The climate of the Pacific Northwest is in flux, and existing forest ecosystems are stressed and poised to shift in fundamental ways, with or without human intervention. This dissertation probes the nature of forest responses to environmental change through investigations of morphology and genetics of three species of alder co-occurring...
Population genetic techniques are now preeminent in differentiating wild populations. Natural resource managers rely on them in their efforts to restore viable populations of fish and wildlife. Overfishing adversely impacted Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) on the U.S. West Coast in the late 20th century. Management actions included shutting down the...
This project determined how the presence of environmental biofilms on sand, granular activated carbon and biochar affected the sorption capacity and desorption quantity of copper, zinc, nutrients and organic carbon from stormwater. These contaminants have harmful and toxic environmental impacts on aquatic life, can lead to eutrophication of surface waters,...
Over the last two decades, urban stormwater management has grown to include green infrastructure, such as bioswales. These systems were primarily designed to mitigate hydraulic peaking during rainstorms but were also found to remove particulate and dissolved contaminants. However, little is known about the fate of these particulate contaminants after...
The perhumid coastal temperate rainforests of southeast Alaska contain an abundance of soil organic carbon (SOC) that has accumulated in a wet, cool climate where forest fire disturbance is minimal and organic matter decomposition rates are low. Coastal temperate rainforests are supported by carbon-rich soils that provide ecosystem services including...
The majority of teachers in the state of Oregon are White, prompting the state’s legislative bodies to explore and create ways to increase racial diversity in the profession. Contextually, both state level mandates and national accreditation bodies have attempted to address the lack of diversity amongst teachers in the K-12...
Little is known about non-industrial private forestland (NIPF) owners in relation to Oregon’s two primary preferential forest property tax programs: Forestland Program – the default tax program for many forestland owners, and Small Tract Forestland Option (STF) – a voluntary program wherein landowners pay reduced annual property taxes and an...
Lake Merced results have established the lake as a viable paleoseismic site on the northern San Francisco peninsula. The lake records ~ 2300 years of event beds, 17 in total. Prior to that the lake was open to the ocean and contains marine shells consistent with an estuarine environment. The...
Radiological emergency plans ensure that protective actions can and will be taken in the event of an accident. Principle protective actions for the early phase of an emergency are evacuation and sheltering-in-place. While evacuations are generally safe, there are deterministic, long-term health consequences from prolonged displacement that outweigh the stochastic...