Today in the United States, herbal supplements are growing increasingly popular, however, little is known about the safety and efficacy of these products. This study contributes to the growing body of information about the prevalence of herbal supplement use among young adults (18 to 24 years) and the beliefs young...
This dissertation describes patterns in epiphytic macrolichen community composition along a nitrogen deposition gradient in the Yosemite region of the Sierra Nevada in California. This region is part of the largest federal air quality Class 1 designated air-shed in the western United States, covering the entire crest of the Sierra...
The sagebrush steppe ecosystem of the northern Great Basin is severely degraded and continues to decline due in large part to the invasive, non-native annual grasses Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass) and Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski (medusahead). Restoration of invasive-dominated areas is difficult, but can be enhanced by adding a carbon...
Yeast mannoproteins released during the process of aging wine on the yeast lees have been reported to make important contributions to wine quality. However, few mannoproteins have been identified in wine and their lifespan during aging is unknown. As a first step towards better understanding the contributions of yeast mannoproteins...
Aquatic animals are exposed to a variety of natural and
anthropogenic xenobiotics. Biotransformation of xenobiotics was
examined in three aquatic animals: a primitive mollusc (chiton);
a shellfish which is an important human food source (oyster);
and, a lower vertebrate model for toxicological studies (rainbow
trout). Since digestive glands of Cryntochiton...
Thirty-four current worksite health promotion programs were
studied in order to obtain comprehensive information about various components
involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of existing
programs, and to acquire the necessary data to develop a theory and corresponding
hypotheses pertaining to successful worksite health promotion
programs. The case study...
Woody riparian vegetation is an essential component of riparian ecosystems, responsible in part for the maintenance of functional ecological processes. The plant community composition and distribution provide an indication of the underlying mosaic of environmental attributes and processes. Restoration and management of riparian communities have been hindered by the lack...
This research is based on in-depth interviews with 20 women farmers and
ranchers from the state of Oregon. These women employ a variety of methods and
subscribe to a number of divergent philosophies regarding agricultural practices.
The intention of this study is to examine how women who are the primary...
With continual and worldwide human population growth, our impact on the natural environment expands and intensifies every day. We consume natural resources, burn fossil fuels, and release toxic compounds into the air, water, and earth. We build roads that fragment the landscape, construct new settlements, and develop agricultural lands in...
At first glance, Edgar Rice Burroughs's wildly popular romantic fantasy novel, Tarzan of the Apes (1912), and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist science fiction-utopian novel, Herland (1915), with its dystopian companion, With Her in Ourland (1916), may appear to have little in common. Tarzan celebrates the human connection with wild nature...
This thesis examines the motivations of ecological restoration volunteers with the Oregon chapter of The Nature Conservancy. This study helps fill in voids left by a lack of research on the motivations of ecological restoration volunteers. Studies that have explored restoration volunteer motivation relied largely on surveys that revealed altruistic...
Calls for increased farmer involvement in research and extension programs
have been numerous and well supported. One approach to integrate the collective
knowledge and experience of agricultural scientists and farmers is through whole
farm case studies (WFCS). An interdisciplinary team of 34 research and extension
personnel at Oregon and Washington...
Habitat loss causes a reduction in available resources for wildlife, alters the configuration of remaining habitat, and may isolate wildlife populations. White-breasted nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) are experiencing long-term population declines in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, where they are historically associated with oak woodlands. As secondary cavity-nesters, white-breasted nuthatches may...
Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is a powerful resource for coastal and wetland managers and its use is increasing. Vegetation density and other land cover characteristics influence the accuracy of LIDAR-derived ground surface digital elevation models; however, the degree to which wetland land cover biases LIDAR estimates of the ground...
The presence and significance of salmon for prehistoric and aboriginal people of the Columbia Plateau is a matter of considerable debate among anthropologists, archaeologists and historians. Data from over 100 archaeological sites are scrutinized in the light of an example salmon fishery developed from ethnographic and archaeological information on aboriginal...
The purpose of this thesis is to understand the experiences that Nahua children, in rural Mexico, have as they attend schools that are primarily influenced by formal Western education in relation to their own ways of learning and knowing. This research took place over the course of three months within...
Globally, as surface water quality and quantity diminishes there is increasing reliance on groundwater to buffer water demands of growing populations. Today in many arid regions around the world aquifer pumping rates far exceed recharge rates. Often the groundwater is nonrenewable, or thousands of years old. Despite the known hydrologic...
Corals have multiple roles in maintaining ocean health and are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. The coral animal is host to a multitude of taxa, including symbiotic dinoflagellate algae, fungi, bacteria, protists, and viruses. Environmental stressors and disease agents can perturb the delicate balance of the coral host...
This ethnographic study examined some of the ways that global markets and the infrastructure of agribusiness affect local smallholder farmers in the Ten Rivers region who are transitioning toward more sustainable and traditional agricultural methods. The purpose of this research was to discover what barriers smallholder farmers face in developing...