Positioned at the metaphysical divide between civilization and wilderness, this thesis investigates the potential for symbiotic relationships among cultural, ecological and industrial systems in an effort to suggest alternative modes for human sustainability. The City of Hamilton, where steel and iron industries continue to scar the landscape, serves as the location for a speculative design intervention. Amongst existing urban structures, a hybrid form of industrial production is proposed to acknowledge society’s reliance on artificial devices. In turn, this hybrid form is integrated with natural ecological processes to demonstrate humanity’s dependence on the natural world. The first chapter positions the thesis within a discourse regarding the boundary between civilization and wilderness and their conventional dichotomy. The thesis is aligned to themes of ecological-artificial hybridization, which include the scientific application of biological metaphors, economic and manufacturing theories of industrial ecology, and architectural and design methodology. Chapter two employs Complex Systems methodology to structure an analysis of Hamilton’s ‘intrinsic’ and ‘extrinsic’ systems. The city is considered within ecological, historical, cultural, industrial and economic contexts, at local and regional scales. Chapter three proposes an urban plan for Hamilton that seeks to regenerate and integrate ecological, cultural and industrial systems. Within the framework of this plan, industrial ecosystems can coexist with public function and ecological infrastructure in close proximity. Though designed for long term application, the plan is intended to provide context for a more detailed and immediate intervention within the scope of the thesis. Chapter four proposes the implementation of a speculative urban design, as a central component of the urban plan. Sited on the Stelco pier, one of the largest and oldest steel producers in Canada, the design would reclaim a pivotal historical and physical location along the Hamilton waterfront. Regeneration of the heavily contaminated industrial site will be initiated with a phased program of remediation and managed ecological succession. The new science of industrial ecology will inform this new development. This approach is based on a shift from ‘open loop’ systems, in which material and energy flows dissipate through processes of waste creation, towards ‘closed loop’ systems in which energy and material are recycled. A new Instrumental Matrix is proposed where decentralized cultural, ecological and industrial systems are interwoven to create diverse and sustainable habitats for wildlife, people and industry.

This research focuses on the challenges and opportunities facing local governance agents in advancing an ecosystem approach to conceptualizing and governing community health in Norfolk County, Ontario. Norfolk County is a rural, agriculturally-based community dependent upon tobacco production. This industry has collapsed, triggering widespread socioeconomic impacts and community health pressures. The government is searching for alternative modes of economic development and tensions are high with respect to the direction and nature of these developments. Some citizens are concerned about the security of their rural livelihoods. Others are concerned about ecological integrity. Still others are convinced of the need for aggressive economic growth. Local decision-makers are struggling to meet all of these requirements. An ecosystem approach views health as part of the broader socio-ecological system, recognizing that health outcomes are by-products of complex biophysical, social, political and economic system interactions at nested spatial and temporal scales. The approach contrasts with conventional health models, which tend to be reactionary, narrowly focused, and short-sighted. Such models are typical of the hierarchical, technocratic nature of public administration which renders decision-making structures and processes ill equipped to deal with complex problems. More systemic, integrated, participatory and collaborative approaches to decision-making are needed in order to better address the complexities involved in facilitating healthy and sustainable community development. Additionally, governance agents must also be able to embrace and navigate these evolving approaches to health conceptualization and governance. An investigation into Norfolk County grounds this analysis by revealing the challenges and opportunities facing local governance agents in advancing an ecosystem approach. The case study research effectively tests the utility and feasibility of the ecosystem approach through a qualitative analysis. The research contributes criteria required for advancing an ecosystem approach to community health governance and practice and empirically tests them within the context of Norfolk County.

Biosphere reserves are regions that are internationally recognized for their ecological significance and work towards ecosystem management. The concept of community capacity, as developed in the resource management and health promotion literatures, was applied to two such regions that were designated in 2000: Clayoquot Sound and Redberry Lake. The purpose of this comparative research was to better understand what constitutes the collective ability, or community capacity, these places have for fulfilling their functions as biosphere reserves. Community capacity is the collective mobilization of resources (ecological, economic/built, human and social capitals) for a specified goal. A mixed methods approach was taken. Self-assessments, both qualitative and quantitative, were used to determine community capacity in focus groups with biosphere reserve management, residents, and youth (grades 9-12). The results were compared to a statistics-based assessment of socioeconomic well-being. Semi-structured interviews for a related research project provided further insight. This comparative research made theoretical advancements by identifying key constituents of community capacity, including dimensions of the capitals and mobilizers, or factors that motivate people to work for communal benefit. Mobilizers were found to be key drivers of the process of using and building community capacity. Four mobilizer categories were identified: the existence of, and changes to capital resources; individual traits; community consciousness; and, commitment. The practical implications of applying both qualitative and quantitative assessment methods were examined. It was found that there are several ways to conduct the socioeconomic assessment, and that adaptive methodological application is advised in research that attempts to be truly community-basednot just about, but for and with communities. It was found that, while it does not ensure a biosphere reserves success, economic capital plays a key role in activating other resources beyond a time frame of three years, where social capital can be the primary driver for activity. Despite substantial differences politically, socially, and economically, both regions experienced similar challenges that can be largely attributed to a general lack of understanding of the biosphere reserve concept, and a lack of consistent, core funding.

<p>This study seeks to investigate the dynamics of dead plant carbon over fifty years of old-field forest development at the Calhoun Long Term Soil-Ecosystem Experiment (LTSE) in South Carolina, USA. Emphasis is on the transition phase of the forest, which is less well studied than the establishment and early thinning phase or the steady state phase. At the Calhoun LTSE, the biogeochemical and ecosystem changes associated with old field forest development have been documented through repeated tree measurements and deep soil sampling, and archiving of those soils, which now allow us to examine changes that have occurred over the course of forest development to date.</p><p> In this dissertation, I first quantify the accumulation of woody detritus on the surface of the soil as well as in the soil profile over fifty years, and estimate the mean residence times of that detrital carbon storage. Knowing that large accumulations of C-rich organic matter have piled onto the soil surface, the latter chapters of my dissertation investigate how that forest-derived organic carbon has been incorporated into mineral soils. I do this first by examining concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and other constituents in soil solutions throughout the ecosystem profile and then by quantifying changes in solid state soil carbon quantity and quality, both in bulk soils and in soil fractions that are thought to have different C sources, stabilities, and residence times. To conclude this dissertation, I present the 50-year C budget of the Calhoun LTSE, including live and dead plant carbon pools, to quantify the increasing importance of detrital C to the ecosystem over time.</p><p>This exceptional long term soil ecosystem study shows that 50 years of pine forest development on a former cotton field have not increased mineral soil carbon storage. Tree biomass accumulated rapidly from the time seedlings were planted through the establishment phase, followed by accumulations of leaf litter and woody detritus. Large quantities of dissolved organic carbon leached from the O-horizons into mineral soils. The response of mineral soil C stocks to this flood of C inputs varied by depth. The most surficial soil (0-7.5cm), saw a large, but lagged, increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration over time, an accumulation almost entirely due to an increase of light fraction, particulate organic matter. Yet in the deepest soils sampled, soil carbon content declined over time, and in fact the loss of SOC in deep soils was sufficient to negate all of the C gains in shallower soils. This deep soil organic matter was apparently lost from a poorly understood, exchangeable pool of SOM. This loss of deep SOC, and lack of change in total SOC, flies in the face of the general understanding of field to forest conversions resulting in net increases in soil carbon. These long term observations provide evidence that the loss of soil carbon was due to priming of SOM decomposition by enhanced transpiration, C inputs, and N demand by the growing trees. These results suggest that large accumulations of carbon aboveground do not guarantee similar changes below.</p> / Dissertation

Technical complexities and the high cost of satellite images have hindered the adoption of remote sensing technology and tools for nature conservation works in Ethiopia as in many developing countries. The terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Abijjata Shala Lakes National Park (ASLNP) and the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) around the park are considered to be one of the most important home ranges for birds. However, little is known about the effect of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics, due to lack of technical know how and logistical problems. However, it has been shown in this study that sophisticated image management works are not always relevant. Instead a simple method of utilizing the thermal band has been demonstrated. A new approach of long-term dynamics analysis method has also been suggested. A successful classification of images was achieved after such simple enhancement tests. It has been discovered that, there were more active LULC change processes in the area in the first study period (1973 to 1986) than during the second study period (1986-2000). In the first period nearly half of the landscape underwent land cover change processes with more than 26% of the entire landscape experiencing forest or land degradation. In the second period the extent of the change process was limited to only 1/3 of the total area with a smaller amount of degradation processes than before. During the entire study period, agriculture was responsible for the loss of more than 4/5 of the total terrestrial productive ecosystem. More than 37.6% of the total park area has been experiencing this loss for the past 3 decades. Only 1/5 of this area has a chance to revive, the remaining has undergone a permanent degradation. Lake Abijjata lost half of its size during the past 30 years. In the Zeway-Awassa basin 750 km², 2428km² and 3575km² of terrestrial lands and water bodies are within a distance of 10km, 20km and 30km from IBAs respectively. There are ecologically important areas where two or more IBAs overlap. In areas where more than two to five IBAs overlap, up to 85km² of areas have been recently degraded. High livestock density is one of the reasons for degradation. Using a monthly MODIS data from 2000-2005 and a series of interpolation techniques, the productivity of the area as well as the standing biomass were estimated. Moreover, a new method of spatially accurate livestock density assessment was developed in this study. Only 0.3% of the park area is found to be suitable for productive livestock development but nearly all inhabitants think the area is suitable. Feed availability in ASLNP is scarce even during rainy seasons. Especially the open woodlands are subject to overgrazing. Such shortage forces the inhabitants to cut trees for charcoal making to buy animal feed and non-food consumables. While more than 95% of the inhabitants in the park expanded their agriculture lands, only 13.3% of the farmers managed to produce cereals for market. The application of low cost remote sensing and GIS methods provided ample information that enables to conclude that low productivity and household food insecurity are the main driving forces behind land cover changes that are negatively affecting the natural and semi-natural ecosystems in the central and southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The restoration of natural ecosystems or conservation of biodiversity can be achieved only if those driving forces are tackled sustainably.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the preferences of individuals for the management of upland landscapes in the UK. Environmental valuation techniques are becoming an increasingly important tool in the development of environmental management policy, however, they are not without their detractors. In particular a school of thought, developed from the work of Bentham, takes issue with the behavioural foundations of the dominant welfare economic doctrine which underpins many of the valuation techniques commonly adopted. They identify that heuristic rules, experience and memory can all play a role in the development of ‘value’ for a good. This thesis aims to investigate the roles of these, along with the role of association with an environmental good, in the development of value for upland landscapes using the Peak District National Park as a case study. This objective is developed in three parts. Part I introduces the topic, identifies the background of research against which this thesis is presented and introduces the case study. This part also attempts to identify how well the complex economy – ecology interactions in this landscape are understood by stakeholders. It shows that, given the complexities of the systems, there are key omissions in stakeholder knowledge and understanding. Part II uses Discrete Choice Experiments to analyse the impact on value of experience, memory, heuristics and association. A series of experiments are applied to the same landscape characteristics in order to achieve this. The results show that value can be impacted in a number of ways with implications for the development of future valuation studies. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the policy implications, limitations and future work associated with this research.

The anthropogenic introduction of species into new ecosystems is a global phenomenon, and identifying the mechanisms by which some introduced species become dominant in their introduced ranges (i.e., invasive) is crucial to predicting, preventing, and mitigating the impacts of biological invasions. Introduced perennial C₄ grasses are invading semi-arid grassland and savanna ecosystems throughout the south-central U.S. We hypothesized that in these semi-arid ecosystems, where variable precipitation patterns strongly influence vegetation dynamics, the success of an invasive plant species may be due in part to ecophysiological traits that enable high performance in response to unpredictable water availability. We also hypothesized that increased primary productivity and decreased plant input quality associated with these grass invasions have the potential to alter ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycling and storage by altering the ratio of inputs (productivity) to outputs (decomposition/respiration). We tested the first hypothesis by quantifying ecophysiological performance differences between an invasive C₄ grass, Bothriochloa ischaemum, and co-occurring C₃ and C₄ native grasses under wet and dry conditions in the field and under two levels of simulated precipitation frequencies in a greenhouse experiment. We tested the second hypothesis by examining whether increased primary productivity and decreased C₃:C₄ grass ratios in savanna grass-matrices associated with B. ischaemum invasion altered (1) plant input quality and thus nutrient cycling and/or (2) net ecosystem carbon uptake in invaded areas. B. ischaemum's success as an invader was not directly related to its ability to cope with precipitation variability and availability, but its ability to rapidly produce large amounts of biomass may allow it to directly out-compete native species. B. ischaemum invasion decreased plant input quality and soil nitrogen availability. B. ischaemum invasion shifted ecosystem C-uptake from being nearly year-round to occurring predominantly in the summer. Greater C-uptake during the summer and under drier conditions compensated for a shorter growing seasons in B. ischaemum-invaded areas and cumulative annual NEE was similar between invaded and native-dominated areas. We conclude that B. ischaemum's impacts on soil nitrogen availability and plant-canopy microhabitat may allow it to exclude native species from invaded areas, but that its impacts on ecosystem C sequestration may be small. / text

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Este trabajo está enfocado en la relación entre la productividad y la riqueza de especies de helechos terrestres, y en la disponibilidad de nutrientes a través de un gradiente altitudinal en Ecuador. El trabajo de campo fue realizado durante tres años entre 2009 y 2011, el cual fue llevado a cabo en 8 niveles altitudinales entre 500m y 4000m en la Cordillera Oriental de los Andes ecuatorianos. Diversidad, biomasa, productividad y caracteres funcionales de las hojas de los helechos terrestres fueron estudiados en tres cuadrantes permanentes de 400m2 por cada elevación. Se reportaron un total de 91 especies de helechos terrestres en 32 géneros y 18 familias. A través del gradiente altitudinal, el pico más alto de riqueza de especies se registró en elevaciones medias y la riqueza de especies estuvo débilmente relacionada a medidas de productividad del ecosistema y más fuerte relacionado a la productividad de los hehechos terrestres, lo cual podría estar determinado por un incremento en el número de individuos de helechos y por la disponibilidad de nichos. Sin embargo, en cada nivel altitudinal la relación entre la riqueza de especies de helechos y la productividad de helechos fue negativa, lo cual principalmente se debe a la competencia interespecífica; es decir, en ambas escalas espaciales de este estudio, la diversidad de helechos parece estar limitada por el número de nichos disponibles y la competencia para ocupar estos nichos. Al comparar los caracteres funcionales de las hojas de helechos y árboles a través del gradiente altitudinal se observó similaridades entre ellos. Sin embargo, se encontró una diferencia en el área específica de las hojas entre helechos y árboles, lo cual refleja los diferentes niveles de luz de ambas formas de vida. Respecto los cambios altitudinales en biomasa y productividad de helechos y árboles se encontró una notable diferencia entre estas dos formas de vida, lo cual apoya la hipótesis de que ambos grupos de plantas están creciendo limitados por diferentes factores.