The underrepresentation of gifted Black and Biracial students is a pervasive problem in and of itself, and indicates a much larger struggle of disproportionality of Black and Biracial students who are not called upon or supported in efforts to meet their academic potential. Therefore, an evaluation of the inequity generated by gifted education is warranted. It is true that the majority of gifted programs are often predominantly White. Accordingly, Black and Biracial students who qualify for gifted programs may face unique challenges in their development of racial identity and their socio-emotional health. Using ethnographic techniques, this case study explored the ways that Discovery School, a predominantly White gifted school (PWGS), addresses race. It asked how Black and Biracial students at Discovery School understood themselves as racial beings. The fundamental research questions that guided this study were: (1) how is race addressed at a PWGS, and (2) how does a student of color feel Otherness at a PWGS? The case study was designed, and findings were analyzed, through the theoretical lens of critical race theory. Data was collected through several means, including interviews, surveys, direct observation, and email prompts. Interviews were conducted with four gifted students of color, three teachers, and three parents. Surveys were sent home for student participants and their parents to fill out together. Teachers and administrators were asked to complete two email interview questions. Throughout the data collection, I frequently observed students learning and playing at the school and recorded field notes. Findings indicate that: 1. Talented and gifted students thrive in programs that are uniquely tailored to meet their advanced academic and cognitive needs. 2. Policies and inadequate communication act as barriers for gifted Black and Biracial students. 3. Within a positive educational community, racial microaggressions- including the silencing of racial dialogue and individual bullying- exist. The results of this study suggest that Discovery School operates in ways that benefit the participants of the study. Overall, the student participants (and most parent participants) were satisfied with their experiences at Discovery School. Additionally, results indicate that Discovery School could strengthen their program with a commitment to diversifying the student population and implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and antiracist practices that change the consciousness of education professionals and offer support systems for gifted Black and Biracial students, and develop curriculum that is more reflective of students of color.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) provide numerous services to their plant symbionts. Understanding the effects of climate change on AMF, and the resulting plant responses, is a crucial factor in predicting ecosystem responses on a global scale. We used a manipulative climate change experiment embedded within a natural climate gradient in Oregon and Washington to examine how the effects of future climate change on AMF-plant symbioses are mediated by soil water availability, soil nutrient availability, and vegetation dynamics. Using structural equation modeling, we found that the direct effect of increasing temperatures was to decrease AMF colonization. Indirect effects of temperature, mediated through other variables, canceled each other out. However, future shifts in these relationships could either exacerbate or mitigate the negative direct effect of temperature. As ecosystems in Mediterranean climates experience more intense droughts and heavier rains, decreases in AMF colonization could have substantial consequences for plant communities and ecosystem function.

This thesis details the lived experiences of ten first-generation Latino students at a large public university in the Pacific Northwest. Their experience and adjustment reveal that they relied on their friends and family, especially their parents for the male participants, for support and encouragement. The help these students received in the form of caring and social capital from faculty and staff during their freshman year ensured that they made a successful adjustment to college. Participants cite influential people and programs that motivated them to succeed and become comfortable in the college student role.

Patterns of vegetation use by black bears (Ursus americanus) on Long Island, Washington were documented using radio-telemetry in 1973-74 and 1980-81. Secondary succession altered the vegetative compostion of clearcut areas through this time, reducing the areas dominated by productive brush species by nearly 50%. Seasonal food habits, consisted primarily of grasses and forbs in spring (den emergence-May) and flowers and fruits of shrub species in summer (June-September) and fall (October-den entrance). Bears selected for clearcuts (5-21 years of age) over all other vegetation types for feeding but preferred areas dominated by large trees when inactive during both the day and night. Inactivity in clearcut areas occurred most frequently in clearcuts offering the greatest amount of horizontal cover. Although preferred in all seasons, clearcuts received the greatest use during the summer months when flowers and fruits of shrubs species were most abundant. Tidelands and meadows were used more in the spring than during other seasons and conifer stands received the greatest proportionate use in spring and fall. Old growth timber (200 +years of age) was used similarly to mature second growth. Adult males were less influenced than other classes of bears by availability of horizontal cover and proximity of cover provided by adjacent vegetation types when feeding in clearcut areas. Adult females with cubs fed in timber stands and clearcuts with abundant horizontal cover more than other bears and generally remained in close proximity to bordering timber stands when feeding in clearcuts. Subadults, as well as adult females with cubs, appeared to use available habitats in a manner that allowed them to avoid other bears. Areas in large timber stands that were long distances from clearcuts were used by bears more during the 1980-81 phase of the study, apparently because of the increased competition for declining resources in clearcut areas. Home ranges of the adult females present during both phases of the study were similar in both size and location.

Increasing the taxonomic resolution of fossil pollen identification is important for accurate paleoecological reconstructions. Here, an attempt is made to identify the critical morphological features that will permit differentiation of Alnus pollen in fossil records. Palynologists working in the Pacific Northwest often distinguish alder pollen into two morphotypes. However, no definitive method outlining the validity of species level identifications has been devised to date. To test and validate species-level identifications, the pollen morphology of the three main alder species (Alnus viridis subsp. sinuata, Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia and Alnus rubra) that occur in westernNorth America is examined with the goal of identifying morphological characteristics with which to distinguish the pollen of these species in fossil records. Modern pollen samples were collected from 27-35 individual plants from across the range of each of the three alder species. Pollen grains (n=30) from each individual plant were examined using light microscopy at 1000´ magnification under oil immersion. For each individual pollen grain, six quantitative traits (pollen grain diameter, exine thickness, arci width, and annulus height, width and area), and three qualitative traits (pore protrusion, grain shape and arci strength) were measured. In total, 21,390 alder pollen were examined from 93 separate collections. In addition, the number of pores was determined for 200 pollen grains from each individual plant. Statistically significant differences between species were found for all quantitative traits when traits were compared via nested ANOVA. However, there is high variability in pollen morphology within each species and pollen morphology is best described as occurring along a morphological continuum. A single morphological trait is insufficient for precise identification of alder pollen to species. CART analysis, when used to derive a multi-trait classification model, is shown to be a useful tool in separating the pollen of A. rubra and A. viridis subsp. sinuata into two separate ‘morphotypes,’ analogous to species identification. The confounding intermediate morphology of A. incana subsp. tenuifolia precludes the possibility of distinguishing the pollen of all three species. CART modelling isolates A. rubra and A. viridis subsp. sinuata pollen based on annulus width, arci strength, diameter and exine thickness, traits that support the differences used by palynologists for separating alder pollen into ‘morphotypes.’ Sensitivity analysis shows clearly that the common practice of using small sample sizes (e.g. n=7 and n=15) for identifying critical morphological traits for pollen identification produces misleading and erroneous results. Regional differences in pollen morphology were also assessed by splitting the dataset into regions. Classification accuracy is diminished from over 70% to less than 20% when a CART model derived from pollen grains from one region is used to classify grains from a different region. This research underscores the importance of using large sample sizes from across species’ ranges when attempting to determine the diagnostic morphological features for accurate pollen identification. / Graduate

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, Sept. 1923. / Typewritten (carbon copy). Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 202-[215].

Spring plant phenology is often used as an indicator of a community response to climate change. Remote data and low-resolution climate models are typically used to predict phenology across a landscape; however, this tends to miss the nuances of microclimate, especially in a mountainous area with heterogeneous topography. I investigated how inter-annual variability in regional climate affects the distribution of microclimates (i.e., areas <100m2) and spring plant phenology across a 6400-hectare watershed within the Western Cascades in Oregon. Additionally, I created species-specific models of bud break at the microclimate scale, that could then be applied across a wider landscape. I found that years with warm winters, few storms and low snowpack have a homogenizing effect on microclimate and spring phenology events, and that bud break models developed at a local scale can be effectively applied across a broader landscape. This thesis includes previously unpublished coauthored material.

The gravemarkers of the Aurora Colony Cemetery offer a means of examining identity and change within this early Oregon utopian community. Led by charismatic Wilhelm Keil and composed predominantly of people of German heritage, the members of the Aurora Colony sought to distance themselves from worldly influences through emigration to the Willamette Valley. In existence from 1856 to 1883, they sought to maintain shared cultural practices while, as farmers and artisans, relying simultaneously upon inclusive commerce with the outside world. Contextual analysis of this mortuaryscape provides a venue for understanding the interplay of separatist ideology and extralocal forces among Colony members and the following generation of their descendants. Artifactual data from relationships found among their mortuary objects reflects patterns of change in material, typology, composition, and language spanning the years 1862-1920. Subsequently, such objects express the tide of acculturation and dissolution experienced within the Colony.

The recent rise of inner shelf hypoxia in the California Current System has caused concern within the scientific community, sparking a surge in studies addressing the issue. While regional studies of hypoxia abound, relatively little attention has been focused on the smaller coastal estuarine systems in the Pacific Northwest. Here, we present results from Coos Bay, a small, highly seasonal estuary on the southern Oregon coast. Due to wide fluctuations in freshwater input, Coos Bay exhibits characteristics of a salt-wedge type estuary in the winter, a well-mixed estuary in the summer, and a partially-mixed estuary during times of moderate discharge. Despite a strong coupling with coastal waters, we did not find evidence for pervasive hypoxia in Coos Bay. The primary drivers of variability in dissolved oxygen levels in the estuary are upwelling wind stress, residence time, and in situ biologic processes.

To determine how Pacific Northwest prairies are influenced by local site factors versus. regional climate, we studied the reproduction, plant size, and density of sixteen natural populations of four perennial forb species native to Pacific Northwest prairies: Ranunculus austro-oreganus, Sidalcea malviflora spp. virgata, Microseris laciniata, and Eriophyllum lanatum. These populations were distributed along a 700 kilometer latitudinal gradient from southern Oregon to Whidbey Island, Washington. We found significant differences in plant size and reproduction among populations for all species, but correlations among edaphic and climate variables and plant size and reproduction were weak. Instead, density was more strongly correlated with both edaphic and climate variables, suggesting that this is a better indicator of long-term demographic processes. Although a few factors are important across species (e.g., nutrient availability and minimum temperature), response is idiosyncratic at the individual species level in Pacific Northwest prairies.