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Houselessness is a prevalent issue in America's major cities. In large cities such as Washington, D.C., it is common to see people living on the streets and in public spaces. The underlying causes of houselessness are multifaceted, but it is evident that the city does not provide appropriate resources for these individuals to exist humanely. This study aims to comprehend the primary needs of a houseless person and determine how urban design solutions might provide resources to address those needs. For the investigation, SW Washington, DC's waterfront neighborhood was chosen. In its urban fabric, numerous unused or underutilized spaces have been observed. These spaces have the potential to be transformed into urban places that could make the city more supportive to the population without houses. A number of such resources have been identified. Several survey methods, such as non-participatory observation, and traffic and pedestrian counts, were utilized to obtain primary data for the research. In addition, diverse data sources, such as GIS data, journals, books, podcasts, television interviews, and website content, were consulted to obtain secondary data. Collected data was studied and synthesized to develop urban design ideas that can aid unsheltered individuals with their daily needs and make the city more hospitable. This research is not intended to solve the issue of homelessness in American cities; rather, it aims to highlight the needs of those impacted and propose possible intervention strategies in conjunction with other social services and design solutions (i.e., traditional shelters, traditional housing). The study also provides a brief overview of the causes of houselessness in the United States and an investigation into the lives of people living unsheltered. The outcome will give policymakers an understanding of how a city can facilitate its unfortunate residents. / Master of Science / Housing is a fundamental need for all people. What occurs when an individual loses their home and becomes houseless? He or she investigates potential alternatives. The alternatives can include a hotel or motel, a friend's or relative's house, a homeless shelter, and in desperate situations, a tent inside the city. This study primarily focuses on the houseless individuals who could not find any housing and sought out services in the city that a house provides. This study used the SW waterfront neighborhood of Washington, DC, as a study area and demonstrated the design of places within this city fabric that may lessen the challenges a houseless person may encounter. The study outcome proposes services like restrooms, shaded parking, cooking places, and places to lie down in various parts of the city. If implemented, it is expected that the city's fabric will be more hospitable to its unfortunate houseless citizens.

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Generalist herbivores profoundly influence the biomass and species composition of macroalgae assemblages. In subtidal ecosystems of temperate latitudes, large invertebrates are usually the most influential herbivores. I tested the prediction that exclusion of invertebrate herbivores would lead to changes in the biomass and species composition of the macroalgae assemblages that are a prominent feature of the reefs in south-western Australia. The most abundant invertebrate herbivores were sea urchins (Heliocidaris erythrogramma, Phyllacanthus irregularis and Centrostephanus tenuispinus), and these occupied different trophic positions. Heliocidaris was present at virtually all reefs surveyed, and was particularly abundant in the Fremantle region. Analyses of stable isotopes and direct observations of gut contents revealed that it was almost exclusively herbivorous, and that it mainly ate foliose brown algae. In contrast, Phyllacanthus and Centrostephanus were omnivorous; while they consumed large proportions of algae, a substantial proportion of the diet of both species was animal tissue. Because Heliocidaris is a generalist herbivore that occurs at high densities, it could exert a large influence on the macroalgae assemblage. This prediction was tested by a series of press experiments. Contrary to the prediction, Heliocidaris exerted a very minor influence on the biomass, and no detectable influence on the species composition, of attached macroalgae. However, it exerted a major influence on the retention of drift macroalgae and seagrass by trapping and feeding on drift. It exerted a particularly strong influence on retention of the kelp Ecklonia radiata. This kelp was not abundant in the attached algae assemblage (when all plots were pooled it ranked 35th in biomass), but was abundant as drift (ranking 1st). Most of the drift Ecklonia was retained by sea urchins, rather than freely drifting.Herbivorous fish may also influence macroalgae assemblages. To compare the effects of sea urchins versus fish on recruiting and adult macroalgae a 13-month exclusion experiment was conducted. There were no detectable effects of sea urchins (mainly Heliocidaris) on either recruiting or adult macroalgae. There were some patterns in the biomass of recruiting algae consistent with an influence by herbivorous fish; however, these patterns were also consistent with the presence of artefacts (shading and reduced water flow) by fish exclusion devices. I began with the prediction that large invertebrate herbivores were a major influence on the macroalgae assemblages of subtidal reefs in south-western Australia. Overall, there was little evidence to support this prediction: within spatial extents of tens of square metres and over periods of 1-2 years, only minor effects were detected. However, it remains plausible that herbivores exert an influence over long time periods across large spatial extents in south-western Australia. I propose that trophic subsidies support the comparatively high densities of Heliocidaris that exist at some reefs. I further propose that these subsidies mediate the effects of sea urchins on the attached macroalgae assemblage, and that they might play an important role in energy and nutrient cycling in these nearshore ecosystems.

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[Truncated abstract] Southwestern Australia is a global biodiversity hotspot. The region contains a high number of endemic species, ranging from Gondwanan relicts to more recently evolved plant and animal species. Biogeographic models developed primarily for plants suggest a prominent role of Quaternary climatic fluctuations in the rampant speciation of endemic plants. Those models were not based on explicit spatial analysis of genetic structure, did not estimate divergence dates and may be a poor predictor of patterns in endemic vertebrates. Myobatrachid frogs have featured heavily in the limited investigations of the biogeography of the regions fauna. Myobatrachid frogs are diverse in southwestern Australia, and while we know they have speciated in situ, we know little about the temporal and spatial patterning of speciation events. In order to gain insight into the biogeographic history and potential speciation patterns of Myobatrachid frogs in the southwest I conducted a comparative phylogeography of four frog species spanning three life history strategies. I aimed to: 1) assess the biogeographic history of individual species, 2) determine where patterns of regional diversity exist using a comparative framework, 3) determine whether congruent patterns across species enable the development of explicit biogeographic hypotheses for frogs, and 4) compare patterns of diversity in plants with the models I developed for frogs. I conducted fine-scale intraspecific phylogeographies on four species. ... Geocrinia leai: deep divergences, coincident with late Miocene arid onset, divide this species into western and southeast coastal lineages, with a third only found within the Shannon-Gardner River catchments. Phylogeographic history within each lineage has been shaped by climatic fluctuations from the Pliocene through to the present. Arenophryne shows the first evidence of geological activity in speciation of a Shark Bay endemic. Divergence patterns between the High Rainfall and Southeast Coastal Provinces within C. georgiana are consistent with patterns between Litoria moorei and L. cyclorhynchus and plant biogeographic regions. Subdivision between drainage systems along the southern coast (in M. nichollsi, G. leai and the G. rosea species complex) reflect the relative importance of distinct catchments as refuges during arid maxima, similarly the northern Darling Escarpment is identified as a potential refugium (C. georgiana and G. leai). Divergences in Myobatrachid frogs are far older than those inferred for plants with the late Miocene apparently an important time for speciation of southwestern frogs. Speciation of Myobatrachids broadly relates to the onset of aridity in Australia in the late Miocene, with the exception of earlier/contemporaneous geological activity in Arenophryne. The origins of subsequent intraspecific phylogeographic structure are coincident with subsequent climatic fluctuations and correlated landscape evolution. Divergence within frogs in the forest system may be far older than the Pleistocene models developed for plants because of the heavy reliance on wet systems by relictual frog species persisting in the southwestern corner of Australia.

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