Fundamental issues of natural resource management revolve around diverse worldviews, knowledges and practices, which cannot all be captured within the policy framework. The Western worldview, which reflects mainly the utilitarian, economistic view of resources, has influenced and shaped the trend management of natural resources has taken world-wide. The Western worldview contrasts with local knowledges, which are uniquely innovative, highly dynamic, tacit, contextual and/or locality-specific. This thesis explores the fuelwood problem in Nyando Division of Kisumu District in Kenya, seeking both a holistic understanding and an emphasis on the interface between official policy and local rural practice, including the varying knowledges. The study focused on two case study clans, Muga and Kadhier in Awasi and Kochogo Locations, respectively. Most fuelwood in the study areas is from on-farm and multiple accessible sources. This contradicts the 'fuelwood orthodoxy' school which associates fuelwood consumption with deforestation and 'woodfuel crisis'. Aerospace imageries clearly illustrated a change and decline in stand density of the woody vegetation cover in Nyando Division over time. Differences in fuelwood availability and inequalities in endowment of wood/tree resources in and between the study localities exemplify critical questions of entitlement in the face of 'abundance'. Tree planting was not seen to be synonymous with fuelwood availability. This scenario promotes the fuelwood trade, high dependence on fuelwood purchase and supplements of crop residues by local households. Land privatisation has exacerbated the situation. Distances travelled to collect fuelwood have decreased as people turn to alternative and purchased fuels. Opportunities in the study area for the resolution of the fuelwood problem include promotion of less culturally restricted and less economically valuable trees, and a more farmer-sensitive approach from government and NGOs which recognises farmers as active partners in the interface between policy and rural practice.

<p> Forest certification plays an important role in the forest products industry in Mississippi. Approximately 17% of the state&rsquo;s 19 million acres of forest land is certified under one of three major systems in the United States. More than two million acres are certified under Sustainable Forestry Initiative, more than one million acres are certified under American Tree Farm System and over 150,000 acres are certified under Forest Stewardship Council. </p><p> The goal of forest certification is sustainable use of all forest resources, from timber to clean water to recreation. This goal can only be achieved if nonindustrial private forest landowners, loggers, and forestry professionals all agree on the concepts each system espouses. </p><p> This project surveyed nonindustrial private landowners in Mississippi, members of the Mississippi Loggers Association, and members of the Mississippi Sustainable Forestry Initiative Implementation Committee, to test their levels of agreement on 12 different Likert Scales or sets of statements representing specific underlying concepts of forest certification. </p><p> The three groups generally agreed on most aspects of forest certification. There were some significant differences between the groups based on the distribution of responses, however the scale averages never differed by more than 0.7 indicating that while the differences were significant, overall they were still fairly close in their understanding of certification concepts. </p><p> There were a large number of non-industrial private landowners who were not aware of forest certification. This result has not changed since the last landowner study that was conducted in Mississippi regarding forest certification, almost 10 years ago.</p>

<p> An aquaculture production system was constructed at the Waik&imacr;k&imacr; Aquarium in the fall of 2016 that produces mysid shrimp zooplankton (<i> Americamysis bahia</i>). From November 2017 to February 2018, the Waik?k? Aquarium (WAq) required an average of 5,751 live mysids per week that were imported as feed with current import rates of $0.08 per animal or$24,000 annually. Fixed and variable budgets were used to evaluate the economics for the mysid culture system. Sensitivity analyses of labor costs, the sale of excess mysid production, and the discount rate were also conducted using stochastic modeling of in-house domestic yields to estimate the expected the net present values (NPV) of domestic production in comparison with imports. The indirect benefits of domestic production were qualitatively evaluated. Results showed that WAq had a greater (> 0) NPV across a variety of cost and benefit scenarios and a less expensive $.05 mysid versus the imported $.08 mysid.</p><p>

<p> Estimating the water budget of three mid-latitude extratropical cyclones is attempted from the perspective of the precipitation efficiency (PE), using a method proposed for the study of convective columns. Using a lagrangian, system-relative volume centered on the surface low pressure, each cyclone was followed for most of its lifetime within a pre-defined volume (7 degrees latitude x 9 degrees longitude, or approximately 700 x 700 km). A comparison is then made of total atmospheric water vapor ingested to total moisture eliminated (as precipitation). We hypothesize that the PE increases with the intensity of the cyclone. This small sample confirms that idea, and thus encourages further study with this approach.</p><p>

<p> Bighead Carp <i>Hypophthalmichthys nobilis</i> and Silver Carp <i> H. molitrix</i> (collectively referred to as bigheaded carp) were introduced to the United States in the 1970s and escaped into the Mississippi River from aquaculture ponds. Since their escape, bigheaded carp have become established in the Mississippi River Basin, including the Ohio River and its tributaries. More recently, bigheaded carp have invaded the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Little research has been conducted on bigheaded carp in Tennessee waters, with preliminary studies investigating the distribution and characteristics of established bigheaded carp populations, including growth rates and recruitment. My study represents the first systematic sampling of bigheaded carp in the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, both tributaries to the Ohio River, and in large reservoirs in the southeast U. S. Standardized, multi-gear sampling methods were used to sample bigheaded carp in Kentucky Lake and Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River and Lake Barkley and Cheatham Lake on the Cumberland River in 2017 and 2018. Overnight gill nets were the most effective gear, capturing an average of 17 Silver Carp per gill net gang. Short-set gill nets captured an average of one Silver Carp per gill net gang, and electrofishing captured an average of one Silver Carp per 10-minute electrofishing transect. Maximum total length (TL) was 1,390 mm for Bighead Carp and 1,111 mm for Silver Carp, and the maximum age for both species was 11 years. Average age and condition of Silver Carp was higher in upstream impoundments than downstream, and thus suggested an early invasion period from Ohio River movements. Gonadosomatic index (GSI; egg mass weight to body weight ratio) was also higher in upstream impoundments than downstream impoundments. Higher GSI values were observed in the spring and summer, when bigheaded carp may begin to spawn in response to high flows. Length-at-age estimates for the four reservoirs suggested bigheaded carp growth rates in the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers are similar to other populations in the US, indicating populations may be experiencing density effects in southeastern impoundments. No young of year (YOY) bigheaded carp were captured during the study, but weak and missing year classes due to erratic recruitment patterns are common in bigheaded carp, and monitoring for YOY fish should continue. Mean catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) was not significantly different among reservoirs for the three gear types, and no significant seasonal variation in mean CPUE was observed for overnight gill nets. A lack of differences in CPUE across sampling seasons suggested population densities could be assessed as agencies could fit into their schedules. Overall, the results represent the first large-scale standardized sampling effort for bigheaded carp across four southeastern states and provide integral population information for natural resource managers. Future monitoring efforts should continue to track characteristics of bigheaded carp populations in the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and determine effective control and management strategies for populations in large impoundments. </p><p>

Privately owned lands often undersupply environmental benefits and oversupply environmental costs through land use and management decisions. Insights into human behavior suggest a range of cognitive biases and nonstandard preferences that offer alternative explanations for and, perhaps, strategies to influence landowner behavior. People respond to simple changes in context and framing, make inconsistent choices over time, and respond to social influence—the opinions and behavior of peers. This dissertation applies insights from behavioral science to strategies that seek to influence individual decisions that impact the environment, especially related to land management. First, I review existing experimental research on behavioral insights to influence decisions in six domains that have large environmental externalities. Behavioral interventions, including changing the status quo and leveraging social influence, are often more effective than simply providing information, but there are few applications to land management. Chapter Two maps behavioral insights onto farmers’ plot-level conservation decisions that benefit biodiversity. Using a case study from California, USA, I find farmers who receive information from their peers are three times more likely to adopt practices that support biodiversity than those who do not. Chapter Three tests the causal effect of social influence on engaging Vermont forest owners in bird habitat conservation. Contrary to results from similar studies in other domains, information about peer participation reduced interest in the conservation program. Chapter Four presents results from another large-scale field experiment that tested the effect of message framing on contributions to water quality in a polluted urban watershed. Participants who read an emotional, personal narrative with tenuous connections to nutrient pollution were willing to pay more for nutrient runoff-reducing landscaping products than those who read a scientific description of nutrient pollution's impacts on ecosystems and surrounding communities. The findings from these four studies contribute to our understanding of environmentally relevant behavior, with implications for privately managed land and the environmental benefits it provides.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oklahoma State University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oklahoma State University, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Oklahoma State University, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oklahoma State University, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.