Browsing by Author "Cagle, Nicolette"

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Open Access
A Comprehensive Assessment of Red Wolf Reintroduction Sites
(2018-04-24) O'Neal, Shane
The red wolf (Canis rufus) is the world’s rarest wild canid, with fewer than 60 wolves living in the wild, and likely even fewer than 40. After being declared extinct in the wild in 1980, the wolf was reintroduced to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina in 1987 and successfully established itself, with the small initial population growing to 150 within two decades. Recent increases in mortality have reduced the wolf’s numbers to their current low levels, and the Fish and Wildlife Service now faces the difficult decision of where else to reintroduce the red wolf within its historic range. This Masters Project is an attempt to analyze the current landscape of the Southeast from both an ecological and sociological perspective to determine the best possible places for red wolves to successfully establish a new population. I first conducted a literature review to identify key variables that affect the suitability of an area and found five such factors: available habitat, available prey, concentrations of livestock, recreational hunters, and the age of local residents. The reintroduction effort has to begin on federally owned and protected land, and so I next set out to select a suite of potential sites for the reintroduction to take place, establishing a list of 21 such locations. The relationship between all of the variables I considered is complex, so to properly weight them against each other I surveyed 14 experts in red wolf biology and management. I received responses from 10 of the experts and used this information to construct models in ArcGIS to determine the overall suitability of a site. After assembling a Weighted Sum model based on available data and calculating descriptive statistics, the sites all received a suitability score. The highest-scoring sites were Croatan National Forest in North Carolina and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Fish and Wildlife should focus future reintroduction efforts on these locations, which strike the best available balance between suitable ecology and low chances of human-wolf conflict.
Open Access
A Network and Landscape Analysis of Environmental and Diversity Organizations in Durham and Orange Counties, North Carolina
(2019-04-26) Fulop, Emma; Karumuri, Bhargavi
The American environmental movement has a legacy of excluding marginalized groups from organizational decision-making and natural spaces. Awareness of this discrepancy has gained traction in the past few decades, with an increased focus on diversity and representation within environmental organizations. Through a case study of North Carolina’s Durham and Orange counties, we explored this trend by performing network and landscape analyses of environmental and diversity organizations. Through these analyses, we found that the staff of environmental organizations are not representative of the study region while staff of diversity organizations are representative. The overall network of organizations is very loose and heterogeneous and there is a trend for organizations to work with like organizations. Our study finds that there are still inequities in environmental organizations in this study region but the majority of respondents are aware of the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their work and have taken training to include these tenets in their work.
Open Access
An Evaluation Guide for Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
(2020-04-24) Rodriguez, Natalie
Estuarine health is integral to the health of ocean environments (NOAA, 2017). The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration realized this and created a network of protected reserves—the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) (NOAA, n.d.). Environmental education (EE) is integral to NERRS success. These reserves offer unparalleled “living classrooms” for educators, students, and the public (NOAA, 2018). Rookery Bay, a NERR located in Naples, Florida, is home to one of the few undisturbed mangrove forests in the United States. The Environmental Learning Center (ELC) at Rookery Bay is an important resource to the local community provides summer education opportunities and K-12 field trip programming (Rookery Bay, n.d.). Education evaluation for EE programs has become increasingly important as environmental concerns have moved to the forefront of some of the worlds social, political, and economic issues (Thomson, G. & Hoffman, J., n.d.). Evaluation methods can be used to improve environmental education programs and enable continued or improved success in achieving program goals (Thomson, G. & Hoffman, J., n.d.). However, a program evaluation has not yet been done for Rookery Bay’s EE field trip curriculum. The objective of this project was therefore to develop an outcome-based evaluation guide to assess the desired outcomes from visiting students who participate in: (1) 4th grade Estuary Explorers, (2) 7th grade SURVIVORS, and (3) the high school and college students Field-Based Estuarine Studies programs. This was done by completing an education evaluation document analysis, logic models, and informational interviews, to create a retrospective survey which then went through user testing, and expert reviews. This project’s deliverables are a well-informed guide containing the three different grade level surveys as well as guidelines and recommendations for data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Open Access
Assessment of Avifauna in North Carolina Piedmont Prairies
(2017-04-25) Makepeace, Conor
The Piedmont Prairie is an early successional habitat of the southeastern United States, and commonly considered a haven for many threatened avifauna. This study uses a paired sample technique and point counts to compare the species composition of prairie and non-prairie paired sites to determine if there is a significantly different subset of avian species utilizing preserved and restored prairie areas. The study also analyses environmental variables such as land use land cover, vegetation height, site area and distance from urban areas, water, and roads to determine the drivers of any changes seen in the species composition. Mantel tests showed no significant difference in the bird species composition of the prairie sites when compared to the non-prairie sites. Wilcox tests and ANOVAs corroborated this result, showing no significant difference in the total number of species, mean number of species, or species richness (Simpson index) of in prairie / non- prairie areas. Species accumulation curves for the sites revealed that prairie sites showed less variation and saturated less rapidly than their paired non-prairie counterparts, leaving the door open for further studies of longer time scales on the effect of Piedmont Prairies on avifauna diversity.
Open Access
BASF Agricultural Solutions: Sustainability of Grounds and Landscaping at Durham, NC Facility
(2015-04-21) Zhu, Wenjia; Ye, Wenting
The BASF Agricultural Solutions Headquarters occupies, the client of this project, has requested our team to examine the biological value, environmental value and economic value of its 100 acres corporate-owned forest which locates in Durham area as well as its storm water collection pond. There has been a significant construction project during the academic year 2013 and additional large projects are being considered for the near future. The goal of project is to help BASF conserve the natural aspects of the site in a manner that is consistent with its corporate sustainability strategy and messaging by understanding the values of the forest. Our client was also looking for a list of plants that they could introduce to the pond to make it a sustainable man-made wetland. This project used methodologies such as field survey, literature research, secondary research, scenario analysis and modeling, covering the study area of forest cooling effect and monetary values, forest noise attenuation, carbon sequestration, animal inventory and plant inventory. After the one-year study period, we found that forest reduces 15-20% of the baseline temperature and smoothens the temperature fluctuation. This effect equals approximately 57% of the cooling of BASF’s current cost on cooling. The carbon storage of the forest is about 964.71 tons and the gross annual equals to about 31.59 ton/year. Additionally, trees have the effect of reducing five to fifteen decibel of noise with a 40 meters tree belt and have the effect of smoothening the strength of noise fluctuation, which contributing to create a more stable environment. In the bio-diversity study, we have found 45 different species of trees and shrubs which were mostly common and widespread in South and Southeastern United States. We also observed 20 different species of birds and two mammals (White-tailed Deer and Virginia Opossum). Recommendations are provided at the end part of the report for the company’s environmental conservation team including plants recommendation for the storm water collection system, and forest conservation strategy, such as establishing educational tour, building an online platform to share newly observed animals and plants, and remarking the trail by installing tags.
Embargo
Camera trap distance sampling in tropical forests: assessing drivers of terrestrial wildlife abundance in Ivindo National Park, Gabon
(2024-04-26) White, Elizabeth
The loss of wildlife species and populations, termed defaunation, significantly impacts biodiversity and vertebrate community structure. Terrestrial mammals are especially vulnerable to anthropogenic activities such as habitat destruction, overhunting, and exploitation. Extractive industries are increasing in scale in central African forests, thereby increasing human access to forests and leaving a potential for defaunation. Camera traps are reliable, effective, and non-intrusive technologies to monitor and assess wildlife populations. Using camera trap distance sampling, we estimated wildlife density, capture rates, and species richness to evaluate drivers of wildlife abundance and defaunation in Ivindo National Park, Gabon. We present one of the first uses of camera trap distance sampling to estimate the density of multiple species in a tropical forest. From these estimates, we have baseline population data for this region and can identify factors influencing their populations to inform collaborative conservation and wildlife management efforts.
Open Access
Deforestation and Flooding in the Lower Roanoke River Basin
(2022-04-22) Zeng, Yingfan
The large natural forest ecosystems in the Lower Roanoke River Basin, in northeast North Carolina, are home to numerous and diverse plant and animal species. However, these unique and precious forest ecosystems have been progressively threatened by deforestation and flooding in recent decades. Logging, agriculture, development, recreational use, and reservoir construction all could cause direct loss of floodplain forests. Changes in landscape, especially deforestation, conducted on the floodplains can cause indirect impacts on the floodplain hydrology. For example, flood events may occur with greater frequency in some areas due to increased upstream impervious surfaces and loss of vegetation buffers. At the same time, dams altered the natural flow, and in particular, have impacted the timing and intensity of overbank flow into the floodplain. This change in hydrology and flooding may lead to consequences for the floodplain plant and animal communities. The objectives of this project are to deepen the understanding of the 2 interacted factors of deforestation and flooding concerning the Roanoke River Basin by 1). investigating the deforestation trends in the past 20 years, 2). analyzing the flood frequencies and duration in recent years, and 3). mapping the flood extents by a remote sensing model. Temporal and spatial trends of deforestation in the Lower Roanoke River were analyzed by the forest loss data from the Global Forest Change database accessed on Google Earth Engine, and the vegetation species of the removed forests were investigated. Over the past 20 years, there were about 1290 km2 of forest loss happened in the Lower Roanoke River Basin, of which 610 km2 in 2001-2010 and 680 km2 in 2011-2020. Over the same 10-year period, forest loss increased by 11.5% after 2010. Spatially, deforestation was mainly distributed on the downstream banks and increased in these areas after 2011. In the past 2 decades, 8.1% or 48 km2 of deforestation occurred in the 100-year floodplain. Similar to the total deforestation, the forest loss areas in floodplains also increased after 2011 but at a higher increase rate of 18.8%. The largest loss of vegetation species in deforestation areas was hardwood. Oak - Sweetgum Floodplain Forest was the most removed vegetation type in both the floodplains and it was also the second-largest vegetation type of the deforestation areas in the whole basin before and after 2010. The flow in the Lower Roanoke River Basin is heavily dominated by 3 upstream dams. Given the dam capacity and empirical observations, a flood event was defined as a continuous period of that discharge of the Roanoke Rapids Dam above 20,000 cfs in this study. All such periods from 2016 to 2021 were screened, and there were 25 flood events in total. During the 6 years, the number of flood events ranged from 1 to 6, showing a seasonal trend of more flood events in winter and spring, and less in summer and autumn. In addition to flood frequency, the inundation time in the floodplain forests was studied by the continuous water level data from 14 monitoring sites along the Roanoke River. For all the flood events, the time required for the forest to dry out varied widely, with an average of 25 days to 40 days. For the monitoring sites, the upstream monitoring ones were underwater for a longer time, the downstream sites needed a medium time, and the sites in the middle basin went back dry the most quickly. Another important finding was the inundation in the forests needed a long time to recede. Even though the dam discharge periods were only about 1-2 weeks, the water remained on the floodplain for up to 57 days. In summary, the floodplain forests were under serious flooding pressure because of the long inundation time, which varied a lot, depending on location, flood events, topography, land cover, and other factors. It is very necessary to understand where the inundated forests are during flood events to study how forest ecosystems respond to flooding stress. A remote sensing model using Sentinel-1 radar data was built to identify the flood extent of a specific flood event by a random forest machine-learning algorithm. The flood extents of 2 flood events in March 2019 and March 2021 were mapped. The resulted flood extent maps had high accuracies. The overall accuracy for March 2019 was 85.6% and that for March 2021 was 89.7%. The most common misclassification was between dry forest and flooded forest due to their similar remote sensing signatures in the predictor composites. Both flood extents overlapped well with the 100-year floodplain in the middle and lower basin, validating the 100-year floodplain was a good predictor of flood extent in this area. But there were areas flooded in both events but not on the floodplain, which needed special attention to flooding. In conclusion, forest loss was accelerating in the Lower Roanoke River Basin, especially on the floodplains. The basin was still at high risk of flooding in winter and spring, and the floodplain forests would be under high flooding pressure because of the long time for water to recede. Remote sensing, in particular with radar data, had been proven as a feasible way to map the flood extent of a specific flood event, which can be a good reference for forest management and dam management. With deforestation and flooding both considered, the 100-year floodplain should be the focus of forest management and conservation work in the Lower Roanoke River Basin. Increased knowledge about shifts in forest practices, water flow responses, and flood extents may inform and benefit future land, forest, and dam management in the Lower Roanoke River Basin.
Open Access
Developing an alternative approach to wildlife management in the Duke Forest
(2017-04-25) Kramer, Renee; PalmerDwore, Hannah; Satin, Peter
Wildlife management is not currently a major priority of the Duke Forest, but staff have expressed an interest in making it a more significant aspect in future forest management decisions. We here used a multi-criteria decision analysis framework to explore a variety of wildlife management and monitoring alternatives with the aim of providing Duke Forest staff an adaptive tool for making well-informed wildlife management decisions. We identified potential management strategies by looking at forest management plans in use by peer institutions and then conducting a meta-analysis to determine the effect each of the potential strategies had on taxa of interest to Forest staff. We also looked at the possibility of using a community-based monitoring approach to supplement limited Forest staff resources through the use of expert interviews and a formal review of the literature, and assessed the importance of multiple components in ensuring quality data monitoring. We used the results of both of these analyses to construct a decision framework Duke Forest can use to identify wildlife management and monitoring schemes.
Open Access
Developing and Evaluating K–12 Education Resources for New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
(2024-04-26) Rathmell, Dorothy; Velasquez, Victoria; Fontanié, Shirley
New York City (NYC), like many coastal communities around the world, faces growing climate risks such as increased flooding and irregular rain events–threatening the city’s infrastructure and residents’ safety. Holistic water management approaches, like NYC’s One Water Initiative, address these threats to secure resources for current and future stakeholders. Through place-based environmental education, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s Education office (DEP) seeks to inspire climate action and enhance community resilience. To assist DEP’s evolving education initiative, the team delivered: 10 climate change curricula, three classroom challenges, and an evaluation of climate education resources. These deliverables were designed to empower students with knowledge, encourage pro-environmental behaviors, leveraged by the expertise of local educators.
Open Access
Duke University and the Nicholas School: Encouraging today's youth through environmental education
(2013-04-23) Greene, Chaquetta
Environmental education programs and curriculum have been a crucial part of earth and science education since the mid-1970s. With the increasing scope of environmental issues in the US and worldwide, it is important to prepare our youth to solve pressing environmental problems. This study documents K-12 environmental education initiatives in Durham county public schools sponsored by the Duke University community, including and earth science departments and the Nicholas School of the Environment. The scope, pedagogical approach, and process of development of these initiatives are noted. Moreover, this study offers recommendations for both Duke and the Nicholas School of the Environment based on current academic literature and similar outreach programs at other universities such as the inclusion of training and enhanced professional development for in-service teachers and increased emphasis on service-learning and nature based instructional approaches.
Open Access
Ecosystem Service Analysis of Duke Forest
(2022-04-22) Hayashi, Shouta; Horrigan, Eamon
Our team was tasked with evaluating the quantitative and monetary value of ecosystem services offered by the Duke Forest. Our client, the Duke Forest, manages and actively harvests 7,100 acres of timberlands used for research, education, and recreation by Duke University and the broader community. The overall purpose of assessing these services is to communicate the importance of the Duke Forest and offer implications for resource management. The term “ecosystem service” refers to benefits humans obtain from nature, and it is categorized into four different services; provisioning service; regulating service; supporting service; cultural service. Based on the client’s requests, we analyzed a subset of ecosystem services provided by the Duke Forest – carbon storage and sequestration, which have an important implication for climate change mitigation, and nutrient and sediment retention, which contribute to downstream water quality improvement. For spatial analysis of the focal ecosystem services, we used the InVEST suite of models, developed by the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University. We used the InVEST Carbon Storage & Sequestration model to spatially assess carbon storage and sequestration in the Duke Forest. For the land cover/ land use data input, we used spatial forest class and age data provided by the client. We referred to a USDA study to estimate carbon storage for the different forest types and age classes in the spatial data input and to populate the carbon pool table, another input of the InVEST carbon model. The monetary values of carbon storage and sequestration were estimated with the average carbon credit value for forestry projects from the World Bank, as well as with two domestic markets: the California Cap and Trade (CaT) and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional northeastern US market. For assessment of water quality improvement, we ran the InVEST Nutrient Delivery Ratio (NDR) and Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) models to estimate phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment export across four 10-digit HUC watersheds which Duke Forest occupies. Model calculations are determined by hydrological modelling, as well as biophysical statistics on a variety of land use/land cover classes. SDR results were used to produce a monetary estimation of Duke Forest’s contribution to sediment retention using estimates of Neuse River water treatment facility cost savings from reductions in turbidity. InVEST Carbon modelling estimated a total of 543,000 tons of carbon being stored across all Duke Forest divisions at an average of 80 tons per acre. The highest storage rates were observed in the Oosting Natural Area at 94 tons per acre and the lowest storage rates were seen in the Hillsboro division at 71 tons per acre. Using the value of carbon offset projects from terrestrial forests globally, this total storage is estimated to be worth over $15 million in value. In terms of domestic carbon offset markets across all projects, this value is estimated to be even greater: ranging from $17.3 to 35.8 million. Our future projections of carbon for the next 50 years revealed an estimate of 2,000 tons being stored yearly, equaling about $56,000 in monetary value using the global estimate for forestry offset projects. Results from NDR and SDR indicated Duke Forest’s contribution to downstream water quality protection and improvement. NDR estimated nutrient export rate in the Duke Forest is significantly lower than the watershed average. Average nitrogen export values in the Duke Forest in each of the four watersheds were lower than the average value in the watersheds by 25.7% - 44.7%. Mean phosphorus export values in the Duke Forest were lower than the watersheds by 67.3% - 83.1%. Similarly, SDR estimated sediment export rate in the Duke Forest significantly lower than the watersheds, by 78.8% ~ 98.4%. The monetary value of sediment retention based on turbidity reduction was estimated to be worth $43,000 and $113,000 annually in two different alternative land use scenarios. The greatest annual value was found in the B Everett Jordan Lake – New Hope River basin, where Duke Forest’s sediment buffering was valued at $26,000 and $50,000 in the two scenarios. For communication of significance and key results of this project to a broader audience, we developed a StoryMap on ArcGIS Oline. This StoryMap includes a brief description of the Duke Forest, an introductory explanation of ecosystem services, and key results from our analysis. It uses plain language and visual materials so audiences without a strong background can become interested in and grasp the benefits the Duke Forest provides the larger region. Future work on ecosystem service analysis in Duke Forest should focus on collecting accurate field data to refine the biophysical statistics which drive all the models we ran, rather than using values found in the literature. In addition, assessment of other ecosystem services offered by the Duke Forest would complement the results of this analysis. Final recommendations for the client include conservatively managing older stands with high carbon stocks, tracking opportunities to become involved in carbon offsets, and mitigating erosion during timber harvests.
Open Access
Effects of stand attributes in evaluating even-aged loblolly pine volume with LiDAR
(2017-04-25) Hagan, Sarah
The purpose of this project is to determine the practicality of using LiDAR technology in the field as a primary tool for forest inventory. Specifically, this project uses variables generated from Quality Level 2 (QL2) LiDAR data obtained from the state of North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program to investigate the overall goodness of fit of Loblolly pine volume based on ground measurements. Seven stands in the Piedmont and coastal regions in North Carolina were used in this study. Volume was calculated using pre-harvest cruise data and was regressed against the LiDAR generated predictors of height and canopy cover. The analysis was conducted on both plot level and at a mid-sized management level, of theoretical harvest units (THUs). These LiDAR derived variables were only moderately successful at estimating loblolly pine volume at the plot level (R2 =0.45) and at the THU level (R2 = 0.37). When ground calculated height was regressed against LiDAR estimated height, no bias was detected indicating that while model fit was modest, the overall approach was correct.
Open Access
Evaluating Current Attitudes towards Snakes in the Nicholas School of the Environment’s (NSOE) Environmental Master's Student Community
(2017-04-28) Calderon-Arrieta, Diego
Snake populations have been found to be on the decline both globally and in the United States. As these populations have continued to decline, particularly in the American Midwest, cropland and agricultural plots have begun to develop, which have become an inviting place for agricultural pests like insects and rodents. Rodents have been deemed one of the largest threats to global and national food security, and snakes can serve as a great natural pest control mechanism. However, people’s diverse attitudes and exaggerated concerns can be a great barrier to the acceptance of snakes protecting the welfare of humankind. Previous literature has documented factors shaping attitudes towards snakes among laypeople and undergraduate students. My research project will instead evaluate current attitudes towards snakes among the Nicholas School of the Environment (NSOE) master’s student community and explore methods that can be implemented to ameliorate anxieties about snakes. This is a community worth exploring, because these are future policymakers and conservation planners whose decisions will likely broadly impact populations of snakes, and it is important that they keep their attitudes towards snakes separate from what management recommendations they give about them. Using an online survey and ordered logistic regression models, I demonstrated that – compared to natural science-focused students – students not pursuing a natural-science focused concentration are less likely to indicate higher levels of positive attitudes towards snakes. The survey also indicates that there is high demand for seminars like learning how to handle snakes safely or general knowledge about them. Future researchers will have to measure these methods’ respective efficacies in reducing negative views towards snakes in this particular population. For the benefit of humankind and snakes alike, NSOE students should develop more conservation-driven views of snakes to protect snakes from unnecessary persecution and humans from snake-induced stress.
Open Access
Evaluating the Efficacy of iNaturalist & BioBlitzes as Biological Inventory Tools for Landscape Management
(2021-12-08) Perkins, Troi
Well-informed landscape management decisions rely on accurate data of species presence which is often a resource-intensive and time-consuming effort to collect. Due to limited resources, Duke Forest Management Team has been searching for novel tools such as citizen science techniques to help gather plant and wildlife species data as a part of its holistic approach to forest management. Two potential citizen science tools, BioBlitzes and iNaturalist, have the potential to help Duke Forest quickly document species presence. This project looks at a case study to determine on average how many species iNaturalist users observed in a year and if the hosting of a BioBlitz event increased the number of species and richness observed. To evaluate these tools while under COVID-19 conditions, past BioBlitz and iNaturalist data were collected from select National Parks in 2016-2020 and used as a case study for Duke Forest. Four models were created using the number of species observed and the number of observers from the case study data. The models were then evaluated with data from City Nature Challenge: Triangle Area and to iNaturalist data collected in Duke Forest to determine the model’s effectiveness. Data trends including seasonality, number of observers, and number of species per phyla were reported alongside model outputs to Duke Forest. Results from this study concluded BioBlitzes and iNaturalist are effective biodiversity inventory tools for landscape management. Also included is a list of recommended actions for Duke Forest based on this project’s results.
Open Access
Examining Threats to Cryptic Cave Salamanders in Central Texas to Petition for their Protection
(2023-04-27) Kuczek, Aurora; White, Annabelle
Background and Context. The Edwards-Trinity aquifer system in Texas Hill Country is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. Made of karst that was formed by tectonic plates millions of years ago when Hill Country was submerged by an ocean, this region is geologically unique and characterized by its underwater caves and aboveground springs formed when limestone rocks are dissolved by carbonic acid when it interacts with water. This karstic region provides habitat to stygobites, or species that are restricted to life in caves, and have very limited ranges due to high isolation and extreme endemism. With 60 species of invertebrates identified alone in the Edwards aquifer in 2019, there are also species of benthic blind fish, bacteria, and a genus of plethodontid or lungless salamanders–Eurycea. Eurycea Conservation. Coordinates are known for 14 species of Eurycea salamanders in Texas Hill Country that are adapted to aquatic life. Most are state and/or federally endangered or threatened due to high sensitivity of anthropogenic activities like habitat destruction. Of the 14 species we analyzed, there are three species of undescribed salamanders whose life histories are uncertain, given the inaccessibility of many Eurycea habitats as well as complicated genetic lineages and unreliable morphologies. Our client, Save Our Springs (SOS) Alliance, a central Texas nonprofit dedicated to protecting these karstic ecosystems and the species that inhabit them, is in the process of petitioning to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the protection of the Pedernales River Springs salamander. SOS Alliance aims to petition for the protection of additional Eurycea species under the same premises. Significance and Objectives. Our main objective is to find which salamanders should be most prioritized by our client to petition for federal protection based on our analyses. Our sub-objectives are to find which environmental variables are posing the most threat to Eurycea spp. and to suggest several management actions SOS can take to improve habitat quality. Protecting cryptic cave salamanders not only helps their population abundances, but also improves ecosystem health in karstic ecosystems by promoting these indicator species. Methods. Using locations of Eurycea salamanders found by scholars and researchers and a list of 13 threats suggested by our research, we conduct species distribution models to suggest species that should be most prioritized by SOS to petition to the USFWS. Results. MaxEnt results identified base flow index, or rate of groundwater discharge, as . Other variables with strong influence included runoff, base flow index, and soil permeability. Based on our environmental ordination in NMS, our results mostly fit our second hypothesis that samples of the same species sort similarly in the ordination, and there are also clusters of different species that occupy similar space in the ordination and are thus found in similar habitats. But not all species do this suggesting that they are not associated with habitat conditions or the variables we used. Samples are clearly clustered in geographic space suggesting that genetic isolation plays more of a role in where these species are found. We found that undescribed species 2 and 3 were associated with increases base flow index. We also found that samples of all undescribed species and Eurycea troglodytes, only a state protected species, are all likely to be found in areas of higher runoff and soil permeability, and could be weakly associated with elevation, precipitation, and in the case of species 3, pesticides. Implications. We find that E. sp 2 and E. sp 3 meet most of the criteria to create an effective petition as they meet the requirements for listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Although they are not found in urbanized areas or in proximity to roads like other Eurycea that are protected at the state or federal level, their habitats should be protected to prevent anthropogenic encroachment and future habitat destruction. SOS Alliance could utilize several management techniques to improve habitat quality if found lacking such as regular water testing, incorporating and training volunteers to limit costs, increase salamander observational studies like visual encounter surveys, and developing a way to report unsuitable water quality to SOS Alliance or USFWS biologists. Conclusion. Eurycea salamanders are isolated, karstic-associated herpetofauna in central Texas. Due to tectonic plate actions millions of years ago and bedrock characteristics, these salamanders are geographically isolated. Our analyses support that Eurycea are found where they are due to evolutionary processes rather than habitat selection methods. Protection by SOS Alliance should thus seek to conserve individual habitats to avoid local extinctions. Although this is rather intuitive, petitioning to the USFWS for Eurycea protection with our analyses may improve a petition that may rely solely on general characteristics of herpetofauna in research to make a case for protection.
Open Access
Examining Urban Wildlife Conservation and Green Space Development Opportunities for Triangle Land Conservancy
(2015-04-23) Wu, Charlene
Rapid urban development has led to the displacement of wildlife and the disturbance of natural landscapes. As a result, biodiversity conservation and human access to natural resources are threatened. Through a city plan analysis, in which I quantitatively score and rank 30 U.S. cities on urban conservation approaches, and a case study on an urban land trust, I evaluate existing urban conservation tools to determine best practices and areas of improvement. With a focus on urban wildlife protection and green space development, results from the methodology are used to form guidelines for Triangle Land Conservancy, a land trust in Durham, North Carolina. Key points and recommendations include: 1. Secure vacant lots to transform into green spaces for community use and wildlife protection; 2. Implement conservation-focused community projects in urban areas in order to improve urban habitats and engage city residents in environmental activities; and, 3. Raise public awareness of urban environmental issues in order to garner collective action and public support. The final product is an Urban Habitat Improvement Plan for Triangle Land Conservancy that incorporates specific conservation strategies and tactics for the organization to implement in urban environments.
Open Access
GRAY FOX AND RED FOX DISTRIBUTIONS OF DURHAM AND ORANGE COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA
(2020-04-24) Cole, Madison
Urbanization and human development have been expanding throughout North Carolina’s Research Triangle. Humans fragment natural ecosystems, species become increasingly at risk of extirpation and human-wildlife conflict. This project analyzed predicted gray fox and red fox distributions across Durham County and Orange County, North Carolina with a specific focus on Duke Forest. I applied two modeling approaches using species presence-absence data, environmental variables, and expert opinion to predict gray fox and red fox habitat distributions. The first method was a rules-based modeling approach, while the second was a Maximum Entropy (Maxent) modeling approach. Red foxes showed a preference for more urban and dry-oak ecosystems, while gray foxes showed a preference for mesic forests and fields. These predicted habitat distributions helped inform Duke Forest’s management team of conservation priorities, including land conservation and on-the-ground management strategies.
Open Access
HABITAT CORRIDOR PRIORITIZATION FOR JAGUARS (PANTHERA ONCA) AND OTHER FELIDAE SPECIES IN COLOMBIA
(2023-04-27) da Costa Morgenstern, Lucas
Creating habitat corridors is a conservation practice that has been growing in adoption throughout the world, representing a simple and efficient framework that connects existing “islands” of pristine habitat. Thus, habitat connectivity increases the total natural resources available for wildlife. This study seeks to understand which set of criteria determine Jaguar habitat and other Felidae species present in Colombia, and to develop prioritized corridors that will connect existing habitats, indicating which corridors are most threatened by anthropogenic sources. To achieve this, I have collected demographic, biodiversity, and geographic datasets, and modeled it on ArcGIS Pro. The present study indicates the corridors most at risk by human encroachment and, therefore, those that should be prioritized in conservation efforts. I recommend that conservation efforts should be focused on the habitat corridors developed herein, accounting for their threat levels.
Open Access
Health Forests: Scaling Up Urban Forests as a Health Response
(2022-04-21) Toker, Rachel
In the eastern United States, urban lifestyles, conditions, and constraints are causing a rise in chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, which cost trillions of dollars annually to treat. Given the importance of forests for ecological restoration, this study explores whether regenerating native forest patches that incorporate health treatments (or “Health Forests”) in at-risk urban neighborhoods -- as a unified place-based response -- can treat these diseases more cost-effectively while accessing healthcare funding sources to improve environmental outcomes. The study suggests that Health Forests, distributed at large enough scale, could improve health outcomes and restore regional ecosystems at substantial cost savings. Nature experiences lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and cortisol levels, and they improve concentration, immune function, and heart rate variability; however, focused medical research showing treatment efficacy is still needed to enable corporate healthcare payers to justify funding this effort. This study finds that, if creating and operating Health Forests causes even a 20% net reduction of annual covered medical expenditures due to chronic diseases, corporate healthcare payers could reap substantial financial benefits from doing so.
Open Access
Identifying Forest Management Scale Variables to Manage White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Duke Forest, North Carolina
(2016-04-28) Payeur, Hunterr; Smerczynski, Patrick
Higher densities of white-tailed deer (WTD) populations lead to alterations in forest structure, forest regeneration dynamics, and plant morphology from selective browse. Forests in urbanized landscapes, otherwise known as urban-wildland interfaces (UWI), are not only affected by WTD browse, but are connected with the human health risks that WTD present such as being a vector for disease or deer-car collisions. Limited resources of forest managers in UWIs cause the primary methods of WTD management to be increasing alternative forage and implementing deer culling programs. The Duke Forest currently implements a WTD culling program, but research has shown that this method, alone, will only suppress the population for a limited time. With limited resources, it is crucial to investigate relationships between WTD in various Duke Forest management areas to generate new ideas on effectively reducing the WTD populations.