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open access

Sustainable Environmental Identities for Environmental Sustainability: Remaking Environmental Identities with the Help of Indigenous Knowledge

Description: Early literature in the field of environmental ethics suggests that environmental problems are not technological problems requiring technological solutions, but rather are problems deeply rooted in Western value systems calling for a reorientation of our values. This dissertation examines what resources are available to us in reorienting our values if this starting point is correct. Three positions can be observed in the environmental ethics literature on this issue: 1. We can go back and rei… more
Date: December 2012
Creator: Parker, Jonathan
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Conceptual Autopoiēsis of Language-Habits and Language-Cultures that Orient Humans as Separate from Nature

Description: In this dissertation I consider the nature of the relationship between orientation and language-habits in the context of environmental ethics. Specifically, I focus on the problem of orientation as a way of understanding the unabated trend of anthropocentrism in the dominant Western language-culture. Orientation operates as the attitudes, beliefs, and feelings in relation to something that we embody in our lived experiences. One way that we communicate our orientation in relation to the land is… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Williams, Justin W
Partner: UNT Libraries

Meeting Mosses: Toward a Convivial Biocultural Conservation

Description: In this dissertation I propose an ethical framework for "meeting mosses." At first glance, mosses are a tiny type of plants that have been uncritically understood as "primitive plants," to the extent that they are defined by negation as "non-vascular plants." Hence, mosses have been considered as "primitive" relatives of "true" vascular plants. This distortion is linked to the fact that mosses have been overlooked and represented as a radical otherness in Western civilization. To critically exa… more
Date: December 2022
Creator: Zhu, Danqiong
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Temperate, Sub-Antarctic Streams: The Effects of Altitudinal Zoning and Temperature on the Phenology of Aquatic Insects Associated to the Robalo River, Navarino Island (55°S), Chile

Description: The Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, within the remote Sub-Antarctic ecoregion is a reservoir of expressions of biological and cultural diversity. Although it is considered one of 24 wilderness areas remaining in the world, it is not free from local and global threats, such as invasive species, and climate change. Field biologists and philosophers associated to the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program and the Omora Ethnobotanical Park, have worked to describe the region’s biocultural dive… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Contador Mejías, Tamara Andrea
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Gender in Climate Policy and Climate Finance in Ghana

Description: This dissertation makes use of theoretical frameworks drawn from development theory, ecofeminism, climate science, environmental and distributive justice, and human rights to provide gender analysis of climate policy, including climate finance.The problem addressed is that climate impacts are exacerbating food insecurity that is women's responsibility in the global South. First, I use literature in climate science to detail the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Africa and show how thi… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Opoku, Emmanuela A
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Epistemological, Ontological, and Ethical Dimensions of Biocultural Rights: The Case of the Atrato River, Colombia

Description: In 2016, the Colombian Constitutional Court recognized the Atrato River as a subject of rights based on the theory of biocultural rights. This dissertation analyzes a new legal concept that aims to defend the rights to a good life for humans and other-than-human co-inhabitants who share river ecosystems, focusing on the case of the Atrato River in Colombia. The 3Hs framework of biocultural ethics is adopted to interconnect complex and interrelated historical, biophysical, cultural, and politica… more
Date: August 2022
Creator: González Morales, Valentina
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Biodiversity Loss, the Motivation Problem, and the Future of Conservation Education in the United States

Description: The purpose of this dissertation is to make sense of two sets of reactions. On the one hand, Americans can barely lift a finger to help threatened and endangered species while on the other, they routinely come to the aid of human victims of disaster. I argue that in contrast to cases of human tragedy, for the biodiversity crisis conservationists are faced not only with the familiar yet arduous task of motivating the American public to care for living other-than-humans, but they are also saddl… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Grove-Fanning, William
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Urban Sustainability and the Extinction of Experience: Acknowledging Drivers of Biocultural Loss for Socio-ecological Well-being

Description: In this dissertation I address urban sustainability with a focus on loss of cultural heritage and ecological knowledge by expanding the concept “extinction of experience” (EoE). Conceptualized by conservationist Robert Michael Pyle, EoE is the loss of nature experiences leading to apathy towards biodiversity and degradation of the common habitat. I expand upon Pyle’s formulation of the concept by considering the EoE cycle as an indirect driver that amplifies biodiversity losses. Additionally, I… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Poole, Alexandria K.
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Impact of Invasive Salmonids on Ecosystem Functioning in South America's Sub-Antarctic Inland and Marine Waters

Description: Invasions from coho salmon were first reported in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR) in 2019 which is the most southern distribution registered to date. The CHBR is known for its high number of endemic species and unique biodiversity, such as the native fishes Galaxias maculatus and Aplochiton taeniatus. There are now three invasive salmonid species in the rivers of CHBR and are a potential threat to the native fish taxa. Stable isotope and gut content analysis were used to understand resou… more
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Date: May 2023
Creator: Moore, Sabrina
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Niche Expansion of an Invasive Predator (Neovison vison), Prey Response, and Facilitative Interactions with Other Invasive Mammals at the Southern End of the Americas: Conservation Challenges and Potential Solutions

Description: The Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve is located at the southern tip of South America. This large archipelago is considered one of the last pristine areas left on the world. Despite it being an unpopulated area with most of the native forest cover intact, it has not been exempt from biological invasions, one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss. Three species that naturally interact in their native range in North America – American beavers (Castor canadensis), muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), and … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Crego, Ramiro Daniel
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Soil and Forest Variation by Topography and Succession Stages in the Greenbelt Corridor, Floodplain of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, North Texas.

Description: The Greenbelt Corridor (GBC), located in a floodplain of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, contains patches of bottomland forest and serves as part of Lake Lewisville’s flood control backwaters. This study examines forest structure and composition in relation to topographic position and forest stage in the GBC. Thirty two plots were surveyed within various stage classes, topographic positions, and USDA soil types. Trees were identified and measured for height and DBH. Density, basal area, and … more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Rijal, Rajan
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Breeding Ecology and Migratory Connectivity of Passerines in the World's Southernmost Forests

Description: In the extensive and remote sub-Antarctic forests of South America, birds are the dominant terrestrial vertebrates. Despite considerable efforts to understand the ecology of birds breeding in these forests, our current knowledge for many species is still incomplete. During three breeding seasons (2014 – 2017), I studied the breeding ecology of the five most abundant open-cup forest-dwelling passerines in the sub-Antarctic forest of Navarino Island, Chile (55°04′S, 67°40′W). There were differenc… more
Date: May 2021
Creator: Jara Millar, Rocio Fernanda
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Ecological Importance and Population Structure of Magellanic Woodpeckers (Campephilus magellanicus) in the World's Southernmost Forests

Description: The Magellanic woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus), the largest woodpecker in Central and South America, is declining throughout its range. Notably, limited research has been conducted on the Campephilus genus, especially for island populations. Mostly during austral summers 2015-2017, I explored the ecological importance and population structure of Magellanic woodpeckers on Navarino Island, Chile (55°04′S, 67°40′W). First, I assessed how coleopteran larval density and distribution within tre… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Wynia, Amy Lynn
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Habitat Fragmentation by Land-Use Change: One-Horned Rhinoceros in Nepal and Red-Cockaded Woodpecker in Texas

Description: This research focuses on the spatial analysis of the habitat of two vulnerable species, the one-horn rhinoceros in the grasslands of southern Nepal, and the red-cockaded woodpecker in the Piney woods of southeast Texas, in the USA. A study sites relevant for biodiversity conservation was selected in each country: Chitwan National Park in Nepal, and areas near the Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. Land-use differs in the two study areas: the first is still undergoing agrarian development w… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Thapa, Vivek
Partner: UNT Libraries
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