The introduction, intentional or otherwise, of plants (both cultivated plants and weeds), animals, and technologies that occurred with Spanish colonization in the Southwest had profound impacts on vegetation and landscape that are reflected in larger changes in indigenous land and resource use, culture, and identity. Archaeological palynology provides information on both the environmental and agricultural impacts of colonialism. Through the study of two sites occupied during the colonial period, in different areas, reflecting different experiences of colonized groups, the range of effects of introductions is investigated. Paa-ko, in New Mexico, was occupied in the early colonial period and was more peripheral to the colonial system than was the second site, Tumacacori, in southern Arizona, the location of a mission that was occupied into the mid-1800s.The identification of introductions, including both new plants and new ways of cultivating and processing plants, in the pollen record is central to this study. The differentiation, using pollen diameters, of grasses is particularly important, although studies of reference pollen show a great overlap between these types. Because of the importance of pollen diameters for the identification of this and other pollen types, factors that could affect pollen size, including processing methods, which did not seem to have much effect, and mounting media (and time since processing), which had rather dramatic effects on diameters, are also important. These and other experimental studies conducted to provide analogs to agricultural and processing areas that would have been seen in the Spanish colonial period, can assist in the interpretation of pollen samples from sites of this period, including the two sites discussed here. While the pollen evidence from Paa-ko demonstrates a continuation of the cultivation of native crops, including maize and squash, and the absence of cultivation of introductions, pollen from Tumacacori demonstrates the absence of cultivation of native crops, particularly maize, and, possibly, cultivation of wheat, in the area closest to the mission and most heavily influenced by missionary control, reflecting, perhaps, the greater integration of Tumacacori into the colonial system and a greater acceptance and use of introduced crops in this later colonial period.

Cosmology -- the theory, origin, and structure of the universe -- underlies and informs thought and human action and manifests in people's material culture. However, the theoretical and methodological tools needed to understand cosmological change over archaeological time scales remains underdeveloped. This dissertation addresses the history of the Pueblo people of the American Southwest, specifically the Tewa of the northern Rio Grande region in modern New Mexico, to identify and explain cosmological change in the context of dramatic social and residential transformation.The Great Drought and resulting abandonment of much of the northern Southwest in the late-1200s acted as a catalyst for a complex reorganization of the Pueblo world as displaced migrant groups interacted with existing communities, including people of the Rio Grande region. I argue that this period of immigration, reorganization, and subsequent population coalescence of disparate people, with different world views and histories, resulted in a unique construction of the cosmos and, eventually, the Tewa identity and history that the Spanish encountered in the late 1500s. The resulting Tewa cosmology recorded in twentieth century ethnography, while heavily influenced by histories of conquest and colonization, is therefore a palimpsest of the memories, identities, and histories of disparate peoples brought together by the events of migration and coalescence.Using data collected from architectural mapping, pottery analysis, ceramic compositional analysis, and dendrochronology, I infer a history of settlement and interaction between and within possibly disparate ancestral Tewa groups in the northern Rio Grande region. I then interpret ritual landscape data with respect to cosmological change, focusing on natural and cultural (shrines and rock art) features immediately adjacent to the village.I argue that new cosmologies were developed through negotiation of worldview between disparate peoples displaced by the mass-depopulation of the northern Southwest. The ethnographic Tewa cosmology has roots in multiple traditions but is innovative and unique in the context of the larger Pueblo world. However, because the majority of the Pueblo world underwent similar residential, social, ritual, and cosmological transformation from A.D. 1275-1600, a Tewa case study has broad implications for the remainder of the Pueblo Southwest.

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No description available.

Many plants are not commercially produced due to a lack of accessible information on their horticultural requirements and landscape potential. Members of the Legume Family (Leguminosae) are often conspicuous components of the vegetation of arid and semi-arid subtropical regions. Many of these plants are suitable for landscaping use in areas suited to their cultivation. Coursetia glandulosa, Erythrina flabelliformis, Eysenhardtia orthocarpa, Haematoxylon brasiletto, Lysiloma watsonii, Pithecellobium mexicanum, and Sophora arizonica are woody legumes native to the Sonoran Desert region which offer a variety of form, texture, color and function. All of these plants grow readily from scarified seed. E. flabelliformis and E. orthocarpa are easy to propagate from stem cuttings. Some irrigation is necessary for establishment and reasonable growth in the landscape. Maintenance and pests are minimal. Freezing temperatures are the primary limiting factor to several of the plants. S. arizonica is slow growing and is prone to rot in the nursery.

Drought indices based on monthly precipitation and sometimes temperature are widely used due to their simple calculation with readily available climate data. The portrayal of drought through simple precipitation anomalies or water balances when accounting for temperature may not capture the potentially complex evolution of drought events due to the timing, intensity, and frequency of precipitation events at the daily scale. In this study, we present a new drought index that incorporates a deterministic soil model, HYDRUS-1D, and daily climate data to assess how representative simple drought indices are of soil moisture status in the Southwest. Specifically, we compare our drought index with two widely used drought indices: the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Perception-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Modeled soil moisture output was summed into monthly values for direct comparison between indices. SPI and SPEI proved to be representative of soil moisture status at shallow depths, correlating best at a two-month window. SPI correlated higher with our modeled drought index than SPEI in shallow settings across all study sites. Intense drought events were controlled by the magnitude and frequency of precipitation, with large events creating water surplus and then a slow decay in soil moisture until the next large event. Furthermore, heat map correlations indicate that monitoring drought at depth is dependent upon the previous years monsoon, with the best correlating window growing with distance from monsoon onset. Modeled soil moisture showed volumetric water content increased during monsoon season and remained high through the fall and into the winter months. Higher moisture content increased hydraulic conductivity, priming the soil profile for winter recharge. We believe that the addition of a soil physics based drought index greatly improves drought monitoring conditions for the southwest.

No description available.

The last two glacial terminations represent the most recent, and best documented, periods of Earth warming in the geological record. During these terminations atmospheric CO\textsubscript{2 }rose by approximately 100 ppm and global mean temperatures increased by 4-6\textsuperscript{o}C. Whilst the driver for these deglaciations ultimately derives from changes in the insolation forcing at the edge of the atmosphere, feedbacks within the Earth\textquoteright s climate system act to amplify these small external forcings tipping the Earth from a cold glacial climate state to a warm interglacial climate state. A key question in Quaternary climate science is understanding which feedbacks are important in regulating global climate on glacial-interglacial timescales. On this topic, the Southern Ocean has long been considered to be an important player in regulating atmospheric CO\textsubscript{2 } on glacial-interglacial timescales. This thesis investigates some of the hypothesised drivers of changes in atmospheric CO\textsubscript{2 } on glacial-interglacial timescales by generating high-resolution multi-proxy records from the Southern Ocean spanning the last two glacial terminations. In particular, I focus on changes in the structure, circulation and biological productivity within the sub-Antarctic zone. A change in the deep ocean density structure has been hypothesised to have resulted in the release of CO\textsubscript{2 } from the deep ocean. Centennial records from the sub-Antarctic are used to reconstruct deep and intermediate water density for the first time. I demonstrate that timing of the major breakdown in the density gradient of the ocean significantly lagged the breakdown in the chemical gradient, suggesting that changes in the deep ocean density structure were not the major driver of the deglacial rise in atmospheric CO\textsubscript{2 }. Changes in the density structure of the Southern Ocean likely had significant implications for global circulation. In particular, the flow of low salinity water through the Drake Passage is thought to be important in setting the strength and geometry of Atlantic Overturning Circulation. Drake Passage through-flow speed was reconstructed from two sites in the central and northern margins of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current downstream of Drake Passage. These records suggest a very different structure of Antarctic Circumpolar flow through Drake Passage during glacial periods, and evidence significant changes in ocean temperature as a result of pronounced reductions in Drake Passage through-flow. The strength of the biological pump has long been identified as an important player in regulating atmospheric CO\textsubscript{2 }. In particular, a strong glacial increase in sub-Antarctic productivity has been observed at open ocean sites in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. However, the glacial-interglacial changes in productivity in sub-Antarctic shelf settings are less well-documented. The new high-resolution records presented here from the sub-Antarctic southwest Atlantic suggest a significant change in the CaCO\textsubscript{3}:C\textsubscript{org} ratio which likely has implications for the surface ocean\textquoteright s ability to uptake CO\textsubscript{2 }.

This thesis examines results of a survey conducted in the Southwestern United States focusing on attitudes towards invasive plants, public preferences for information sources and willingness to volunteer in invasive plant management. This research demonstrates that the public is interested in the problem and control of invasive plants. In a broad context there is agreement among respondents that invasive plants pose a threat to the environment and control efforts, including the use of herbicides, should be allowed to occur. Given the differences between general and specific attitudes towards invasive plants, it is suggested education and awareness programs be designed to fit specific rather than general attitudes. The interested public reflected in this research desires more information about invasive plant species and their control, and prefers to receive it through brochures and pamphlets. The study revealed a small subsection of the overall population that was capable and willing to assist in volunteer efforts existing in the Western United States. Recreation, farm and grassroots environmental organizations are recommended as being potential sources of volunteers and participants in invasive plant control.

In 1747, José de Escandón led an expeditionary force into the Seno Mexicano, the remote northern frontier of New Spain, which had developed into a safe haven for rebellious natives who had fled to the region as they resisted Spanish domination in the interior provinces. News of foreign encroachment into the region prompted officials in New Spain to renew their efforts to explore and pacify the region. Within three and onehalf months, the area that had resisted previous attempts at exploration had been thoroughly explored and mapped. In December, 1748, Escandón set out to colonize the newly explored region, named Nuevo Santander. During the preliminary colonization of Nuevo Santander from 1748 to 1749, Escandón founded fourteen settlements along the Río Grande. In this study, I transcribe, translate, and study all primary Spanish manuscripts documenting the exploration of the Seno Mexicano, and the preliminary colonization of the newly founded province of Nuevo Santander. I provide the first English annotated translation of Escandón’s Informe documenting the exploration of the Seno Mexicano, and the first English-language account of the preliminary colonization of Nuevo Santander that is based on all available manuscripts documenting the event: Escandón’s Autos and Friar Simón del Hierro’s Diario. Escandón accomplished what no Spaniard before him could. He successfully explored the Seno Mexicano, and began colonizing the newly founded province of Nuevo Santander. Under Escandón’s colonization design, for the first and only time in the history of New Spain, Spanish officials relied on colonists rather than soldiers and priests to colonize a region. This colonization design had a definitive impact on the future development of the region, and provided the framework under which a civilian ranching industry would emerge and flourish. Escandón was one of the most important people in 18th century New Spain, and the impact of his accomplishments and unique colonization plan is still evident today on both sides of the Río Grande.