lower levels of education. The primary reason the Vietnamese women chose to marry Chinese men rather than Vietnamese men was to have a better life in China; the women stated that living in China was better because of its stronger economic conditions, higher standard of living, and the higher quality of housing for families. Many of the Vietnamese women stated that by marrying Chinese men, they could also support their family in Vietnam. The Chinese men who marry Vietnamese women tend to be at the lower end of the social-economic spectrum with limited education. These men often have difficulties finding Chinese wives due to their low economic status and the overall shortage of local Chinese women. Both the Vietnamese women and Chinese men use different types of informal social networks to find their potential spouses. The cultural (particularly linguistic) similarities and historical connections between the border regions of China and Vietnam facilitate cross-border marriages and migration, which are likely to continue in the future.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Melinda Daniels / The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has begun side channel restoration projects on the Missouri River as part of the Missouri River Recovery Program. The USACE acquires land on the Missouri River needed to develop fish and wildlife habitat. There is a need to prioritize which land to purchase on the Missouri River. High priority land would be areas that had side channels and can be constructed to restore ecosystems to a more natural state. Much of the river has since been dammed, straightened, and channelized starting heavily in the mid 1890’s, and historical side channels have been eliminated, leaving little information to guide USACE efforts to restore them. My thesis documents the historical distribution of side channels on the Missouri River between St. Louis and Kansas City and explores the relationships between side channel location and a variety of potential driving variables, including channel sinuosity, valley width, valley slope and the presence of large confluences. This is the first know study to document the historical extent of side channels on a major river system, and it is also the first to quantitatively explore driving variables of side channel formation. The historical analysis revealed abundant side channels in the late 1800’s, with a dramatic decline into the early 1920’s as engineering works on the river began in earnest. Results also show that high channel sinuosity and the presence of a large confluences are the two variables most correlated with side channel formation. Based on documented frequencies and locations of historical side channels, recommendations for specific side channel restoration opportunities are also highlighted.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Lisa M. Harrington / The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was established by the Food Security Act of 1985 for the purpose of retiring environmentally sensitive cropland for a period of ten to fifteen years. The initial focus of the program was to reduce on-site soil erosion and excess crop production, however the program benefits were later expanded to include water quality and wildlife habitat among others. The overall success of the CRP has been questioned due to the occurrence of slippage. The term ‘slippage’ as it relates to the CRP occurs when producers plant newly cultivated land or fallow acres, offsetting acreage that is retired through enrollment in the reserve program. The goal of this study is to measure the degree to which slippage has affected the CRP within the state of Kansas; and to analyze the relationship between agricultural commodity output prices and input cost with respect to county level slippage rates. Annual slippage calculations for all one-hundred and five counties within Kansas for the period of 1995-2005 reveal significant spatial disparity, with the vast majority of slippage occurring in the western two-thirds of the state. Annual fluctuations in slippage rates varied both regionally and at the county level. Maximum annual slippage was seen in the northwest, with slippage rates in excess of 100 percent; thus the CRP was entirely ineffective in regards to reducing overall land in production. Minimums were located primarily in the southeast and included slippage values below zero percent; indicating a reduction in acreage beyond that of the CRP. To analyze the relationship between agricultural commodity output prices and input costs with CRP slippage, a multivariate regression model was used. The regression analysis ultimately showed a significant lack of fit within the model, indicating the need for additional predictor variables in order to account for variations in CRP slippage rates. Although the model does indicate the presence of a minor relationship between the selected variables of agricultural commodity output prices and input costs with CRP slippage rates, further analysis is needed to identify additional county level variables impacting slippage.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Kendra K. McLauchlan / Fossil pollen assemblages are widely used in paleoenvironmental reconstruction of vegetation regimes and climate conditions. The modern analog technique (MAT) is a popular method used for analysis of these fossil pollen assemblages, but a large modern pollen dataset, such as the North American Pollen Database (NAPD), is needed to provide modern comparisons for interpretation of analog/no-analog situations. While many climate types are well represented within the NAPD, the climates of the southern and central Great Plains of North America are poorly represented. In this study, I collected 31 sediment samples containing pollen from these underrepresented climate types across the Great Plains in the U.S.A. Analysis of these 31 pollen assemblages, along with 504 samples classified as “prairie” from the NAPD and 24 pollen samples from the Flint Hills of Kansas, U.S.A. was conducted to determine if the three major prairie types (short grass, mixed grass, and tallgrass prairies) could be delineated from pollen records alone. Two different MAT dissimilarity metrics (Squared Chord Distance and Canberra Distance Metric) were assessed for their ability to delineate among prairie types and Squared Chord Distance (SCD) was found to a be the better prairie type classifier than Canberra Distance Metric (CDM). Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess the ability of each metric to identify similar pollen assemblages. It has been show in previous studies that two genera found in this region – Ambrosia and Artemisia –respond to temperature and moisture availability in different ways. Using the ratio of the proportions of Ambrosia and Artemisia pollen grains in a pollen assemblage it was found that tallgrass prairies are significantly different from the other two prairie types. The Ambrosia/Artemisia ratio is also useful in determining climatic conditions. This ratio provides paleoenvironmental researchers with a simple quantitative tool to quickly assess general climatic conditions and prairie type.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Richard A. Marston / David R. Seamon / Sprawling over 180 square miles of California’s Mojave Desert, Wonder Valley was founded in the early 1950s and today is an unincorporated community of approximately 1,000 residents. The community’s landscape is expansive and unsettling, featuring a chaotic assortment of residences that include abandoned homesteads, squatter settlements, artists’ studios, middle-class cabins, and luxury vacation properties. This dissertation explores Wonder Valley’s enigmatic place identity from residents’ point of view, drawing on an experiential understanding of place grounded in humanistic and phenomenological geography. Specifically, the dissertation makes use of Edward Relph’s explication of place identity to guide empirical inquiry and conceptual structure. Drawing on resident interviews, place observations, and textual analysis, the dissertation identifies and explicates three distinct Wonder Valley identities—homesteaders, dystopics, and utopics. Arriving in the 1950s, homesteaders were Wonder Valley’s first inhabitants and express a practical connection to the landscape that is interpreted in terms of environmental reach, specifically, the creation, maintenance, and extension of environmental and place order. During the 1970s, as many homesteaders abandoned Wonder Valley, dystopics arrived and today include two subgroups: first, a criminal element pulled to Wonder Valley because of its local isolation but regional proximity to Los Angeles; and, second, destitute squatters pushed out from other communities and having nowhere else to go. The third group identified is utopics, primarily artists from Los Angeles and San Francisco, who arrived in the early 1990s, attracted by Wonder Valley’s natural beauty and sacred ambience. The dissertation explores how these three groups arrived at different times, for different reasons, to create vastly different landscapes, to engage in opposing aims and activities, and to understand Wonder Valley’s meaning as a place in greatly contrasting ways. These differences in meaning are most directly expressed in the common areas of public land, which have often become sites of inter-group tension and conflict, particularly in regard to abandoned homesteads and the use of off-road vehicles. To interpret this group conflict conceptually, the dissertation develops what is termed existential ecotone— a unique mode of place experience generated by overlapping but contrasting modes of being-in-place.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Bimal K. Paul / Given the recent recognition that not only physical processes, but social, political and economic aspects of hazards determine vulnerability and impact of an event, the next logical step would seem to be the development of classification systems that address those factors. Classifications for natural disasters, such as the Fujita Scale for tornadoes and the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, focus on the physical properties of the event, not the impact on a community. Pre-event vulnerability to a natural hazard is determined by many factors, such as age, race, income and gender, as well as infrastructure such as density of the built environment and health of the industrial base. The behavior of residents in the community, construction quality of shelters and warning system effectiveness also affect vulnerability. If pre-event vulnerability is to be determined by such factors, post-event impact should, at least in part, be as well. The goal of this research was to develop the Tornado Impact-Community Vulnerability Index (TICV) that utilizes variables such as the number of persons killed, economic impacts and social vulnerability to describe to the level of impact a tornado event has on community. As tornadoes that strike unpopulated areas are often difficult to classify, even in the traditional sense, the TICV will take into consideration only events that strike communities with defined political boundaries, or “places” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By assigning a rating to the impact, this index will allow the severity of the storm to be understood in terms of its effect on a specific community and hence its impact, rather than an physically-based rating that gives only a broad, general indication of its physical strength.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Douglas G. Goodin / Prescribed burning in tallgrass prairie affects a wide range of human and natural systems. Consequently, managing this biome based on sound science, and with the concerns of all stakeholders taken into account, requires a method for mapping burned areas. In order to devise such a method, many different spectral ranges and spectral indices were tested for their ability to differentiate burned from unburned areas at both the field and satellite scales. Those bands and/or indices that performed well, as well as two different classification techniques and two different satellite-based sensors, were tested in order to come up with the best combination of band/index, classification technique, and sensor for mapping burned areas in tallgrass prairie. The ideal method used both the red and near-infrared spectral regions, used imagery at a spatial resolution of at least 250 m, used satellite imagery with daily temporal resolution, and used pixel-based classification techniques rather than object-based techniques. Using this method, burned area maps were generated for the Flint Hills for every year from 2000-2010, creating a fire history of the region during that time period. These maps were compared to active fire and burned area products, and these products were found to underestimate burned areas in tallgrass prairie.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Melinda D. Daniels / This dissertation increases our understanding of the drivers that shape and maintain grassland streams and their watersheds by examining the influence of grazing management practices on suspended sediment concentrations, bare ground production, and changes to channel geomorphology. Chapter 2 demonstrates that cattle grazing produces significantly higher baseflow suspended sediment concentrations relative to bison grazing. Suspended sediment concentrations within bison-grazed streams are similar to ungrazed streams, indicating that the substitution of cattle for bison has resulted in degradation of baseflow water quality in grassland streams. Burning frequency, discharge, and seasonality are also significant drivers of suspended sediment concentrations, but are generally less influential than grazing treatments. Chapter 3 indicates that high density cattle grazing treatments produce more bare ground within the riparian zones of grassland stream networks, particularly underneath tree canopy cover. The increased bare ground coverage within riparian areas is correlated with increased suspended sediment concentrations during baseflow conditions, while watershed-scale bare ground production is correlated with increased suspended sediment concentrations during storm flow events. Chapter 4 demonstrates channel geometry and sedimentology are significantly influenced by grazing treatments. This dissertation is the first study to comparatively evaluate the relative influence between cattle and bison grazing on stream geomorphology within any environment. Insight gained from this project can be used by public and private land use managers to improve the environmental integrity of native grassland ecosystems.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Lisa M. Harrington / Hayscapes, or haying landscapes, are distinctive cultural landscapes that evolve through time as a result of technological changes in response to economic realities. Since settlement began in the western United States, hay-making has gone through a number of mechanical revolutions that have given rise to an assortment of different methods employed in the process of gathering and storing hay. For this research, the changes in haying technology and resulting cultural landscapes are divided into four eras based on the haying methods of the time in western Montana and eastern Idaho. Common haying technology used in the study area at one time or another includes rudimentary devices, hay derricks, Beaverslides, overshots, swinging arm stackers, small, rectangular balers, tractors with front loader extensions, loaf stackers, round balers, large, rectangular balers, and forage harvesters (choppers). Farmers and ranchers create different hayscapes based on the technology used. There are different reasons for using different haying technologies, such as the type and size of agricultural operation, economics, and personal preference. Landscapes are documents, and by “reading” the haying landscape, we are able to acknowledge the story of the transition of life and ways of the past to present-day living of the people. Insights are discovered regarding past and present technologies and aspects of their social and economic systems. This study examines the different past and present haying landscapes of western Montana and eastern Idaho to better understand reasons and ways in which human activities have imprinted the landscape and given rise to distinct, and aesthetically pleasing, patterns on the earth’s surface.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / John Harrington Jr / Agriculture is vital to the character of Kansas. It is threaded through the social, economic, and environmental systems that operate in Kansas and bring each system into interaction with one another. Loss of agriculture would mean drastic changes to traditional Kansas way of life due to the three pronged nature of agriculture in Kansas. Continuation of agricultural activity then is of great importance. Globalization, climate change, and environmental change pose threats to agricultural futures. This study is a meta-analysis of current literature in an attempt to assess the current state of sustainable agriculture in the state of Kansas. An emphasis was placed on climate as a driver of change and ways in which agricultural producers in Kansas may begin implementing sustainable adaptations. Barriers to implementing sustainable agricultural adaptations were also identified in the literature. Broadly speaking analysis focused on barriers created through policy and barriers created through gaps in knowledge and weak or missing connections, or cognitive barriers. Information gathered in the course of the literature analysis was used to generate two potential future agricultural scenarios for Kansas. Scenarios can be used to aid policy makers in assessing potential impacts of environmental change and interactions between different systems and scales. Two separate scenarios, Business-As-Usual and Sustainable-Adaptive, were developed with distinct characteristics. The Business-As-Usual scenario represents a future that is framed similar to the current situation. Changes built into the scenario stem from the projected changes to climate. The remainder of the narrative describes a future that has pursued developmental pathways driven by current policy and market forces. In contrast, the Sustainable-Adaptive scenario represents a Policy Reform scenario in which there is strong guidance through policy towards a developmental pathway that focuses on sustainable agricultural methods. This scenario describes a future in which environmental degradation is slowed or even reversed. Continued future work may focus on the role of water availability, community level impacts of sustainable adaptations, and the integration of stakeholder values as another layer of complexity in future scenarios.