Intention for this study is driven by finding patterns that may be shown to reveal primary factors of influence for the abundance and diversity of wetland birds. These correlations may be used to promote wetland management strategies for the benefit of waterbird species, and help illuminate current local wetland conditions for waterbirds, respectively. The idea is to help enliven individuals to become a more conscious steward and manipulator of our environment through incorporating structural and biological components into wetland development and management strategies, and broadly speaking, urban development practices.

The Texas High Plains produces the most substantial amount of cotton in Texas. The region is a semi-arid area with limited precipitation, and it is, therefore, susceptible to climate change. Cotton production in the Texas High Plains is mostly dependent on irrigation to increase yield. The overall goal of this research was to study the interrelationships between climate change and cotton yield using correlation analysis and also to study how climate has changed in the region using trend analysis. A three-decade data (1987-2017) was analyzed to establish the relationship between climate change and cotton and also to determine how climate has changed in the area over the last 30 years. The research used precipitation and temperature data to assess climate change.The results of this research showed that annual mean temperature has lesser impacts on cotton yield, and the correlation between annual precipitation and cotton yield is insignificant. It also found out that high rates of temperature at the boll opening stage of cotton growth results in decreased cotton yield and that at the boll development and boll opening stages, precipitation is needed. Again, the research indicated that, on average, there had been a significant increase in temperature, but precipitation trends …

My research examines the three interrelated concepts of crisis; new imperialisms, spatial-temporal fix and accumulation by dispossession (ABD) stemming from the work of David Harvey as a way to understand the contested history of the Pakistan Railways. For the first thirty odd years after Pakistan's inception in 1947, the railways, a state-owned institution, was the primary mode of transport for the public, cargo, and workers. Alongside basic infrastructure, the railways had a vast network of hospitals, schools, workers' colonies and an array of physical infrastructure connected to production, operations and other aspects of the economy. The systematic ransack and decline of the Pakistan Railways reached its peak in 2010. Despite several attempts throughout the 1990s by successive democratic and military-led governments backed by the IMF/World Bank in 2015, it was announced that Pakistan railways would be revived under the banner of the 46 billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of the changing geopolitical context of growing regional connectivity and new Chinese imperialism. By examining the processes that underlie ABD, such as spatial-temporal fix, the following research shows that these processes not only reflect a shift of resources away from the public domain, but in Pakistan also entailed …

The Pueblo III period marks a critical shift in settlement location of Ancestral Puebloan people within the Mesa Verde region. Community centers during the Pueblo I and Pueblo II periods were built on mesa tops, whereas canyon-rims and alcoves became the preferred settlement location during the Pueblo III period. Beginning in the Pueblo I period, community centers consisted of linear roomblock villages. By the late Pueblo II period great house community centers influenced by the Chaco culture system spanned the Mesa Verde region. The Pueblo III period hallmarks the transition to canyon-rim villages and cliff dwellings. The location of these Pueblo III centers is thought to be related to the need for a defensive position on the landscape, and access to water sources. This shift in settlement locations undoubtedly led to change in the access to resources, such as water, arable farmland, and wild food plants and game. This study aims to evaluate whether the change in community center location impacted the accessibility to arable farmland and water sources immediately available to Ancestral Puebloan people throughout time. Specifically, several variables related to farming potential and hydrologic potential, including soil type, soil moisture, elevation, cropland suitability, distance to water sources, drainage …

The Women's Revolution in 2015 has led to a drastic shift in the ways women are portrayed in professional wrestling. The Women's Revolution came as a result of the social unrest over the lack of time women were receiving on the televised shows. Where women's storylines had centered on their sexuality, they are now presented as equal to their male counterparts after the Women's Revolution. Through an exploration of concepts in globalization, commodification, and socially produced spaces, this research seeks to understand and contextualize the Women's Revolution, the degree to which the portrayed women's equality has been achieved, and the resulting impacts of the female superstars overall. I argue that that this "equality" has been achieved through inscribing the traditionally masculine qualities of wrestling to women, has resulted in an unequal distribution of opportunities to particular female superstars rather than equality for all women on the shows, and that phallocentric objectification of the female superstars still occurs in certain aspects of professional wrestling.

Neighborhoods are organic entities that are in a state of constant change and are driven by the specific context of the problem being investigated. The subsequent lack of consensus on a universal geographic definition for what constitutes a neighborhood can lead to biased interpretations of relationships between human activities and place. Further, while existing geographical information system software allows users to combine a range of geographic objects to generate regional units of analyses, their design does not explicitly assess how changing patterns, such as populations, impact the data expressed within them. This research develops an exploratory geographical information system framework that allows users to dynamically delineate neighborhoods based on user-specified characteristics. These include socioeconomic and similar measurements of neighborhood classification from information obtained from secondary data sources, including parcel data, land use/land cover information, and attribute data provided by the United States Postal Service. The proposed methodology creates custom geographies from readily available tract data obtained from various federal and state data repositories to produce indices. By allowing the user to dynamically weigh the combinations of variables used to define their neighborhood, this thesis introduces a solution to a common analytical problem in the discipline.

Black carbon (BC), a stable form of organic carbon (OC), is a byproduct of the incomplete combustion of biomass, biofuels, and fossil fuel. The main objectives of this research are to examine the spatial distribution of OC and BC in urban soil and determine the influence of tree canopy cover and landscape maintenance on soil carbon accumulation. Soil sampling was conducted at 29 sites throughout the City of Denton, Texas, in May 2019. Samples were collected from underneath post oak canopies and in adjacent open areas and were analyzed for total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC), total N (TN), C:N ratio, and BC. Although maintenance levels had no significant effect, TOC was greater underneath trees (5.47%, 5.30 kg/m2) than lawns (3.58%, 4.84 kg/m2) at the surface 0-10 cm. Total nitrogen concentration was also greater underneath trees (0.43%) than lawns (0.31%) at the surface 0-10 cm. Preliminary results for BC were closely correlated to TOC. The lack of difference in C:N ratio between cover types indicates that leaf litter quality may not be the primary driving factor in soil C and N accumulation. Instead, differences in soil properties may be best explained by manual C inputs and greater atmospheric deposition …

This study uses topographic profiles, washover fan volumes, and shoreline retreat rates to explore relationships between barrier types and Hurricane Harvey storm washover sedimentation. Pre- and post-Hurricane Harvey topographic profiles were created on 15 transects using Bare Earth LiDAR (2016) and surveyed elevations (2019). Depth and area of washover fan measurements were collected to estimate washover fan volumes. An inverse relationship was found between washover fan volume and pre- and post-storm barrier heights. Based on the topographic profiles, one section of shoreline had a scarp up to 3m high which blocked overwash, but appears to have increased shoreline erosion. In contrast, a low-lying section of shoreline generated relatively large washover fans, but experienced less shoreline retreat. Shoreline retreat was further quantified between 2014 and 2019 using Google Earth Imagery from 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 to track migration of the shoreline. The entire shoreline in the study area is undergoing relatively rapid retreat, but the results suggest that Hurricane Harvey increased erosional rates. The Colorado River Jetty borders the study area and may have acted as an anthropogenic barrier, likely reducing storm surge energy and contributing to marsh aggradation on transects in its close proximity. The study findings indicate that …