abstract: Species distribution modeling is used to study changes in biodiversity and species range shifts, two currently well-known manifestations of climate change. The focus of this study is to explore how distributions of suitable habitat might shift under climate change for shrub communities within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA), through a comparison of community level to individual species level distribution modeling. Species level modeling is more commonly utilized, in part because community level modeling requires detailed community composition data that are not always available. However, community level modeling may better detect patterns in biodiversity. To examine the projected impact on suitable habitat in the study area, I used the MaxEnt modeling algorithm to create and evaluate species distribution models with presence only data for two future climate models at community and individual species levels. I contrasted the outcomes as a method to describe uncertainty in projected models. To derive a range of sensitivity outcomes I extracted probability frequency distributions for suitable habitat from raster grids for communities modeled directly as species groups and contrasted those with communities assembled from intersected individual species models. The intersected species models were more sensitive to climate change relative to the grouped community models. Suitable habitat in SMMNRA's bounds was projected to decline from about 30-90% for the intersected models and about 20-80% for the grouped models from its current state. Models generally captured floristic distinction between community types as drought tolerance. Overall the impact on drought tolerant communities, growing in hotter, drier habitat such as Coastal Sage Scrub, was predicted to be less than on communities growing in cooler, moister more interior habitat, such as some chaparral types. Of the two future climate change models, the wetter model projected less impact for most communities. These results help define risk exposure for communities and species in this conservation area and could be used by managers to focus vegetation monitoring tasks to detect early response to climate change. Increasingly hot and dry conditions could motivate opportunistic restoration projects for Coastal Sage Scrub, a threatened vegetation type in Southern California. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Geography 2014

In 2015-2016 Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) and other provinces in South Africa suffered from drought conditions. Drought can have negative impacts on the environment, society and the economy. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate extreme events such as droughts that would adversely affect already vulnerable regions such as KZN. The main aim of this study is to implement the attribution procedure, to determine if climate change has contributed to the 2015-2016 hydrological drought in selected KZN catchments. Methodology of the study followed a general framework of implementation of hydrological attribution experiments with climate data obtained from attribution simulations with HadAM3p global climate model. Prior to simulations in attribution mode, QSWAT model was set up for the study area and calibrated using SWAT-CUP and SUFI-2. Calibration results were poor but the model could be applied in the context of this study, under certain constraints. Results of attribution experiments revealed that for all 3 subbasins studied no increase of risk was observed and hence no influence of climate change on the 2015-2016 magnitude of drought for selected catchments was concluded by this study. These results are limited, as they are based on climate attribution experiments with only one climate model, rather than with a multi-model ensemble. Also, QSWAT model, in its implementation with generic climate data is of limited use in attribution (or hydrological) simulations as even after calibration the model performs poorly.

abstract: Climate change is increasing global surface temperatures, intensifying droughts and increasing rainfall variation, particularly in drylands. Understanding how dryland plant communities respond to climate change-induced rainfall changes is crucial for implementing effective conservation strategies. Concurrent with climate change impacts on drylands is woody encroachment: an increase in abundance of woody plant species in areas formerly dominated by grasslands or savannahs. For example, the woody plant, Prosopis velutina (velvet mesquite), has encroached into grasslands regionally over the past century. From an agricultural perspective, P. velutina is an invasive weed that hinders cattle forage. Understanding how P. velutina will respond to climate change-induced rainfall changes can be useful for management and conservation efforts. Prosopis velutina was used to answer the following question: Is there a significant interactive effect of mean soil water moisture content and pulse frequency on woody seedling survival and growth in dryland ecosystems? There were 256 P. velutina seedlings sourced from the Santa Rita Experimental Range in southern Arizona grown under four watering treatments where mean and pulse frequency were manipulated over two months. Data were collected on mortality, stem height, number of leaves, instantaneous gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, biomass, and the leaf carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio. Mortality was low across treatments. Pulse frequency had less impact across response variables than the mean amount of water received. This may indicate that P. velutina seedlings are relatively insensitive to rainfall timing and are more responsive to rainfall amount. Prosopis velutina in the low mean soil moisture treatments lost a majority of their leaves and had greater biomass allocation to roots. Prosopis velutina’s ability to survive in low soil moisture conditions and invest in root biomass can allow it to persist as drylands are further affected by climate change. Prosopis velutina could benefit ecosystems where native plants are at risk due to rainfall variation if P. velutina occupies a similar niche space. Due to conflicting viewpoints of P. velutina as an invasive species, it’s important to examine P. velutina from both agricultural and conservation perspectives. Further analysis on the benefits to P. velutina in these ecosystems is recommended. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Plant Biology and Conservation 2020

abstract: Recent extreme weather events such the 2020 Nashville, Tennessee tornado and Hurricane Maria highlight the devastating economic losses and loss of life associated with weather-related disasters. Understanding the impacts of extreme weather events is critical to mitigating disaster losses and increasing societal resilience to future events. Geographical approaches are best suited to examine social and ecological factors in extreme weather event impacts because they systematically examine the spatial interactions (e.g., flows, processes, impacts) of the earth’s system and human-environment relationships. The goal of this research is to demonstrate the utility of geographical approaches in assessing social and ecological factors in extreme weather event impacts. The first two papers analyze the social factors in the impact of Hurricane Sandy through the application of social geographical factors. The first paper examines how knowledge disconnect between experts (climatologists, urban planners, civil engineers) and policy-makers contributed to the damaging impacts of Hurricane Sandy. The second paper examines the role of land use suitability as suggested by Ian McHarg in 1969 and unsustainable planning in the impact of Hurricane Sandy. Overlay analyses of storm surge and damage buildings show damage losses would have been significantly reduced had development followed McHarg’s suggested land use suitability. The last two papers examine the utility of Unpiloted Aerial Systems (UASs) technologies and geospatial methods (ecological geographical approaches) in tornado damage surveys. The third paper discusses the benefits, limitations, and procedures of using UASs technologies in tornado damage surveys. The fourth paper examines topographical influences on tornadoes using UAS technologies and geospatial methods (ecological geographical approach). This paper highlights how topography can play a major role in tornado behavior (damage intensity and path deviation) and demonstrates how UASs technologies can be invaluable tools in damage assessments and improving the understanding of severe storm dynamics (e.g., tornadic wind interactions with topography). Overall, the significance of these four papers demonstrates the potential to improve societal resilience to future extreme weather events and mitigate future losses by better understanding the social and ecological components in extreme weather event impacts through geographical approaches. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Geography 2020

abstract: In this study, the stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing method is used to manufacture honeycomb-shaped flat sorbents that can capture CO2 from the air. The 3D-printed sorbents were synthesized using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), propylene glycol, photopolymer resin, and an ion exchange resin (IER). The one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) design-of-experiment approach was employed to determine the best combination ratio of materials to achieve high moisture swing and a good turnout of printed sorbents. The maximum load limit of the liquid photopolymer resin to enable printability of sorbents was found to be 44%. A series of moisture swing experiments was conducted to investigate the adsorption and desorption performance of the 3D-printed sorbents and compare them with the performance of IER samples prepared by a conventional approach. Results from these experiments conducted indicate that the printed sorbents showed less CO2 adsorptive characteristics compared to the conventional IER sample. It is proposed for future research that a liquid photopolymer resin made up of an IER be synthesized in order to improve the CO2-capturing ability of manufactured sorbents. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2020

abstract: The current sustainability crisis is born from a specious notion that humans are separate from and in a position of control over nature. In response, this dissertation reconceptualizes education beyond its current anthropocentric model to imagine education as learning through relationality with all that is ‘beyond’ the human. The study leaves behind hegemonic binary distinctions (human/nature, teacher/student, formal/non-formal education) to reimagine education as a multidirectional process of learning as worlding and becoming-with Earth (Haraway, 2016a). It explores what matters in education and how it comes to matter. This dissertation introduces the concept of storyworlding to describe what occurs when multispecies, multi-mattered assemblages (re)write Earth’s narratives through their relationships with one another. Taking its inspiration from the work of the Common Worlds Research Collective, Donna Haraway, and Isabelle Stengers, storyworlding acknowledges that the relationships between and among all biotic and abiotic forces on Earth make stories through their interactions, and these stories make a pluriverse of worlds. The study is structured as a natureculture (Haraway, 2003) ethnography. This innovation on ethnography, a traditionally human-centered method, focuses on agential, multispecies/ multi-mattered assemblages rather than the description of human culture. Data is not generated and then labeled as fixed in this study. It is emergent in its assemblages as a co-narrator in sympoietic storyworlding (Haraway, 2016b). Data generation took place over 6 months in a small, coffee-producing region of Southeastern Brazil. Data generation methods included walking conversations with children and the more-than-human world, participation in a multi-grade, one-room schoolhouse, and the collection of visual and audio data such as drawings, photographs, videos, and audio recordings. Using an intentionally slow, messy, and fluid diffractive analysis, I follow the data where it leads as I think with the concept of storyworlding (Barad, 2007; Mazzei, 2014). Drawing inspiration from Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Iveta Silova, the dissertation concludes with an Epilogue of speculative fabulation (SF) imaginings through which I invite the reader to engage in the thought experiment of reimagining not only what matters in education, but what education, itself, is. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

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Climate change is a global phenomenon that sees the rise in total global temperatures creating long-term change in average weather patterns affecting populations across the globe. Studies have shown that human activity is one of the main causes of the exacerbation of the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that cause the earth to warm up faster than usual. Debates have emerged between developed and developing countries on who should take responsibility for dealing with the climate problem as both groups have a different stake in the climate change debate. Developed or industrialised countries are known to be the largest emitters of greenhouse gases and developing countries have lower levels of emissions. Regardless, on-going climate negotiations reveal that it is a global problem that needs participation from all countries to solve. Africa has taken to negotiating as a collective through the promotion of common African positions and the main question this paper aims to explore is if these common positions truly represent the interests of all 54 African states. This study is literature-based and uses a qualitative research approach supported by documentary evidence. The research uses a theoretical framework with the use of realism and social constructivism. / Mini Dissertation (MA (Diplomatic Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Political Sciences / MA (Diplomatic Studies) / Unrestricted

abstract: Urban heat is a growing problem that impacts public health, water and energy use, and the economy and affects population subgroups differently. Exposure and sensitivity, two key factors in determining vulnerability, have been widely researched. This dissertation focuses on the adaptive capacity component of heat vulnerability at the individual, household, and community scale. Using a mixed methods approach and metropolitan Phoenix as a test site, I explored how vulnerable communities understand and adapt to increasing extreme urban heat to uncover adaptive capacity that is not being operationalized well through current heat vulnerability frameworks. Twenty-three open-ended interviews were conducted where residents were encouraged to tell their stories about past and present extreme heat adaptive capacity behaviors. A community-based participatory research project consisting of three workshops and demonstration projects was piloted in three underserved neighborhoods to address urban heat on a local scale and collaboratively create community heat action plans. Last, a practitioner stakeholder meeting was held to discuss how the heat action plans will be integrated into other community efforts. Using data from the interviews, workshops, and stakeholder meeting, social capital was examined in the context of urban heat. Although social capital has been measured in a multitude of ways to gauge social relationships, trust, and reciprocity within a community, it is situational and reflects a position within the formal and informal aspects of any issue. Three narratives emerged from the interviews illuminating differentiated capacities to cope with urban heat: heat is an inconvenience, heat is a manageable problem, and heat is a catastrophe. For each of these narratives, generic adaptive capacity is impacted differently by specific heat adaptive capacity. The heat action plan workshops generated hyper-local heat solutions that reflected the neighborhoods’ different identities. Community-based organizations were instrumental in the success of this program. Social capital indicators were developed specific to urban heat that rely on heavily on family and personal relationships, attitudes and beliefs, perceived support, network size and community engagement. This research highlights how extreme heat vulnerability may need to be rethought to capture adaptive capacity nuances and the dynamic structure of who is vulnerable under what circumstances. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2019