School of Sustainability Graduate Culminating Experiences
Student capstone and applied projects from ASU's School of Sustainability.
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- Creators: Cease, Arianne
Description
In Senegal, West Africa, soils are a vital resource for livelihoods and food security in smallholder farming communities. Low nitrogen (N) soils pose obvious challenges for crop production but may also, counterintuitively, promote the abundance of agricultural pests like the Senegalese locust, Oedaleus senegalensis. In this study I investigated how the abundance of locusts and grasshoppers are impacted by soil fertility through plant nutrients and how these variables change across land use types. We worked in two rural farming villages in the Kaffrine region of Senegal. Overall, there was little variation in soil properties and an agricultural landscape low in soil organic matter (SOM) and inorganic soil nitrogen. I corroborated that SOM is a significant driver of soil inorganic N, which had a positive relationship to plant N content. Of the management practices we surveyed, fallowing fields was important for soil nutrient restoration and years spent fallow was significantly correlated to inorganic soil N and SOM. O. senegalensis was least abundant in groundnut areas where plant N was highest. Additionally, I found a significant negative correlation between O. senegalensis abundance and plant N, suggesting that plant nutrients are an important driver of their populations. Grasshoppers, excluding O. senegalensis, were more numerous in grazing areas and fallow areas, perhaps due to a higher diversity of ecological niches and host plants. These results connect land use, soil, and vegetation to herbivores and suggest that improving soil fertility could be used as an alternative to pesticides to keep locusts at bay and improve crop yields.
ContributorsWord, Mira (Author) / Hall, Sharon (Contributor) / Robinson, Brian (Contributor) / Manneh, Balanding (Contributor) / Beye, Alioune (Contributor) / Cease, Arianne (Contributor)
Created2018-04-10
Description
This paper recounts a project journey that was taken to explore how replacing plastics with less harmful materials can drive positive environmental impact. The project examined the scope and impacts of plastic pollution attributable to healthcare delivery and the adverse impacts it has on population health. Identifying potential options to replace plastics was accomplished by obtaining access to one of the world’s leading materials databases. This access enabled identification of several alternative materials with documented uses as plastic replacements. Evidence of successes that have been achieved in replacing plastics with less harmful materials was gathered by conducting interviews with international materials experts and senior executives from several different industries. These examples are combined with the research findings on alternative materials to construct a case that taking action can yield financial benefits while doing less harm to people and the planet. The completed project presents a framework that can be followed in future efforts to replace plastics. While the scope of the project focused on the plastic pollution problem from a healthcare perspective, the framework that was created is portable and can be adapted for use in any organization or industry seeking to replace plastics and drive change to create a healthier future.
ContributorsO'Brien, Patrick (Writer of accompanying material)
Created2019-12-03