This thesis consists of five chapters: a general introduction, two manuscripts, a collection of published lesson plans, and a general conclusion. The works collected herein are united by the common theme of practical applications in plant breeding. The first manuscript reports a study performed on five malting barley lines grown...
Observed declines in native pollinator species worldwide has generated concern and focused research into the disturbances, past and present, which may have contributed to these losses. In grasslands, for example, habitat degradation and fragmentation from historical and current crop production and livestock grazing has left only a few remnants of...
Wind flow on vegetated coastal foredunes adapts to the local canopy drag, resulting in spatial gradients in bed shear stresses which contribute to the formation of localized bedforms (e.g., nebkha, shadow dunes). Numerous morphological properties of the plants, including canopy height and density, affect the wind flow dynamics and therefore...
Visible homelessness is a complex and enduring issue that remains salient in policymaking and political realms. In response to homeless individuals living their lives in public spaces, many cities have enacted civility codes or laws that address quality of life concerns in an attempt to remove visible signs of homelessness...
For many young bilingual students in school settings, demands of curricula and standardized assessments take precedence over writing pedagogies that invite and welcome students’ identities and languages into their writing. Pedagogies of voice are a means of providing culturally and linguistically responsive instruction that support bilingual students learning to write...
Accurate estimation of water stress in vineyards could prove vital for optimizing irrigation and grape quality in a changing climate. The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on the Space Station (ECOSTRESS) offers potential to remotely sense vineyard water stress but lacks validation against in-field measurements in vineyards. In this study,...
Wildfire impacts have intensified in many ecosystems across the western United States due to the combined impact of fire exclusion, climate change, and land management practices. However, on many of these landscapes, fire is a fundamental ecological process that has shaped vegetation structural and compositional diversity, ecosystem function, landscape pattern,...
A molecular approach to metal oxides allows to the study to fundamental bonding and formation behavior for such metals. Moreover, the molecular nature of such oxides or metal-oxo clusters allows the possibility of exploitation of the properties of the parent oxides. The tetravalent metals, in specific, (M=Zr, Hf, Ce, Th,...
Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen frequently associated with food processing environments. Its presence is particularly concerning in facilities handling minimally processed and ready-to-eat foods. Recent outbreaks associated with fresh produce, such as packaged salads and mushrooms, highlight the need to better understand and control these pathogens in environments that...