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<p>Aquaculture is an industry that is receiving increased federal and state investment to potentially ease demand on overexploited capture fisheries and reduce the significant edible -seafood trade deficit by providing consumers with a source of healthy locally grown protein. There is a growing investment in the growth of the industry, yet it faces many challenges. In the Great Lakes region of the midwestern U.S., a major agricultural hub, the food-fish industry has struggled to see substantial growth. Understanding these barriers to growth could allow for more productive delegation of resources to alleviate challenges faced by aquaculture producers.  </p> <p>Additionally, regulation of the aquaculture industry can vary greatly by region and lacks a consistent regulatory structure and position amongst other major agricultural industries. Relationships between producers and regulators can be complicated, as aquaculture is typically regulated by entities who have more familiarity with and focus on other natural re source management areas such as crop agriculture, water quality, and land use or conservation. Understanding the trust diversity and dynamics at play may enhance the efficacy of natural resources management (NRM) in the aquaculture industry going forward.  </p> <p>In this study, we use the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine behavioral intention of land-based, food-fish aquaculture producers in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. to expand or diversify their businesses, and what they perceive to be barriers standing in the way of doing so. We also use Stern and Coleman’s (2015) trust ecology framework to explore trust diversity and how this can affect the institutional resilience of aquaculture as an industry.  </p> <p>We report on qualitative interviews of 34 aquaculture producers across the region, examining barriers to growth of the food-fish aquaculture industry as well as issues of trust in management and regulation. The findings reveal barriers related to the high-risk nature of the industry, and a need for stronger support systems to alleviate some of these risks. The interview data also points to high levels of trust diversity in aquaculture, and an emphasis on the importance of affinitive trust held by aquaculture producers. Key drivers of trust and distrust in management of aquaculture, along with proposed trust repair strategies, offer lessons for more effective and collaborative natural resource management. </p>

<p>Recreational beaches of the Great Lakes play a critical role in the quality of life for beach goers and contribute to the economic and environmental health of the Great Lakes region. Over the past decade, concerned local residents, municipalities, and public beach goers have observed the deteriorating beach quality along the shores of the Great Lakes. Numerous problems exist at these beaches including: high levels of <em>E.coli</em>, encroachment of invasive and non-native vegetation, iron staining, loss of sand. However, the more pervasive problem appears to be increased wet conditions at beaches that use to be dry. This study was undertaken to investigate the physical and hydrological factors that control wet and dry beaches, in order to determine why these beaches exist. Combined field, laboratory, and modelling methodologies were used to characterize four beach sites and calibrate beach models along southern Georgian Bay in Tiny Township, ON. The results of this research indicate that there are three interconnected factors that influence wet and dry beaches, including: (1) texture of a beach, (2) depth to the water table, and (3) elevation of the ground surface. Texture is the primary factor that controls the moisture conditions at a beach even though all beaches were classified as sands. This is a consequence of the fact that fine grained sands have significantly higher capillary rise and retain higher moisture contents above the water table compared to coarse grained sands. Depth to the water table influences the moisture conditions at a beach through its association with the relative position of the top of the capillary rise within respect to the surface of the beach. Ground surface elevation influences the depth of sand above the water table at a beach; lower and flatter surface elevations have the water table (and capillary rise) closer to the beach surface than at beaches with steeper elevations. In summary, wet beaches have high moisture contents at and near the surface of a beach (> 10 %), shallow water tables (~ < 50 cm), and flat ground surface elevations. Dry beaches have low moisture contents at and near the surface of a beach (< 10 %), deep water tables (~ > 50 cm), and steep ground surface elevations. Using the numerical model HYDRUS-2D, four calibrated beach models provide a framework for beach managers to gain insights into beach quality issues through scenario testing. Beaches with shallow water tables and flat surface elevations (either natural or human-induced) are at greater risk of becoming wet under high lake level scenarios than beaches with steeper surfaces (dry beaches). Heavy precipitation events are temporary and do not convert dry beaches into wet beaches and high evaporation rates do not convert wet beaches into dry beaches; conversion of beaches is mainly influenced by beach surface alterations (e.g. bulldozing and removing sand dunes). The conclusion of this study is that hydrological factors are primary controls on the quality of the beaches and the associated problems along the shores of the Great Lakes.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>Ecosystems have been profoundly shaped by unusually rapid climate change effects largely driven by human activities that release heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The goal of this research is to develop a strategy to measure the direct effects of climate change on the value of natural resources, particularly Great Lakes water resources; and how humans control these resources through management decisions. This base will assist in developing and supplying the tools and information necessary for decision-making to facilitate enhancements and thus policy revision. The Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) had substantial influence on the cleanup and restoration of the region, however, threats to the Great Lakes in the face of climate change demand a renewal of program and policy approaches to the restoration of beneficial uses as identified in Annex 2. To remedy this, climate models including Statistical Downscaling (SDSM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) are developed to produce daily predictions of future climate variables at the regional scale. In this study, separate downscaled precipitation and temperature scenarios are generated using the SDSM and ANN with the calibrations and validations derived from CGCM and Hadley models for Canadian Areas of Concern. Then the Delphi Survey Method was designed and administered participants to verify on significant pressures associated with climate change on related beneficial uses of the Great Lakes. Collaborating both data sets allows for a thorough picture of the effects of climate change and possible adaptation strategies in the Great Lakes required to develop management and sustainable public policies</p> / Doctor of Science (PhD)

No / Concepts of residential and logistic mobility are applied to survey assemblages from multiple decades of research along the interior drainages of central lower Michigan. Drawing on the ethnographic record of boreal hunter-gatherers and archaeological interpretations of long-distance logistic mobility from the Mesolithic of northern England and continental Europe, it is argued that the importance of logistic mobility is underrepresented in summaries of northern hemisphere hunter-gatherers. Reconstruction of Middle Holocene environments suggests that the resource structure of the central Michigan uplands was one that fostered use of logistic mobility, and that interior Middle Archaic assemblages and site structures reveal special function activities systemically tied to residential and other special function sites at lower coastal elevations, as well as currently submerged under Lake Huron. We conclude that rising levels of Lake Huron ca. 4500 B.P. resulted in decreased land area, population packing, and a consequent shift to residential mobility by the Late Archaic. Further, the results of this analysis can serve as a comparative framework for recognizing the role of logistic mobility in the evolution of hunter-gatherer adaptive strategies in other regions.

This study investigated the health needs of immigrant women from the African Great Lakes living in South Africa in the province of Gauteng, Tshwane Metropolitan city. It described their challenges and related factors compromising their holistic wellness, and identifies their context specific health needs as a gender group. A qualitative approach was utilised concurrently with participatory action research method. Data collection involved triangulation of instruments. A literature study was conducted to select relevant information usable as basis for this study. Data analysis and interpretation revealed factors that make it difficult for immigrant women from the African Great Lakes region to gain access to health care services in South Africa, identifying their specific women’s health needs. Recommendations proposed that policy makers and implementing professionals rendering women’s health care services should consider utilising a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to meet these basic needs. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

This study investigated the health needs of immigrant women from the African Great Lakes living in South Africa in the province of Gauteng, Tshwane Metropolitan city. It described their challenges and related factors compromising their holistic wellness, and identifies their context specific health needs as a gender group. A qualitative approach was utilised concurrently with participatory action research method. Data collection involved triangulation of instruments. A literature study was conducted to select relevant information usable as basis for this study. Data analysis and interpretation revealed factors that make it difficult for immigrant women from the African Great Lakes region to gain access to health care services in South Africa, identifying their specific women’s health needs. Recommendations proposed that policy makers and implementing professionals rendering women’s health care services should consider utilising a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to meet these basic needs. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

The use of fossil derived products and the environmental and economic problems associated with them have made a shift to abundant renewable resources such as forest biomass more attractive. However before forest biomass can be used as a resource, its properties must be known. This study determined the physical properties of heterogeneous biomass residues produced during harvesting on two operational forest sites within the Great Lakes-St Lawrence forest of south-eastern Ontario. Properties measured were moisture content, size distribution, bulk density, and wood-to-bark ratio; also thermo-chemical properties including elemental composition, thermal reactivity and energy content were measured. The effects of forest site and harvest type, storage and position in storage pile, on the properties of biomass were also investigated. Results of the study showed that the various heterogeneous forest harvest residues differed more physically than thermo-chemically for the different variables, and this affected biomass procurement more than the potential utilization options.