THE YELLOWSTONE BISON HERD CONFLICT:
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AS A STEP TOWARD RESOLUTION
Yellowstone National Park is home to one of the last free-ranging bison herds
in the United States, but management of the herd involving slaughter of large
numbers is highly controversial. This management practice stems from a complex
set of issues revolving around the herd's winter migration out of the park
and its brucellosis infection. Brucellosis is a disease transmittable to cattle
that could cause the state to lose rights to interstate cattle trade. Through
interviews and other methods, this project will compile data on public attitudes
and knowledge of the rationale and complex issues behind the controversial
management practice and examine current policy and priorities of different
interest groups to help find a mutually agreeable and sustainable solution.
THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF COPEPODS IN THE POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE TOXIC RED TIDE, KARENIA BREVIS: BLOOM SUPPRESSORS, INITIATORS OR INNOCENT BYSTANDERS?
Interfacing with a national plan to better understand the physical, biological
and ecological factors responsible for population dynamics of phytoplankton
that cause harmful algal blooms (HABs), this project focuses on trophic interactions
between copepod grazers and the Gulf of Mexico red tide dinoflagellate, Karenia
brevis. Methods and results of this research have implications for HAB environmental
monitoring and assessment, will contribute to our understanding of HAB population
dynamics, and will also contribute new methods and applications to the study
of copepod behavior.
THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON HABITAT CONNECTIVITY:
A CASE STUDY WITHIN THE ECUADORIAN CHOCO-ANDEAN CONSERVATION CORRIDOR
Habitat loss and fragmentation due to deforestation in the tropics are considered to be the primary causes for the worldwide loss of biological diversity. This project will utilize theory and methods from the disciplines of biogeography, landscape ecology, conservation biology, and cultural ecology to examine the impacts of agriculture and socioeconomic factors in the fragmentation of forests surrounding an Ecuadorian park. Fieldwork, remote sensing, and GIS will be used to analyze land-use/land-cover changes, focusing on the associated implications for habitat connectivity. Local perceptions and receptivity to the park's sustainability projects will be evaluated through participant observation and ethnographic interviews with participating and non-participating communities.
As a service to the Environmental Science Institute for providing funding for her thesis research, Jessica organized an Interdisciplinary Fieldtrip to the Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center."
A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF MARKET PRESSURE IN WILDLIFE EXPLOITATION:
THE GUIANAN WILD BIRD TRADE
This project will focus on the relationship between exploitation costs and
trapper strategies in the tropical bird trade. Ecological and economic perspectives
will be integrated into a spatial model to predict changes in exploitation
pressure on commercial tropical bird species based on changes in their market
value and accessibility to source areas. The model will provide a predictive
tool to support wildlife management in the context of the trade of multiple
species with different production costs and different market values. Sound
strategic planning is important to both conservationists and people economically
dependant on the wildlife trade, and this project will provide an essential
first step in creating a bioeconomic model of the sustainability of the wild
bird trade for a specific population.
SPATIAL ISOTOPE VARIATION AND CONSERVING MIGRATORY SPECIES
Anax junius, the Common Green Darner, is a widespread North American dragonfly
that migrates between Guatemala and Ontario, little is known of the extent
or details of this migration. This project will create a map of isotopic variation
of specimens collected throughout the species' range that should reveal migration
pathways and set the stage for use of this easily studied species in future
analyses and monitoring of climate change. Since dragonflies are so sensitive
to temperature and precipitation changes, they are likely to display seasonal
behavior changes (such as the timing of migration and emergence), novel kinds
of range shifts, and other life history shifts in response to climate change.
Since larvae are top predators in fishless systems and terrestrial adults
are equally voracious, and several threatened bird species appear to time
their migration to coincide with dragonfly movement, preying on them en route,
this species should be a good indicator of trophic cascade effects that might
result from climate changes.
DROUGHTS, DAMS, WATER USE AND WATER FLOW IN A FREE TRADE ERA:
FOLLOWING A DROP OF WATER DOWN THE RIO CONCHOS
This project takes a watershed approach to analysis of land and water management
on river discharge by following a drop of water down the Conchos River as
it is used, discharged, dammed and reused. Environmental and ecological change
on this controversial river which is the focal point of heated international
debates about water management in the Rio Grande basin will be examined, as
will perspectives of different societal interests and their use of the river's
water. This preliminary study will investigate water flow data along the Rio
Conchos in relation to precipitation, seasonal water use, dam management and
varying land use/land cover change using both quantitative and qualitative
field techniques from geomorphology, hydrology and cultural geography.
LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE PAYMENT PROGRAMS:
A FOREST CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT IN THE OSA PENINSULA, COSTA RICA
This research will investigate the extent to which direct conservation payments to private landholders impact conservation objectives of tropical forest ecosystems. By assessing the degree to which landholders reinvest their earnings in ways complementary or contradictory to the conservation purposes of direct payments, this study will address a fundamental concern of national and international funding agencies: the impact of short-term expenditures on lasting conservation practices.
For an archived list of 2002 Summer Fellows, please click here.
For an archived list of 2001 Summer Fellows, please click here.
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