Thesis (M.A.)--University of Florida, 2009. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 122 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-110). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 129 p. : ill. (some col.), col. map. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-39).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 134 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.114-120).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

<p> Biomass district heating (BDH) has the potential to stimulate rural economies in the Tug Hill region of New York State by establishing a local industry and providing lower cost heat compared to the local alternative, #2 fuel oil. However, the competitiveness and economic impact of BDH networks in rural villages is largely unknown. This study proposes a methodology to provide initial assessments of the feasibility of BDH in rural communities. BDH would deliver heat below the cost of the local alternative in eight of the ten study villages examined. Capital costs comprised over 80% of the project costs, illuminating the importance of reaching a sufficient heat density; however, specific building heat was a stronger determinant of a village's feasibility. An input-output analysis determined that BDH would generate $18.6 million in output and create 143 jobs throughout the three county region, a significant impact if concentrated around the study villages.</p>

<p> The Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP) has played a critical role in the initial discovery and subsequent investigation of many processes that govern tropical island wet forest dynamics. Previous work has identified past land use as the main factor in creating forest community compositional and structural differences across the plot. The responses of different species to past land-use intensity and to hurricane disturbances have created an evolving forest mosaic ideal for studying tropical forest successional dynamics. I revisited the interaction of land-use legacies and natural disturbance in the LFDP with new data and new approaches, with the motivation to reveal new information about the relative roles of anthropogenic disturbance and environmental-niche partitioning on tropical plant communities over time. </p><p> In the context of tropical forests and their successional dynamics, I asked how succession resulting from a history of human land use and more recent hurricanes interacts with background environmental variation to effect community structure and diversity. Community dynamics, in terms of forest structure and composition, were summarized over a twenty-one year period, noticing a decreasing trend in species richness over time and structural maturation of the forest, shown by a decline in small stems (trees &lt; 10 cm diameter) as it recovered from the compound effect of two major hurricane disturbances &ndash; Hugo, 1989 and Georges, 1998. We evaluate the magnitude of past human land use effects over time and define indicator species for areas of differing land-use pressure within the 16-Ha permanent LFDP. Using redundancy analysis, plant community-environmental relationships with respect to soils and topography are quantified. Spatial variables, computed using a principle coordinates of neighborhood matrix, explained the majority of the variability in plant community composition between areas of high and low past land-use within the LFDP, meaning environmental differences (e.g. niche differentiation among tree species) were found to be secondary to land-use legacies in determining forest community composition. </p><p> Over two decades, the effect of past land-use peaked about 15-years following the first of two hurricanes, and remained relative stable over time. Despite damaging the forest, hurricanes preserved community differences in species composition and reinforced structural asymmetries due primarily to two species; <i> Dacryodes excels</i> Vahl., a dominant primary forest tree species, and <i> Casearia arborea</i> (Rich.) Urb., an abundant secondary forest species. Abiotic environmental factors (e.g. soil resources and topographic variation) were weak at explaining differences in forest community composition. Plant community-environmental relationships were stronger in more anthropogenically-disturbed areas, suggesting long-term effects of land use on tropical forest communities on current community dynamics.</p>

No description available.

Natural resource management and biodiversity conservation in particular have increasingly become significant to both international and national communities within the last two decades. The paramount question is how to develop sustainable management approaches. For decades this question was addressed by many people who thought only in terms of two alternatives: markets or centralised government (Taylor 1997). More recently a third alternative has been offered by others (Baland & Platteau 1996; Poffenberger & McGean 1996) who have argued the role of community in the management of natural resources. Borrini-Feyerabend (1996), Chambers (1994b), Dubois (1997), Korten (1984), Pimbert and Pretty (1997) and Wily (1997 & 1999) have all analysed changes in approaches to natural resource management and biodiversity conservation to differing extents. Dubois (1997) and Wily (1997 & 1999) have specifically analysed the evolution of approaches to forest management in Africa, natural forest management being the specific focus of this research. Dubois (1997) identifies three approaches to forest management utilised in recent decades: • The technocratic approach: management for the forest and against the people; • The participatory approach: forest management for and by the people; and • The emergence of political negotiation: forest management with the people and possibly other actors.