No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis makes the connection between urban agriculture and a specific suite of ecosystem services and lays out a typology and toolkit for planners to take advantage of these ecosystem services. The services investigated here are: food production, water management, soil health, biodiversity, climate mitigation, and community development benefits. Research from a variety of fields was aggregated and synthesized to prove that urban agriculture can be beneficial for human as well as environmental health. A set of urban agriculture typologies was generated to illustrate best practices to maximize a particular set of ecosystem services. The typologies are: production farm, stormwater garden, soil-building garden, habitat garden, climate mitigation farm, cultural/educational garden, and ecosystem garden. Each typology was paired with a precedent study to demonstrate how that typology might be realized in the real world. Finally, a toolkit for planners was assembled to demonstrate some tools and techniques that planners might use to implement urban agriculture as a strategy for providing ecosystem services. Planners can utilize the toolkit to insert themselves into the urban ecosystem at multiple scales in a creative way to apply best practices and urban agriculture typologies in order to take advantage of the multiple benefits of urban agriculture.

Reducing groundwater withdrawals from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer is imperative to sustain future irrigated cropping systems in the mid-southern USA. This research was conducted to determine the impacts of cover crops and irrigation sensor thresholds on corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) production, water productivity, irrigation water use efficiency, and soil physical properties in the Mississippi Delta. The cover crop treatments included cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa R.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-radish (Raphanus sativus L.)-turnip (Brassica rapa L.) mix, and no cover crop. The irrigation thresholds included -40 kPa, -90 kPa, and no irrigation. In 2020, cover crops and irrigation thresholds showed minimal impacts on most of the measured parameters but showed improvements as the study progressed. After two years, it was determined that long-term evaluations are needed to make a recommendation to producers in the mid-southern USA.

Climate change and a growing wildland-urban interface are associated with an increase in the number and severity of wildfires. While severe wildfires do cause a costly and dangerous impact on the environment and the public, their after-effects comprise important subjects of study. In post-fire hydrologic studies, the reduced infiltration and plant cover that results from wildfires can commonly be associated with increased peakflows and erosion. Phenomena such as the flooding and debris flows in Montecito after the Thomas Fire in late 2017 can have important implications on infrastructure and human lives. Quantifying post-fire peak flows and flooding volumes has therefore become a special study of interest. However, the few studies that exist on post-fire hydrology across the United States have inconclusive and flawed results. Post-fire hydrological studies on coastal-redwood forests are also lacking in both number and quality. These research gaps were addressed through a three-year, post-fire hydrological study on the Litte Creek watershed of Swanton Pacific Ranch in Davenport, CA. The study took place from the 2021 to 2024 hydrological years (HY). Hydrographs and rating curves were developed to yield results for post-fire conditions. A frequency analysis utilizing Log Pearson Type III and Weibull calculations yielded post-fire results according to 0.5-, 1-, 2-, and 5-year return intervals. A statistical model based on precipitation, antecedent precipitation index, and streamflow data modelled pre-fire values. Subsequently, the pre- and post-fire peak flows and storm volumes were compared. The post-fire results from the analysis were also compared to those estimated from the USGS Linear Regression method and the RF-5 method from Wilder et al, 2020. It was found that a slight increase in post-fire peak flows and storm volumes occurred upon comparison to pre-fire values, primarily for the South Fork of the watershed. This observation was found to be present for flows and volumes below a 0.5-year return interval, with higher uncertainty beyond that threshold. The USGS and Wilder methods were found to v inaccurately predict the post-fire peak flows. However, calculation of USGS-Regression parameters for two areas (Main Stem and South Fork) yielded percent increases in post-fire peak flows (between 19-31%) and percent-runoff increases (between 36-59%) for peak flows between return intervals of 0.5 to 5 years. Results were found to be mostly statistically significant for all three sites (α < 0.05), except for the North-Fork site in several cases and some model intercepts across all three sites. Incision and erosion of streambeds and the recovery of vegetation since the 2020 fire may have played an underlying role in the study. Despite some errors in stage data, the small increases in post-fire parameters, and variations in burn-area conditions, the study represented a motivated attempt to use linear regression on post-fire hydrologic data and to improve upon the site’s previous study through a more comprehensive dataset. This attempt serves as one of many in studying post-fire hydrology, which serves to inform better decisions for wildfire, flood-management, and land-management agencies.

No description available.

No description available.

The problem facing the Tlokwe Local Municipality is that it is Constitutional and legislatively obliged to avoid and/or mitigate the impact of potential disasters within its boundaries, through the effective management of potential disaster risks and disasters. The lack of effective risk management tools is especially concerning in the context of the water catchment management of the Mooi River, which is the main water supply of the Tlokwe local Municipality. The Mooi River is exposed to many potential catchment related hazards that could affect the municipality of which the origins are both anthropogenic and natural. Although, many of the impacts on the catchment arise beyond the boundaries and the control of the municipality, this does not relieve the municipality from the responsibility to develop tools to manage the risks. The aim of the study is to assist in addressing the above stated problem through establishing the requirements for a conceptual model for an effective spatial information system that will assist the municipality in effectively managing the potential disaster risks and disasters that may arise in the Mooi River Catchment area that could impact on the Tlokwe Local Municiaplity. The aim gives rise to three-research questions that are formulated as research objectives that are used to identify the conceptual model requirements. The first is to identify and conceptualise the constitutional and legislative obligations in respect of disaster risk management in general and specifically those governing the disaster disk management in the water catchment area for the Mooi River. The study of this objective not only highlight the constitutional and legal obligations that the local municipality is subject to, but provides legislatives remedies that the local municipality can utilise to assist with disaster risks reduction. The second is to identify and conceptualise the generic hazards that are related to water catchment areas (including the related groundwater compartments) and those specific in the Mooi River catchment area. In this section, potential anthropogenic and natural hazards are listed, a methodology for risk and vulnerability analyses is provided, and a concise study of quaternary catchment C23D is provided. The third is to identify and conceptualize the requirements for an effective conceptual model of GIS for Disaster Risk Management in the Tlokwe Local Municipality. An overview of a GIS is provided. The essential components of a generic information system namely, people, software, hardware, procedures and processes, data and telecommunications or networks are discussed. The information and system requirements cumulating from the analyses of the three research questions, serve as the drivers of the goal, outcomes and transformation process of the system as well as the requirements for the conceptual model. In this section: a comparison of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Framework for Applied Systems Thinking (FAST), problem solving and the phases addressed in this study; the identification of the conceptual model requirements; and a concise systems conceptualisation of an effective GIS is provided. As the, mini-dissertation focuses on the needs for a conceptual model, the additional activities required before the system can be implemented are identified and formulated as recommendation that provide the opportunity for future research. / M Development and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The problem facing the Tlokwe Local Municipality is that it is Constitutional and legislatively obliged to avoid and/or mitigate the impact of potential disasters within its boundaries, through the effective management of potential disaster risks and disasters. The lack of effective risk management tools is especially concerning in the context of the water catchment management of the Mooi River, which is the main water supply of the Tlokwe local Municipality. The Mooi River is exposed to many potential catchment related hazards that could affect the municipality of which the origins are both anthropogenic and natural. Although, many of the impacts on the catchment arise beyond the boundaries and the control of the municipality, this does not relieve the municipality from the responsibility to develop tools to manage the risks. The aim of the study is to assist in addressing the above stated problem through establishing the requirements for a conceptual model for an effective spatial information system that will assist the municipality in effectively managing the potential disaster risks and disasters that may arise in the Mooi River Catchment area that could impact on the Tlokwe Local Municiaplity. The aim gives rise to three-research questions that are formulated as research objectives that are used to identify the conceptual model requirements. The first is to identify and conceptualise the constitutional and legislative obligations in respect of disaster risk management in general and specifically those governing the disaster disk management in the water catchment area for the Mooi River. The study of this objective not only highlight the constitutional and legal obligations that the local municipality is subject to, but provides legislatives remedies that the local municipality can utilise to assist with disaster risks reduction. The second is to identify and conceptualise the generic hazards that are related to water catchment areas (including the related groundwater compartments) and those specific in the Mooi River catchment area. In this section, potential anthropogenic and natural hazards are listed, a methodology for risk and vulnerability analyses is provided, and a concise study of quaternary catchment C23D is provided. The third is to identify and conceptualize the requirements for an effective conceptual model of GIS for Disaster Risk Management in the Tlokwe Local Municipality. An overview of a GIS is provided. The essential components of a generic information system namely, people, software, hardware, procedures and processes, data and telecommunications or networks are discussed. The information and system requirements cumulating from the analyses of the three research questions, serve as the drivers of the goal, outcomes and transformation process of the system as well as the requirements for the conceptual model. In this section: a comparison of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Framework for Applied Systems Thinking (FAST), problem solving and the phases addressed in this study; the identification of the conceptual model requirements; and a concise systems conceptualisation of an effective GIS is provided. As the, mini-dissertation focuses on the needs for a conceptual model, the additional activities required before the system can be implemented are identified and formulated as recommendation that provide the opportunity for future research. / M Development and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014