Matching Items (15)
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- All Subjects: Arizona
- Creators: School of Sustainability
Description
Desert ecosystems are one of the fastest urbanizing areas on the planet. This rapid shift has the potential to alter the abundances and species richness of herbivore and plant communities. Herbivores, for example, are expected to be more abundant in urban desert remnant parks located within cities due to anthropogenic activities that concentrate food resources and reduce native predator populations. Despite this assumption, previous research conducted around Phoenix has shown that top-down herbivory led to equally reduced plant biomass. It is unclear if this insignificant difference in herbivory at rural and urban sites is due to unaltered desert herbivore populations or altered activity levels that counteract abundance differences. Vertebrate herbivore populations were surveyed at four sites inside and four sites outside of the core of Phoenix during fall 2014 and spring 2015 in order to determine whether abundances and richness differ significantly between urban and rural sites. In order to survey species composition and abundance at these sites, 100 Sherman traps and 8 larger wire traps that are designed to attract and capture small vertebrates such as mice, rats, and squirrels, were set at each site for two consecutive trap nights. Results suggest that the commonly assumed effect of urbanization on herbivore abundances does not apply to small rodent herbivore populations in a desert city, as overall small rodent abundances were statistically similar regardless of location. Though a significant difference was not found for species richness, a significant difference between small rodent genera richness at these sites was observed.
ContributorsAlvarez Guevara, Jessica Noemi (Co-author) / Ball, Becky A. (Co-author, Thesis director) / Hall, Sharon J. (Co-author) / Bateman, Heather (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The Colorado River is the lifeblood for seven Basin States including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada. This water source aided westward expansion and allowed the arid Southwest to grow. Today, the river is over-allocated resulting in reduced flows. This could lead to water challenges in Arizona and the other Basin states. This river is the single largest entity from which Arizona receives water. Despite this, Arizona is still better situated for water cutbacks than other states like California. Arizona has more than nine million acre-feet of banked underground water and access to other water sources including the Salt and Verde rivers. Government officials are making decisions now that will affect water usage in Arizona for decades and generations to come. Digital media, such as iPad magazines are a good way to reach this technologically savvy generation and engage them concerning important issues. Designing for digital platforms presents unique opportunities. This platform requires solid content and visually appealing design to attract a Millennial audience born between the years 1981 and 1996, according to Pew Research Center. Digital magazines currently present a small segment of the media market, however this segment is growing exponentially. A study by Pew Research Center reports that this slice of the population is interested in consuming the news and emerging technologies such as digital magazines. These are good ways to reach and interest a digitally engaged readership. Reaching this age group is important because the Millennial generation will need to determine the future of the Colorado River and water use in Arizona. To ensure the future of water in the West, this generation needs to "learn about the reality of our water supply, what our real water challenges are and then get engaged and have a voice in what we do about our water planning for the future" (Porter, 2015). DISCLAIMER: The digital magazine was created in InDesign with interactive PDFs, which are best viewed on tablets. Screenshots of the magazine are included to demonstrate the magazine.
ContributorsPrice, Mallory Jeanne (Author) / Matera, Fran (Thesis director) / Hill, Retha (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In Arizona's early history, Females garnered more independence than most other women in the United States because they were forced to build a completely new life in settlements with little to no infrastructure. Now, Arizona has achieved a level of equality that no other state has yet to achieve in regard to gender representation. Yet, we have yet to achieve total equity. This paper looks to analyze responses that female senators from the Arizona State Legislature gave while being interviewed by the author. With questions derived from previous research conducted on women in politics at the state and federal level, this paper will delve into the personal experiences of six female senators. Although their personal narratives differ, their stories seem to reflect a collective tie that unites the female members together, beyond party allegiance. Each of the responses given by the senators had some aspects that showed trends supporting the majority of the hypotheses. Moving forward, in order to achieve 50% equality, two more senators would need to be elected and replace male senators.
ContributorsMacdonald, James Nicholson (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lyon, Jenna (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
As Arizona enters its fifteenth year of drought and Lake Mead hits historic lows, water management and policy planning will become increasingly important to ensure future water security in the Southwestern region of the United States. This thesis compares water demand trends and policies at the municipal level in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona over the time period from 1980-2010. By analyzing gallons per capita per day (GPCD) trends for each city in the context of population growth, drought, and major state and local policies over the twenty year period, reasons for declines in per capita water demand were explored. Despite differences in their available water sources and political cultures, both the City of Phoenix and the City of Tucson have successfully reduced their per capita water consumption levels between 1980 and 2010. However, this study suggests that each city's measured success at reducing GPCD has been more a result of external events (supply augmentation, drought, and differing development trends) rather than conservation and demand reduction regulations adopted under the auspices of the Groundwater Management Act.
ContributorsSnyder, Rachel Claire (Author) / Larson, Kelli (Thesis director) / Hirt, Paul (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In recent years, ecologists have begun to study the effects of urbanization on species diversity. While urban areas generally suffer decreased biodiversity, some species, termed “urban exploiters”, not only live in the city but depend on urban resources to thrive. It is hypothesized that urban exploiters may succeed in part due to phenotypic plasticity, in which organisms rapidly adjust their physiology or behavior to adapt to novel environmental contexts. In the city, it may be adaptive to display thermal plasticity, as the urban heat island effect caused by concrete and asphalt infrastructure prevents cooling at night. In this study, we observed the decorated cricket Gryllodes sigillatus, an invasive urban exploiter found in metropolitan Phoenix, in two separate experiments. We hypothesized that heat tolerance and activity are both plastic traits in this species. In Experiment 1, we predicted that knock-down time, a measure of heat tolerance, would be negatively affected by acclimation to a laboratory environment. Our results suggest that heat tolerance is affected by recent thermal regimes and that laboratory acclimation decreases knock-down time. In Experiment 2, we predicted that activity would increase with temperature until a point of extreme heat, at which point activity would decline. Statistical analysis for the second experiment reveals that activity decreases at 33°C, a natural urban extreme. This suggests either that 33°C is a thermal limit to physiology or that G. sigillatus is able to alter its behavior to exploit local thermal heterogeneity.
ContributorsVannan, Annika (Author) / Johnson, James Chadwick (Thesis director) / Angilletta, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The spread of urbanization leads to habitat fragmentation and deterioration and changes the composition of ecosystems for species all over the world. Different groups of organisms are impacted differently, and insects have experienced loss in diversity and abundance due to changing environmental factors. Here, I collected seed beetles across 12 urban and rural sites in Phoenix, Arizona, to analyze the effects of urbanization and habitat variation on beetle diversity and abundance. I found that urbanization, host tree origin, and environmental factors such as tree diversity and density had no impact on overall beetle diversity and abundance. Beetles were found to have higher density on hosts with a higher density of pods. In assessing individual beetle species, some beetles exhibited higher density in rural sites with native trees, and some were found more commonly on nonnative tree species. The observed differences in beetle density demonstrate the range of effects urbanization and environmental features can have on insect species. By studying ecosystem interactions alongside changing environments, we can better predict the role urbanization and human development can have on different organisms.
ContributorsPaduano, Gabrielle (Author) / Savalli, Udo (Thesis director) / Sweat, Ken (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Each year the United States' interstates and roadways become increasingly congested, with little development of useful mass transit. Elon Musk released a whitepaper titled Hyperloop Alpha in order to generate conversation around a potential "fifth mode of transportation" as an alternative to current high-speed rail technologies. This case study analyzes the implications of implementing the Hyperloop along the 120-mile Phoenix-Tucson route in terms of the State's geographic, economic, political, and environmental advantages for the Hyperloop design. This case study was not meant to investigate the engineering aspects of an untested technology, but rather to generate conversation and elicit enthusiasm in the State of Arizona in order to bring the project in-house. Through comparison of the California context of the Hyperloop and other megaregions this report proposes that given Arizona's solar power production potential, short, flat, undeveloped route, explosive population growth, urban density distribution, recognized need for HSR, and strong research institutions make it the ideal site and premiere candidate for initial Hyperloop testing and construction.
ContributorsMartin, Sean Joseph (Author) / Martin, Pasqualetti (Thesis director) / Basile, George (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Dual Language Immersion programs have been growing exponentially as a result of an urgent need for globally competent, bilingual or multilingual citizens. The US is currently facing a language deficit, which negatively affects national security, international relations and even the economy. If America wants to stay in contention as one of the strongest world powers, the US needs to foster more interest in learning foreign languages earlier and invest in the development of foreign language education. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the history and implementation of different Dual Language Immersion program models. The geographical scope of the paper will cover historical background in Canada and the current implementation of Dual Language Immersion models in three Southwestern states: California, Utah and Arizona. The paper also outlines challenges related to the implementation of these dual language immersion programs.
ContributorsKwong, Jocelyn (Author) / Bahtchevanova, Mariana (Thesis director) / Zhang, Xia (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This creative project is a collection of profiles focused on Arizona nonprofits and refugees. The profiles share stories of refugees, volunteers, employees and others involved in the community serving refugees. Nonprofits are a vital resource for refugee resettlement. These organizations offer services to support refugees as they transition into new communities. Some services include: housing, English language learning, cultural orientation, job placement, medical treatment, education, and farming. Each of these programs support resiliency for refugees and for the communities in which they live. We Are Resilient was created first, to show the important role nonprofits have in serving refugees. Second, to connect people to a few of the stories and experiences within the Arizona refugee community. And third, to build understanding of the strength refugees bring to communities of Arizona and by extension the country. Visit weareresilientaz.com to learn more.
ContributorsGray, Elizabeth (Co-author) / Johnson, Kelcie (Co-author) / Shockley, Gordon (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The objective of the research was to simulate interdependencies between municipal water-power distribution systems in a theoretical section of the Phoenix urban environment that had variable population density and highest ambient temperature. Real-time simulations were run using the Resilient Infrastructure Simulation Environment (RISE) software developed by Laboratory for Energy and Power Solutions (LEAPS) at ASU. The simulations were run at estimated population density to simulate urbanism, and temperature conditions to simulate increased urban heat island effect of Phoenix at 2020, 2040, 2060, and 2080 using the IEEE 13 bus test case were developed. The water model was simulated by extrapolated projections of increased population from the city of Phoenix census data. The goal of the simulations was that they could be used to observe the critical combination of system factors that lead to cascading failures and overloads across the interconnected system. Furthermore, a Resilient Infrastructure Simulation Environment (RISE) user manual was developed and contains an introduction to RISE and how it works, 2 chapters detailing the components of power and water systems, respectively, and a final section describing the RISE GUI as a user. The user manual allows prospective users, such as utility operators or other stakeholders, to familiarize themselves with both systems and explore consequences of altering system properties in RISE by themselves. Parts of the RISE User Manual were used in the online "help" guide on the RISE webpage.
ContributorsSchadel, Suzanne (Author) / Johnson, Nathan (Thesis director) / Hamel, Derek (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainable Engineering & Built Envirnmt (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12