The invasibility, or susceptibility of an ecosystem to biological invasion is influenced by changes in biotic and abiotic resistance often due to shifts in disturbance regime. The magnitude of invasive propagule pressure interacts with an ecosystem's invasibility to determine the extent of a biological invasion. I examined how propagule pressure, forest community structure and disturbance interact to influence the invasibility of temperate Pacific Northwest forests by the newly-invasive grass, Brachypodium sylvaticum. My goal was to identify which of these factors is most instrumental in enabling the shift from establishment to population growth in B. sylvaticum at the edge of its expanding range. Both observational and experimental studies were employed to identify the many ecological components of this problem. Ecological sampling methods were used to identify trends in B. sylvaticum habitat preference and signs of habitat disturbance. In addition, an experimental study was performed to test the effects of soil and vegetation disturbance on B. sylvaticum seedling propagation. I found that while soil disturbance did not have a significant effect on seedling propagation, vegetation disturbance was implicated in B. sylvaticum spread. Higher propagule pressure and coniferous forest type were also strong predictors of increased B. sylvaticum seedling propagation and survival within established sites. My study demonstrates how propagule pressure and plant community dynamics interact to shift the invasibility of Pacific Northwest forests and facilitate the transition from establishment to spread in the invasion of B. sylvaticum.

Long-term human dietary change is a poorly understood aspect of Columbia Plateau prehistory. Faunal assemblages from thirty-four archaeological sites on the Plateau are organized into fifteen aggregate assemblages that are defined spatially and temporally. These assemblages are examined in terms of a focal-diffuse model using ecological measures of diversity, richness and evenness. Variability and patterning in the prehistoric subsistence record is indicated. Major trends in human diet and shifts in subsistence economies are documented and the relationship between subsistence and some initial semi-sedentary adaptations on the Plateau is clarified.

Archaeological investigations can reveal persistent traditions of ethnic groups. Hawaiians were employed in the fur trade of the Columbia River from 1810 through 1850. The Hudson's Bay Company employed them at Ft. Vancouver, Washington from 1825 through the end of this period. Data from the excavations of the servant's village at Ft. Vancouver are compared with the built environment of contact period Hawaii. Similarity of structural remains suggests a persistence of tradition among the Hawaiian employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. / Graduation date: 1993

The nutria (Myocastor coypus) is a semi-aquatic rodent native to South America that was introduced to the Pacific Northwest, USA, in the 1930s. Primary damage categories from this invasive species include burrowing and herbivory, resulting in habitat degradation. Nutria have become well-established in metropolitan habitats, and anecdotal information suggests the problem has increased in recent years. However, little regional research on the species has been conducted. The scope of this research, which emphasizes metropolitan habitats, includes three primary foci in relation to nutria populations in the Pacific Northwest: modeling habitat suitability, assessing activity and movement patterns, and identifying and managing negative impacts. Large-scale management of any invasive species requires understanding of the current and potential future population distribution. Cold temperatures have been assumed to be a limiting factor for the geographic distribution of nutria populations, but this assumption had not been explicitly tested. A mechanistic habitat suitability model based on winter temperatures performed well in predicting nutria distribution in the Pacific Northwest and nationally. Regional results suggest nutria currently occupy most accessible suitable habitat. However, coupling the model with future climate change data suggests a much larger suitable habitat zone regionally and nationally in the near future. Management of an invasive species on a local scale requires region-specific information about behavior patterns. Radio-telemetry tracking of local nutria populations in metropolitan habitats suggested higher diurnal activity levels than reported elsewhere. Activity areas were also on the lower end of reported nutria home ranges, suggesting the studied metropolitan wetland sites represent core habitat for nutria in the region. Comparison of two transmitter attachment methods, a neck collar and a tail mount, did not identify a clearly superior attachment method for short-term nutria behavior studies. The presence of nutria in metropolitan habitats in the Pacific Northwest necessitates the need to expand the limited management techniques available for these habitats. Standard Vexar® plastic mesh tubes very effectively mitigated nutria herbivory damage to woody vegetation live stakes planted in a metropolitan habitat restoration site. A recently developed nutria multiple-capture cage trap captured larger nutria and reduced non-target captures compared to a standard cage trap. The design of the multiple-capture trap, however, prevented multiple-capture events because small nutria escaped the trap. This research contributes substantially to previously limited information about nutria in the Pacific Northwest and resulted in several new findings. Climate change modeling provides the first evidence that nutria ranges could expand in the near future. Evaluation of new radio-telemetry methods will benefit future behavior studies. The assessment of new damage prevention tools provides more options for the management of nutria in urban habitats. Management recommendations include creating regional nutria management plans, identifying and targeting priority monitoring regions, finding key stakeholders, focusing on public education, and initiating a pilot control program. Recommendations for research include evaluating effects on native fauna, conducting disease surveys, assessing the extent of damage, continuing habitat suitability analysis, and developing population indices.

Ancient Cataclysmic Floods were the Ice Age Floods that left erosional and depositional features and preceded the Missoula Floods (15-18,000 ka) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States (Allen et al., 2009). All previously studied ancient sites were visited (14) and new sites (11) were found; four Missoula Flood quarries were also visited; a total of 29 sites were studied in this thesis. The use of calcrete paleosols to provide relative age dates for flood deposits was analyzed in this thesis. Missoula Flood gravel pits were sampled in order to examine the degree of calcrete development in flood deposits of known ages. All of the Missoula Flood deposits tested contain Stage 1 calcrete soil development. Calcrete paleosols at sites with evidence for older floods were all analyzed. Eight sites have paleosols with Stage II development (3-12% CaCO3): Rulo Outcrop, Potholes Coulee, Leslie Road, Benge, E. Callaway Road, Collier Coulee, Palouse, and Connell. Five sites have paleosols with Stage II+ development (12-17% CaCO3): Brown Road, Leslie Road, Benge, Reese Coulee, and Connell. Fourteen sites have paleosols with Stage III development (17-35% CaCO3): The Dalles, Rulo Outcrop, Winans Road 1, Poplar Heights, Yakima Bluffs, Canal Outcrop, Othello Canal, Reese Coulee, Potholes Coulee, E. Callaway Road, Frenchmen Coulee, Macall, Ritzville, and East Connell. One site has a paleosol with Stage III+ development (35-50% CaCO3): Othello Canal. Ancient Cataclysmic flooding initiated in the Early Pleistocene, at least 1.5 Ma. Sixteen field sites show evidence for Early Pleistocene flooding, preserved in all six provinces: Othello Channels, Columbia River Gorge, Cheney-Palouse Scabland, Quincy Basin, Pasco Basin, and the Walla Walla Valley. There are 26 field sites with evidence for Middle Pleistocene flooding, present in all regions except Othello Channels. Eleven of those 26 sites also show evidence for Early Pleistocene floods. Evidence for Early and Middle Pleistocene floods is present over a wide distribution of elevations from 117 to 524 meters.

The wide use of renewable energy technologies for generating electricity can be seen as one way of meeting environmental and climate change challenges along with a progression to a low-carbon economy. A large number of policy instruments have been formed and employed to support the adoption of renewable energy technologies in the power generation sector. However, the success of these policies in achieving their goals relies on how effective they are in satisfying their targets and thus increasing renewable energy adoption. One measurement for effectiveness of policy instruments can be their contribution to the input of the process of renewable energy adoption and their effect on satisfying regional goal. The objective of this research is evaluate the effectiveness of energy policy instruments on increasing the adoption of renewable energy by developing a comprehensive evaluation model. Criteria used in this assessment depend on five perspectives that are perceived by decision makers as important for adoption process. The decision model linked the perspectives to policy targets and various energy policy instruments. These perspectives are: economic, social, political, environmental and technical. The research implemented the hierarchical decision model (HDM) to construct a generalized policy assessment framework. Data for wind energy adoption in the Pacific Northwest region were collected as a case study and application for the model. Experts' qualitative judgments were collected and quantified using the pair-wise comparison method and the final rankings and effectiveness of policy alternatives with respect to the mission were identified. Results of this research identified economic feasibility improvement of renewable energy projects as the most influential perspective and that renewable portfolio standards and tax credits are the two most effective criteria to accomplish that. The research also applied sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis to identify the effect of regional perspectives future priority changes on determining the most effective policy for this perspective. Results showed that renewable portfolio standards and tax credits were found to be the two most effective policies among the alternatives assessed. The research model and outcome can serve as policy check tool in policy making for renewable energy development in any region. Based on the overall research findings, policymakers can apply specific policy instruments to support adoption efforts for any given scenario and regional emphasis.

I used mitochondrial COI sequence data from forty one individuals to investigate phylogenetic relationships among populations of two morphologically similar species of the pseudoscorpion genus Apochthonius, A. minimus and A. occidentalis, in western Washington, Oregon, and northern California. My goal was to assess whether genetic structure in the two species was congruent with geography. Many plant and animal species in the Pacific Northwestern United States have shown patterns of genetic differentiation that follow both north-south and east-west trends, indicating that geologic and climatic events in the past separated populations to the extent that they became genetically differentiated. A distinct geographic pattern emerged within A. occidentalis, with at least one northern and two southern populations. A clade containing all A. minimus sequences was recovered. However, this clade falls within the larger clade of A. occidentalis, rendering A. occidentalis paraphyletic. Furthermore, the A. minimus sequences showed north-south geographic structuring within the clade. Population genetic analyses were performed based on geographic location within the Pacific Northwest. I found high genetic differentiation coupled with low gene flow between most populations, with the exception of the Portland and North Coast Range populations. These data suggest the presence of more than two species of Apochthonius in the Pacific Northwest.

The purpose of this study has been to present a description of an inner-city neighborhood in the Northwest District of Portland, Oregon, and to identify educational needs and opportunities in broad terms. It provides a detailed description of the community, the educational institutions located within the community or utilized by students from the community seeking a high school education, and a community based agency, Friendly House, Inc. Other purposes have been to inventory available community resources, to establish criteria for the purpose of constructing a delivery system to strengthen the effectiveness of existing services, or where necessary to initiate services to meet unfulfilled needs and to idenlify the part that could or should be implemented by the 11 settlement house'' or 11 community center'' in the creation and functioning of this adjunctive model to the educational system. Two primary so1~rces of information were utilized. One source was interviews and conversations with students, parents, educators and related school personnel. The second source was that of t.he participant observer seeking information from the welfare case worker, the public health nurse, the community worker, the ministers, the mailman,. the grocer, the bartender or business man and representatives of the aging population. This body of information was correlated with numerous demographic and social studies compiled by this student, other graduate students, public agencies and the neighborhood organization. One assumption was that educational opportunities in Northwest Portland which were provided by formal educational institutions were utilitarian, goal oriented and extrinsic. This was confirmed with one exception, the Metropolitan Learning Center. A second assumption was that educational opportunities were largely confined to the traditional age for elementary and secondary students with limited offerings to adults and almost none to the elderly. This also was substantiated. The third assumption was that there are elements in the lives of individuals and in the community that are considered outside the purview of what is generally considered as formal education which are in fact educative in nature and which hold intrinsic value. Based on these findings we suggest a neighborhood based model which we call A Coalition of Neighborhood Centers and Services that includes public and private efforts to enhance the quality of life in the inner-city. Friendly House, Inc., as a private voluntary agency, is prepared as a significant channel to bring this coalition into existance by carrying out 1) an enabling role, 2) a participciting role, 3) an implementing role, 4) an interpretative role, and 5) a monitoring role.

This study analyzes the impact of the 1980 Staggers Rail Act (SRA) on Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana) wheat transportation. A minimum cost uncapacitated transshipment network flow model is employed to simulate the origination and destination pattern of grain flows before (1977) and after (1985) the SRA. The grain transportation flow for those two years is compared and analyzed as a basis for measuring the impact of rail deregulation. The Transportation Simplex Algorithm is used to find the optimum (minimal cost) wheat transportation flow for the two time periods. Four modes of transportation—truck, barge, rail, and ocean carriers—are used to link a sample of inland grain elevators (source), barge terminals (transshipment), PNW ports on the Lower Columbia River and Puget Sound (transshipment), and foreign countries (sink). The empirical results indicate that the SRA has had a significant impact on modal distribution, overall transportation costs, and rate competition. Under the assumption of perfect information and profit maximizing behavior, and considering both single car and multicar rates, two-thirds of the total PNW wheat traffic should have moved by rail in 1985. This represents a significant increase compared to 1977, when this percentage was estimated at only 46.43 percent. This increase in rail modal share has come at the expense of truck-barge shipments. The truck-barge share of wheat transportation declined from 47.53 percent in 1977 to 25.66 percent in 1985. Most of this increase in rail shipment is the result of lower shipping costs offered through multicar rates. If only single car rail rates are considered in 1985, the rail market share is only 25.66 percent; while truckbarge market share is 66.60 percent. The volume of wheat exported through the Lower Columbia River ports and Puget Sound appears not to have been affected by the SRA. Overall wheat transportation cost decreased significantly over this time interval. In nominal terms, it cost an average of 5.32 percent less in 1985 than in 1977 to transport a metric ton of PNW wheat to the port terminals on the west coast. When adjusted for inflation, average wheat transportation cost decreased around 44 percent. Sensitivity analysis showed that the wheat transportation market in the PNW has been very competitive since 1977 with some apparent changes in market behavior. First, railroads had a greater ability in 1985 than in 1977, to capture wheat traffic from truck-barge by lowering rates. When rail rates are reduced by one percent, rail traffic increases 7.93 percent in the 1985 model and only 2.40 percent in the 1977 model. Rail rate increases, on the other hand, lead to higher traffic losses in 1977 than in 1985. For an increase of one percent in rail rates, rail traffic decreased 10.21 percent in 1977, and only 4.76 percent in 1985. The conclusion of this study is that there has been a significant diversion of wheat traffic from truck-barge to rail, during the period of rail deregulation. Overall transportation costs have also decreased, and the railroads ability to capture wheat traffic by reducing rates has been enhanced. It is concluded that the impact of the SRA on PNW wheat transportation is due largely to the introduction of multicar rates by the railroads serving the region. The implications of these findings are that railroad deregulation has provided many of the benefits expected by this legislation. Shippers are favored by the SRA because they are paying lower transportation costs. Railroads have benefited, to the extent that their market share has increased. Barge companies, however, have been adversely influenced by the SRA because they have lost their modal share of wheat traffic to railroads. Shippers, while benefiting from lower rates, seems now more vulnerable to the potential for future rail rate increases. / Graduation date: 1987

Fluctuating feeder cattle prices have a direct affect on the revenue variability of feeder cattle producers. Hedging in the commodity futures market is a marketing strategy which can, if properly used, reduce the financial risk of feeder cattle producers. If the closing basis value is known when a hedge is placed, a price can be established for the feeder cattle in advance. This fact prompted research in determining the factors which affect nearby feeder cattle basis in the Pacific Northwest. This research is an attempt to identify factors which influence the feeder cattle basis through their influence on the prices which compose the basis—i.e., the cash and futures prices. The feeder cattle cash price has been established as a function of the factors affecting the profit of feedlot operations. Controversy exists on the factors which influence the futures price of livestock products; however, the use of technical indicators is well established in the literature. For the purposes of this research feeder cattle basis is developed as a function of the profit factors and a lag-trend indicator along with dummy variables which influence feeder cattle futures contracts over time. The profit factors include expected slaughter price, corn price, and interest rate values. These profit factors are expected to influence the cash price of feeder cattle. The lag-trend indicator is a calculated trend of the basis over the past two time periods and is expected to represent the analysis made by traders in both the futures and cash markets of past events or prices. This analysis by traders in the futures market will be similar to their use of technical indicators. In specifying the model, two methods of analyzing the expected affects of the profit factors on the basis are acknowledged. In this research, the profit factors are assumed to influence only the cash price. Therefore, the effect of the factors on basis is hypothesized by making assumptions about the price movement of the feeder cattle futures price. The analyses produce various hypotheses about the expected effects of the profit factors on basis. The empirical results produce evidence that the estimated equations explain a good proportion of the Pacific Northwest basis of feeder cattle for light and heavy weight categories. After a close analysis of the profit factors, corn price is concluded to have a positive influence on 500-600 pound feeder cattle basis and a negative influence on 700-800 pound feeder cattle basis. However, due to the inability of the methods to hypothesize the effect of slaughter price on basis and/or to hypothesize, with consistency, the correct signs of the estimated interest rate coefficient, conclusions are not made about their influences on the basis. Feeder cattle producers can apply the information produced in this research in making hedging decisions. However, a thorough knowledge and analysis of hedging theory and market conditions should be undertaken first. Since a predicted closing basis is needed by feeder cattle producers to establish a "locked-in" cash price, further research in developing a forecasting model of feeder cattle basis is warranted. / Graduation date: 1981