Waste generation rates continue to grow around the world, creating a need for more comprehensive waste management strategies to meet sustainability needs. Remote islands are profoundly affected by the growth in waste and have a critical need to develop policy that addresses their unique characteristics, such as limited land space for waste disposal, higher per capita waste generation rates due to tourism, and lack of opportunities for interstate waste transport. This case study investigated one Hawaiian County's collaborative approach to adopting a new solid waste management policy. Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD) was utilized to examine the facilitating and impeding institutional factors that affect the adoption of more sustainable waste management approaches on remote islands. The impeding factors that created barriers to sustainability included blueprint models, lack of financial incentives, financial cost, infrastructure, exclusion from waste services, remoteness, and illegal dumping. Facilitating factors were environmental concerns and exemplary waste examples by other communities. Recommendations are provided for addressing these barriers and using the available opportunities to work toward greater sustainable resource management on remote islands.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-96). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Edith Cowan University, 2006. / Submitted to the Faculty of Computing, Health and Science. Includes bibliographical references.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 22, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this research was to compare the process of microbial community development in isolated aquatic systems to the MacArthur-Wilson equilibrium theory of island biogeography and suggest alternative models for the observed patterns. Water-filled plastic containers were used as aquatic islands to investigate the colonization dynamics of protozoan, algal and microinvertebrate taxa. Polyurethane foam (PF) artificial substrates were used as sampling devices in these systems. Distance from another aquatic system was found to have a significant effect colonization in these systems. Exclusion of macroscopic organisms, however, did not strongly affect the process of microbial community development in these systems. The results of short-term (36 day) and long-term (170 day) experiments suggest that no protracted species equilibrium is achieved in these systems; an initial asymptotic increase in species richness was followed by large oscillations in the number of species. There was no correlation between rates of species colonization and the number of species present. Rates of species extinction, however, increased with increasing species number. The estimated rate of species colonization was a non-monotonic function of time, increasing during the early stages of colonization and decreasing thereafter. These results, coupled with an analysis of temporal changes in species composition suggest that microbial community development in isolated systems is a deterministic process which may be best explained by an interactive model of species succession. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--North Carolina State University, 2004. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Apr. 3, 2005). Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 20, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) are one of the most diverse algal groups in the Antarctic Region and play a dominant role in almost all freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite this overall occurrence, little is known about the diversity, ecology and biogeography of this group in the Maritime Antarctic Region. The main objective of this thesis is therefore to define the taxonomical, ecological and biogeographical characterisation of aquatic, semi- aquatic and moss-inhabiting diatom communities from two islands in the Maritime Antarctic Region: James Ross Island and Livingston Island, located on opposite sides of the Antarctic Peninsula. In this study, a total of 250 samples from three different habitat types (lakes, streams & seepage areas and mosses) from Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island) and Ulu Peninsula (James Ross Island) have been analysed. Using light and scanning electron microscopy, a rather diverse diatom flora composed of 178 taxa, belonging to 43 genera has been identified. Although even until recently, it was generally accepted that the Antarctic diatom flora was mostly composed of cosmopolitan taxa, several new species could be described as a new for science during this PhD study (a reflection of this work is presented in chapters 2 & 3 and in Appendices). Habitat type and...

Tuber aestivum is an ectomycorrhizal ascomycete with underground fruit bodies. It is an economically important species, but has been regarded as endangered in Sweden. My inventory has increased the number of reported localities from 3 to 31. It has long been debated whether T. aestivum and T. uncinatum are conspecific or not, so a clarification would help conservation biology and cultivation. My study included 117 fruit bodies of both taxa from 8 countries. The phylogenetic (ITS) and microscopic analyses showed that the two taxa were synonyms and that the spore reticulum height, used to separate the taxa, is not diagnostic. T. aestivum was clearly different from T. mesentericum, which I reported new to Sweden. The Gotland T. aestivum population was genetically distinct (RAPD) from other European specimens. The genetic variation suggested sexual reproduction. The habitat of 18 T. aestivum sites on Gotland were analysed and compared with data from France. No striking functional differences in soil chemistry were found, so a possible T. aestivum ecotype on Gotland would rather be an adaptation to the colder and drier climate. Selecting local T. aestivum inoculum for truffle orchards in Northern Europe could be important for successful truffle production. In 1999, 10 experimental truffle orchards with a total of 240 oak and hazel seedlings were established on Gotland, and as a result of this project 3000 commercial oak seedlings were planted in 2000-2001. In 2004, T. aestivum mycorrhiza was still present in all of the 22 orchards studied on Gotland, some in soils different from natural habitats. In addition, the project has also generated a truffle cultivation association, a truffle company, truffle dog breeding and export of T. aestivum to France.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.