Climate change poses known and unknown risks for coastal communities and also challenges for university faculty and local government staff who communicate about climate sciences. Conceived as a way to move beyond traditional models of science communication, this project involved public and private decision makers in specific at-risk communities in...
Retreating glaciers and the periglacial areas they vacate for organismal colonization produce a harsh environment of extreme radiation, nutrient limitations, and temperature oscillations. They provide a model system for studying mechanisms that drive establishment and early assembly of communities. Here, we synthesize more than twenty years of research at the...
Three-dimensional laser scanning has revolutionized spatial data acquisition and can be completed from a variety of platforms including airborne (ALS), mobile (MLS), and static terrestrial (TLS) laser scanning. MLS is a rapidly evolving technology that provides increases in efficiency and safety over static TLS, while still providing similar levels of...
The social and economic impacts of climate change on the Oregon Coast may be reduced if coastal managers begin planning now to put in place adaptation measures. Oregon Sea Grant conducted a web-based survey of Oregon coastal professionals to target climate change adaptation outreach and engagement efforts toward this audience....
Straw wattles are common erosion control devices used to trap sediment. This
thesis studies the relationship of straw wattles on slope stability through a case study
demonstrating their use on steep slopes (1.5H:1V) for the US20 highway realignment
project. Several surficial slope failures have occurred on these fill slopes, often...
The production of high-quality wine is an important target for wineries worldwide, and low crop level (yield) has been one vineyard management criterion long believed to achieve wine quality. Low yields are most often achieved by removing clusters from the grapevine. Some studies show that cluster thinning can enhance grape...
Hazelnuts are commonly consumed raw and are valued for their numerous health benefits and antioxidant properties. Increased foodborne illness outbreaks associated with Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination of tree nuts and peanuts generate a need for improving agricultural sanitation procedures. Food-safe chemical sanitizers have shown promise for reducing pathogenic...
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Michael T. Morrissey
Hazelnuts are commonly consumed raw and are valued for their numerous
Conservation is, among other things, the expression of a relationship between humans and nonhuman nature. This relationship can be described empirically using the methods of social science, but it can also be prescribed in the form of philosophical arguments. Scholars in the field of environmental ethics have discussed and debated...
Substantial scientific investment has been directed towards understanding factors that influence distribution patterns and animals' remarkable ability for precise orientation and navigation, yet fundamental gaps in our knowledge remain. In my dissertation, I applied emerging genetic technologies to conduct a top-down and bottom-up investigation of animal movement and cue perception....
The European hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) is a tree nut crop that is important in Oregon, which produces 99% of the United States’ hazelnuts but only 5% of the world’s supply. In order to maintain this market share, farmers in Oregon need cultivars that produce high quality nuts, mature early,...
Hybridization, polyploidy, and apomixis have made phylogenetic estimation in Rubus challenging. I used target capture to sequence approximately 1000 low copy nuclear loci and the chloroplast genome for 94 accessions representing the genus Rubus and distributed worldwide. Species phylogenies were estimated using two coalescent based methods, ASTRAL-II and SVDQuartets, and...
Excavation of a pit feature designated as Feature 59 (F59) from the Cooper’s Ferry site (10IH73) in western Idaho offers a unique opportunity to explore more about the Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) and how people used pits in the Far West. In this thesis, an analysis is conducted on the...
Solanum species differ in their degree of frost tolerance and cold acclimation capacity. Cultivated potato species of Solanum tuberosum L. are frost-sensitive, incapable of cold acclimation, and have a maximum freezing tolerance of –3°C. Solanum commersonii Dun is frost-tolerant and can survive to –5ºC pre-acclimation and –10ºC post-acclimation. Breeding attempts...
The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore White, female teachers’ attitudes and perspectives towards their African American students, the Black/White Achievement Gap, and their teaching practice in regards to their students’ achievement, through the use of focus group discussions. The target group for this study was White, female...
The purpose of this study was to understand how instruction in an introductory nonmajor astronomy course at Oregon State University affects how non-science majors view science and the scientific process. The study used research-based methods to design a reform-based lecture/lab course and implement it for students. Two top-level questions were...
Lilacs are a group of ornamental trees and shrubs in the Oleaceae family consisting of 22 to 30 species. There are six series within genus Syringa: Pubescentes, Villosae, Ligustrae, Ligustrina, Pinnatifoliae, and Syringa. Fertility and cross-compatibility among cultivars, species, and series have yet to be formally investigated. Over three years,...
Healthcare access exhibits differing levels of complexity, often requiring multi-disciplinary approaches to study its barriers and enablers. Though Argentina has achieved nominal universal healthcare coverage through its public healthcare system, full effective coverage has not been achieved. The public system also has a parallel private care system, adding further complexity...
This dissertation describes the application and development of molecular tools that have great potential for use in studying variation in strawberry germplasm. The first study evaluated 91 microsatellite (simple sequence repeat, SSR) markers for transferability in 22 Fragaria species and their utility in fingerprinting octoploid strawberries. Out of the transferable...
Increasingly diverse interests in commercial and recreational use of marine resources are creating new challenges for coastal ocean management. One concern of increased offshore use and development off the Oregon coast is the potential impact on marine bird populations. We summarized the primary surveys of seabird breeding colonies and at-sea...