Vancouver Island offers varied relief from coastal plains to high mountains in the central portion of the Island. The coastline is broken, especially in the Western Coast, illustrating beautifully the work of glaciers, and thereby providing Vancouver Island with excellent harbours. These inlets also help in the exploitation of the timber resources of the Island. From these mountains spring up rivers that provide electric power for domestic and industrial uses. The southeastern coastal plain, which is highly developed, varies in width from a mile to a few miles. The glacial soils, with favourable topography, are put to intensive use around the area of urban concentrations, to supply the local markets. Climates differ from one part of the region to another. The Western Coast has an annual rainfall over one hundred inches as compared to about forty inches in the southeast. The northern part of the Island is cloudy, but the south is known for sunshine. Topography, helped by climate, makes Vancouver Island a major forest region and the forest accounts for the prosperity of the region. Forestry is the main primary occupation on Vancouver Island. Most of the secondary and tertiary industries of the Island depend upon forests for their raw material. Forest products contribute a major portion of the Island's export. Pulp and paper production is expanding rapidly. It is the physical and economic factors that make Vancouver Island one of the leading producers of forest products in Canada. Agricultural activity is limited to the southeastern part. Specialized crops are the most favoured ones because they bring high revenues. Dairying and poultry are well developed. Dairy accounts for fifty percent of the total value of the farm products. Because of sub-division and the encroachment by the urban expansion on the farm land, farms are becoming smaller and the number of part time farms is increasing. Fishing is important in some local areas, but processing of fish products is declining. The main fishing regions lie to the northeast and the other is to south and southeast of the Island. In terms of catch, herring leads in quantity, but Salmon is the most valuable. Mining contributes about nine million dollars annually. Structural materials are the most valuable types of production. Coal mining, which was once prominent, is declining, but the Comox fields might change the picture again. Iron and copper are also mined. Because of the favourable climate and opportunities for work, the population of Vancouver Island is increasing steadily. The southeastern part is densely populated. Population consists of many national groups but those of British origin are most numerous. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Nutritional stress has been reported in planted and naturally-regenerated conifers growing in association with an ericaceous species, salal (Gaultheria shallon Pursh), in cutovers previously occupied by old-growth western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) (CH sites) on northern Vancouver Island. No such stress was apparent in cutovers previously occupied by natural, second growth western hemlock and amabilis fir (Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) stands (HA sites) that developed following windthrow in 1907. The CH ecosystem type occupies as much as 100,000 ha in coastal British Columbia. In the spring of 1987, a series of field and pot experiments was initiated to investigate some of the ecological processes affecting the early growth of conifers on recently logged and burned 2- to 10-year-old CH and 2- to 4-year-old HA sites. The overall objective of the research was to quantify some of the possible factors limiting early conifer growth on northern Vancouver Island. The research encompassed studies of: (1) below- and above-ground non-crop vegetation recovery, forest floor nutrient availability and soil microenvironmental modification following clear-cutting and burning; (2) competition for nutrients by the non-crop vegetation; (3) interference by salal of the mycorrhizal development on conifer seedling roots; (4) conifer seedling growth under several different experimental conditions, and; (5) relationship between microsite factors and western redcedar seedling growth within clear-cut and burned CH sites. Salal was the main non-crop species found on the CH sites. It reestablished itself rapidly, both above- and below-ground, following clear-cutting and burning on this type of site. The total above-ground vegetation biomass quadrupled from 1372 kg ha ̄¹on the 2-year-old CH sites to 5574 kg ha ̄¹on the 8-year-old CH sites, whereas the total below-ground biomass increased six times from 1908 kg ha ̄¹ on the 2-year-old CH sites to 11415 kg ha ̄¹ on the 8-year-old CH sites. Similar amounts of total above-ground non-crop biomass were found on HA cutovers for the first 4 years, but the non-crop vegetation was composed of half salal half fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium L.). The regrowth of the non-crop vegetation immobilized annually 9 and 0.9 kg ha ̄¹of N and P, respectively, on the CH sites during the first eight years. This was estimated to represent potentially between 30 and 45% of the available N on these sites. A model of the development of live fine-root, leaf, stem and rhizome biomass of salal over a 60 year period is proposed based on the result of this study and of other studies. This model suggests that the net immobilization of nutrients in salal biomass will cease between 10 and 20 years after clear-cutting and burning as salal stops expanding its biomass. This model implies that the nutritional stress caused by salal should decline after 10 to 20 years at which time conifer nutrition and growth should slowly improve, especially as salal is eliminated by light competition as the conifer canopy begins to close. Several biotic and abiotic factors were studied in relation to their possible effects on the early growth of western hemlock, Sitka spruce and western redcedar. The growth of these three conifer species was compared between 2- to 4-year-old CH cutovers (2+B CH), 8- to 10-year-old CH cutovers (8+B CH), and 2- to 4-year-old HA cutovers (2+B HA) with and without the influence of the non-crop vegetation. No moisture deficit was measured in the field throughout the year on all sites. Both the growth of the conifers and the availability of N (+36%) and P (+25%) were increased by the removal of the non-crop vegetation; however, no difference in cellulose decomposition and soil moisture, and only very small difference in soil temperature was measured. The better conifer growth on 2+B HA > 2+B CH > 8+B CH without the influence of the non-crop vegetation was associated with an overall better forest floor nutrient status; however, no difference in soil moisture and pH, and only small difference in soil temperature were measured. Western redcedar and western hemlock were the best growing species on CH and HA sites, respectively. Both western hemlock and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) were very responsive to the different site conditions (CH vs HA sites) and to planting treatments that increased or decreased conventional measures of nutrient availability caused by the different treatments, whereas western redcedar was not. The presence of salal was found to have no effect on the total percent mycorrhizae found on the roots of the three conifer species studied three years after planting. Both field and pot experiments yielded comparable results. Slow-release fertilizer, at the time of planting, increased growth only for the first two years after application. Western redcedar growth was significantly greater in depressions than on flats and mounds, but this difference was not related to any major differences in the forest floor variables measured between the three microtopographic positions. These results indicate that the nutritional stress and poor growth reported in conifers, especially in Sitka spruce, on CH cutovers on northern Vancouver Island can be explained by a combination of (1) inherently low forest floor fertility in cutovers originating from the old-growth CH forests, (2) salal competition for scarce nutrients and their immobilization in salal biomass, and (3) declining site fertility caused by the termination of the flush of nutrients that occurs in the immediate post-logging and burning period on CH sites. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis examines the influence of lithology on debris torrent occurrence. The analysis covers a thirty-year period in 80 supply-limited basins distributed in the 400 km2 Tsitika River watershed, on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Two bedrock types occur in the watershed, the Igneous Intrusive and the extrusive Karmutsen formations, covering forty-nine and fifty-one percent respectively. The debris torrent source basins are unlogged. The frequency data were obtained in the field using dendrochronological evidence of debris torrents. Field data were compared with data derived from air photographs, the latter were found to be unrepresentative of debris torrent occurrence and were not used. All study basins were digitised from 1 : 20 000 Terrain Resource Inventory Maps (TRIM), and were characterised by selected morphometric parameters. Results show that geology exerts significant control over the temporal and spatial occurrence of debris torrents in the Tsitika watershed; the Karmutsen formation is more prolific. Geology also was found to exert significant control over the runout area and volume of debris torrents. Climate, morphometry and surficial materials do not appear to be confounding parameters. Differences in weathering rates, infiltration patterns and detrital grain-size distribution associated with the two bedrock types are believed to account for the differences in debris torrent behaviour. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

A soil chronosequence near Cox Bay, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, was investigated and verified. Soils in the sequence are developed in sandy beach deposits, which were found to aggrade toward the ocean at a rate of 0.26 m per year. Dendrochronology and geomorphic evidence established surface ages for seven selected pedons (sites 1 to 7) across these deposits, that ranged from 127 years at site 1 to 550 years at site 7. Soil classification ranged from an Orthic Dystric Brunisol (Typic Udipsamment) to an Orthic Humo-Ferric Podzol (Aquic Haplorthod) in thes sites, respectively. A variety of soil weathering characteristics, identified by wet-chemical, physical and optical techniques, were used to demonstrate that the soils along this transect have developed in a manner which is compatible with the presumed genesis of Podzols (Spodosols). A 0.17% increase in B horizon, oxalate extractable Al and a 0.22 meq/100 g decrease in C horizon, exchangeable Mg along this transect were plotted with site age to exemplify soil weathering chronofunctions. Soxhlet procedures were developed to artificially weather Cox Bay chronosequence soil materials, in the laboratory. Site 1, C3 horizon soil samples were leached with distilled water in soxhlets containing O₂, N₂, CO₂ and air atmospheres. The CO₂-water system clearly produced allitic weathering trends, whereas, a total elemental balance approach and more intense leaching were required to further interpret the weathering characteristies created by the other atmospheres. Problems of sample erosion and leachate contamination indicated a need for alterations in the design of the commercially available soxhlet. Modifications made, by reducing the height (A) or completely removing (B) the soxhlet siphon tube, rectified these problems and showed promise in simulating pedogenic processes. Acetic acid (0.3 M) was used to leach 220 g samples of the site 1, C3 horizon soil in A-modified soxhlets. High (4.3 litres per day) and low (2.2 litres per day) leaching rates produced 13 106 and 4 750 mg of precipitate, respectively, which accumulated in the leachates during an eight week experiment. Rates of removal of elements from the soil samples were in the order of Ca > Mg > Fe > K > Al > Na > Si for the low leaching rate and Ca > K > Mg > Al > Fe > Na > Si for the high leaching rate. These results are compatible with a podzolic weathering process. Acetic acid and both A- and B-modified soxhlets were used to weather chronosequence soil samples over 4, 8, 12, 20 and 24 week periods. Chemical changes in the resultant weathered products were evaluated. Ca and Mg decreases in the samples from both types of soxhlet were plotted against weathering time and statistically-derived, exponential functions were used to explain the resultant curves. The similarity between these laboratory chronofunctions and the field chronofunctions, derived earlier, was noted. Calcium-bound phosphate (PCa) and Ca chronofunctions from both field and soxhlet weathered soils were compared mathematically. By comparing the slopes of statistically-generated equations, both the A- a B-modified soxhlets were calibrated to pedogenic time. B-modified soxhlets closely simulated the chronosequence weathering and produced consistent calibration results. Statistically-based chronofunctions predicted that 100 years of pedogenic weathering of PCa required 7.4 weeks of B-modified soxhlet weathering. This compared well with the 5.5 weeks predicted for a similar loss of Ca. A- and B-modified soxhlets were presented as valuable pedologic tools for simulating soil weathering in the Cox Bay soil chronosequence. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

While many communities have readily adopted "sustainability" as one of the community objectives in their planning documents, the actual application of sustainable practices has proven to be challenging for planners and communities. Some of the primary reasons for these challenges may include: • the disconnect between communities visual preferences and sustainable landscapes; • the limitations of current public consultation processes to solicit representational and meaningful input from the community due to the "shopping list" approach to developing official community plans encouraged by the Local Government Act; • the failure of conventional public consultation processes to reach certain segments of the community because of cultural differences or reluctance to publicly "speak one's mind"; and • the difficulties in the prioritization of the information from the public consultation processes into holistic planning policies. In the mean time, current research from various disciplines has established evidence to suggest incongruence between visual preferences and ecologically sustainable landscapes: preference for specific landscape typologies does not seem to be affected by the ecological performance of the landscape. The gap in ecological knowledge about sustainability may have contributed to this situation. The bridging of this gap between knowledge and preference was explored through the application of visual preferences for stormwater management in a rural context. The coastal community of Royston on Vancouver Island was used as a case study for a visual preference survey pilot project. The survey results were synthesized to identify a community aesthetic for Royston and to transform into criteria for selecting sustainable stormwater management best management practices that are appropriate to a rural community to reflect: • the community's preferred aesthetic based on the results from the visual preference survey to promote better acceptance of sustainable working landscapes; • the goals and objectives, and the policies adopted in the Royston Local Area Plan; • the economic realities of a small community; and • flexibility to address new development needs and the necessity to "retrofit" stormwater management practices into existing developments

While many communities have readily adopted "sustainability" as one of the community objectives in their planning documents, the actual application of sustainable practices has proven to be challenging for planners and communities. Some of the primary reasons for these challenges may include: • the disconnect between communities visual preferences and sustainable landscapes; • the limitations of current public consultation processes to solicit representational and meaningful input from the community due to the "shopping list" approach to developing official community plans encouraged by the Local Government Act; • the failure of conventional public consultation processes to reach certain segments of the community because of cultural differences or reluctance to publicly "speak one's mind"; and • the difficulties in the prioritization of the information from the public consultation processes into holistic planning policies. In the mean time, current research from various disciplines has established evidence to suggest incongruence between visual preferences and ecologically sustainable landscapes: preference for specific landscape typologies does not seem to be affected by the ecological performance of the landscape. The gap in ecological knowledge about sustainability may have contributed to this situation. The bridging of this gap between knowledge and preference was explored through the application of visual preferences for stormwater management in a rural context. The coastal community of Royston on Vancouver Island was used as a case study for a visual preference survey pilot project. The survey results were synthesized to identify a community aesthetic for Royston and to transform into criteria for selecting sustainable stormwater management best management practices that are appropriate to a rural community to reflect: • the community's preferred aesthetic based on the results from the visual preference survey to promote better acceptance of sustainable working landscapes; • the goals and objectives, and the policies adopted in the Royston Local Area Plan; • the economic realities of a small community; and • flexibility to address new development needs and the necessity to "retrofit" stormwater management practices into existing developments / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis presents improvements to a method for measuring the production of biogenic silica (bSiO2) by diatoms, a group of microscopic algae with siliceous cell walls (frustules) that dominate the marine cycling of silicon (Si) and account for a significant proportion of global marine primary productivity. Using the fluorescent dye PDMPO, diatom bSiO2 can be labeled as it is produced and then quantified using fluorometry to determine community-wide bSiO2 production. A distinct advantage of PDMPO over more traditional tracers of bSiO2 production is that the combination of measurements of PDMPO by fluorometry and by fluorescence microscopy allows for the quantification of cell (and thus taxa) specific bSiO2 production within a mixed community. However, the robustness of PDMPO as a quantitative tracer of diatom bSiO2 production has not been sufficiently investigated. To address this, experiments were conducted both in the lab, and at two field locations where diatoms are known to be abundant, namely the continental shelf off the west coast of Vancouver Island, and Saanich Inlet, a highly productive fjord located on southern Vancouver Island. Laboratory culture experiments demonstrated that concentrations of PDMPO >500 nmol L-1 reduced growth rate in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, and affected the Si:PDMPO ratio of incorporation. The relationship between SiO2 and PDMPO incorporation was significantly affected by diatom species, though this effect was small (8%) when cells were lysed. From these experiments, a Si:PDMPO incorporation ratio of 4200 ± 380:1 was determined, which predicted 30% more bSiO2 production for PDMPO incorporation than previous studies, and better agreed with bSiO2 production rates determined using established methods in Saanich Inlet. However, bSiO2 production rates were over-estimated by the PDMPO method when rates were less than 1 µmol L-1 d-1. In a few cases, this occurred when dinoflagellates were numerically dominant, but for the majority of samples, dinoflagellates were low in abundance, and over-estimation by PDMPO may be related to low dissolved Si(OH)4 concentration. Protocols for quantifying PDMPO fluorescence by microscopy were optimized by using a low numerical aperture microscope objective. Additionally, measurements of fluorescence intensity were calibrated using a fluorescent microscope slide as a standard, which served to correct for unevenness of illumination across the field of view. With these protocol modifications, quantification of PDMPO by microscopy agreed with PDMPO measured by fluorometry. When PDMPO was measured by microscopy in the field, the contribution of diatom taxa to PDMPO fluorescence differed from their contribution to cell numbers. In many cases this was due to large diatom taxa producing more bSiO2 per cell than smaller taxa. However, much of the difference between cell numbers and PDMPO fluorescence was not explained by differences in cell size. This suggests that the diatom taxa had different specific bSiO2 production rates, which could be estimated using PDMPO. This thesis highlights the strength of the PDMPO tracer for understanding diatom community dynamics. The use of PDMPO should allow the relationship between diatom community composition, growth and productivity to be better illuminated in the oceans. / Graduate / 0416 / jelong@uvic.ca

No description available.

Graduation date: 1963

Thesis (PH. D.)--University of Chicago, 1904. / At head of title: The University of Chicago. Reprinted from the Annual report, 1904, of the American Historical Association. Includes bibliographical references (p. 472-478) Also available on the Internet.