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Streams are integrative systems spanning multiple spatial and temporal scales. Stream researchers, land-use managers, and policy decision makers must consider the downstream displacement of streams when approaching questions about stream ecosystems. The study of how anthropogenic land-use influences streams demands an ecosystem perspective, and this dissertation is an example of applying large scale analyses of stream reach responses, and linking the activity of humans in the landscape to stream structure and function. I investigate whether rural development and agriculture land-cover types influence abiotic and biotic stream responses. I establish a method for considering land-cover as an independent variable at multiple scales throughout a streams' watershed using hydraulic modeling. The travel time required for water to drain from the watershed to a stream reach provided a continuous index to delimit watershed sub portions along a spatial continuum. Within travel time zones (TTZs), I consider land-use at increasingly larger scales relative to a stream reach within which biotic responses are typically measured. By partitioning land-cover in TTZs, I was able to determine the spatial scale at which land-cover was most likely to influence in-stream responses. I quantified a suite of physical and biotic responses typical to the aquatic ecology literature, and found that streams did not respond much to rural development. Rural development influenced suspended and depositional sediments, and likely altered watershed hydrology though I was unable to find significant evidence supporting a hydrologic effect. Subtle differences in assemblages suggest that differences in sediment dynamics influenced macroinvertebrates and fish. Using the Land Cover Cascade (LCC) design, I link the influence of land-cover to biotic responses through a suite of multivariate models, focusing on sediment dynamics in an attempt to capture the subtle influence of hydrology and sediment dynamics. My dissertation provides future researchers with improved methods for considering land-cover as an independent variable, as well as introduces multivariate models that link land-cover to sediment dynamics and biota. My dissertation will assist future research projects in identifying specific mechanisms associated with stream responses to disturbance. / Ph. D.

Due to the large number of garment factory closings in the Appalachian region of Virginia, many workers have become unemployed. Mittelhauser (1997) reported, "textile and apparel workers are expected to lose jobs at an even faster rate. Employment in these industries has been projected to decline by about 300,000 jobs over the 1994-2005 period, compared to a net loss of about 250,000 jobs over the previous 11-year period" (p. 28). In order to provide governmental assistance for these workers, the Trade Readjustment Act (TRA) gives money to these displaced workers so they can be retrained. TRA includes training, trade readjustment allowance, relocation allowance, subsistence allowance (while in training), transportation allowance, and reemployment services (ETA, 2000). The majority of retraining occurs at regional community colleges. Further, most of the displaced garment workers are women since the majority of the jobs involved sewing. In fact, Mittelhauser (1997) found that "nearly three-quarters of the employees working in the apparel industry in 1996 were women, compared to about a third of the workers in the entire manufacturing sector" (p. 25). When the displaced workers apply for community college classes, most of them test into developmental classes, including developmental writing. According to Doyle and Fueger (1995), developmental writing meets "the need to write effectively and coherently and the need to use standard grammar, usage, and punctuation" (p. 22). Further, Sweigart (1996) identified the most important purpose and outcome of developmental writing as "the development of the writing abilities of individual students" (p. 13). This descriptive study followed four women in Developmental Writing 03 class at Creekview Community College. The four TRA women in the study were nontraditional students, as well as displaced garment workers from the Appalachian region. The purpose of the study was to see if the women's writing improved over the course of the semester, based on employers' expectations and rubrics specially designed for looking at the traits of good writing. Specifically, the study looked at the women's in-class and out-of-class writing. The writing was analyzed in depth by the researcher and was presented in case studies, one for each woman in the study. Because of employers' concerns about workers' poor writing skills, the writing was further analyzed in terms of workplace expectations so as to determine if the women acquired writing skills that would assist them in their future workplaces. Ascher (1988) said that writing skills in the workplace meant "writing legibly and completing forms accurately; writing Standard English; selecting, organizing, and relating ideas; and proofreading one's own writing" (p. 1). Upon close analysis of the women's writing, it was decided that their writing did show at least some improvement based on the participation in a developmental writing class. Additionally, based on interviews, participant observation of the women in Developmental Writing 03, and the analysis of the women's writing, it was determined that the women's confidence in themselves as writers also increased as a result of their participation in the semester long developmental writing class. / Ph. D.

The current status of the Appalachian Trail in the Commonwealth of Virginia is presented, and the role that easements will play in promoting Virginia's efforts to protect the Trail is investigated. Various aspects of easements are analyzed, including approaches to the appraisal of easements, and the effect of easements on income and property taxes. In concluding, easements are compared with fee acquisition of recreational lands and purchase and lease back. Both positive and negative aspects of easements as reflected in the Virginia Appalachian Trail program are discussed. / M.S.

Feeding trials.showed that ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) performed well on diets containing 20% Christmas hollyfem (Polystichum acrostichoides) or mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), but diets containing 40% of these forages resulted in lower protein and energy intake and the Christmas hollyfem diet caused a loss of body mass. Grouse were not able to maintain themselves solely on evergreen leaves. Glucuronide excretion was greatest for the 40% mountain laurel diet. Ornithine conjugate excretion was greatest for a diet with 40% deciduous leaves. Sulfate excretion did not vary among diets. Intake rate of leaves was an asymptotic function of bite size when the density of bites did not limit intake. Intake rate of leaves decreased at plants densities < 322 plants/m2. The maximum intake rate of leaves was 25% of the intake rate of aspen buds observed in wild grouse (Huempfuer and Tester 1988). Intake rate of raisins was an asymptotic function of bite size and was 20 times greater than the intake rate of leaves. Ruffed grouse in the Southeast must forage for> 100 min/day under ideal conditions to satisfy energy requirements. / Ph. D.

Interpretive reprocessing of seismic reflection data and correlation of the seismic data with gravity data have elucidated Paleozoic and Grenvillian structures in the southern Appalachians. The seismic data include ADCOII, Seisdata, and COCORP reflection profiles which traverse the Blue Ridge and Inner Piedmont geologic provinces of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Based on the reprocessed data, all of the major faults within the allochthonous upper crust, including the Brevard fault zone and the Hayesville fault, are interpreted to root in the Blue Ridge master decollément. Reflectors extending beneath the surface location of the Hayesville fault may be a deformational zone that extends in the direction of structural strike and is associated with Alleghanian transpression. Alternatively, the reflectors may actually represent the subsurface location of the J layesvil1e fault, in which case convergent reflector geometry of the Hayesvi1le fault and the Blue Ridge thrust suggest that the Blue Ridge thrust occupied a zone of weakness previously created by the Hayesville fault. Both the Blue Ridge thrust and Brevard fault zone ramps are interpreted to have a genetic re1ation to underlying basement topography. Relative amplitude data enabled the discrimination between Blue Ridge-Inner Piedmont crystalline rocks from underlying Lower Paleozoic shelf strata, thereby allowing the delineation of the Blue Ridge thrust. The revised geometry of the Blue Ridge thrust constrains the top of the shelf sequence beneath the Blue Ridge to depths less than 3 km. This relatively shallow depth of the shelf sequence, and the presence of duplex structures and bright spots within the sequence are auspicious factors for hydrocarbon exploration. Reflectors within the upper-to-lower crust are interpreted to be preserved Grenvillian structures that were reactivated at the basement surface during Late Proterozoic-Early Cambrian extension. The reflectors are cross-cut by proposed post-Grenvillian, pre-Alleghanian low density intrusions that have acoustically transparent bases. Correlation of seismic and gravity data suggests that disturbances in the Douguer gravity field can be attributed to these structures within the autochthonous crust. Discontinuous reflection packages from depths of 36-42 km are interpreted to originate from the Mohorovicic Discontinuity. The reflectors trend about N 15°E with a true dip of approximately 15°NW. / Master of Science