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Title: Volunteers in natural resource, outdoor recreation, and environmental management and planning : understanding the role of expectations in the fulfillment of psychological contracts
Creator: Jackson, Dayle Lee
Date: 2003
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Anishinaabek abroad : literal and literary indigenous journeys in the 19th century
Creator: Keway, Nichole Marie
Date: 2012
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: ABSTRACTANISHINAABEK ABROAD:LITERAL AND LITERARY INDIGENOUS JOURNEYS IN THE 19TH CENTURYByNichole Marie Keway The 19th century marked the first significant wave of Native North American tribal peoples to gain spoken and written literacy in English. As first-language speakers of their own indigenous languages, authors approached the learning and use of written English from dual positions of empowerment and subjugation. Their compelling experience of the processes of writing and publication...
Show moreABSTRACTANISHINAABEK ABROAD:LITERAL AND LITERARY INDIGENOUS JOURNEYS IN THE 19TH CENTURYByNichole Marie Keway The 19th century marked the first significant wave of Native North American tribal peoples to gain spoken and written literacy in English. As first-language speakers of their own indigenous languages, authors approached the learning and use of written English from dual positions of empowerment and subjugation. Their compelling experience of the processes of writing and publication underscored how English as a spoken language displaced tribal norms of communal address. The implicit devaluing of oral tradition undermined the established, place-sensitive processes of decision- and meaning- making. The contrast between the heritage of interpersonal council and the introduction of non-placed authoritative letters offers a prescient look at contemporary understandings of how access is gained and denied within the public sphere. The traditional industry, rituals, and stories addressed in the oral tradition were based on the intimacy and immediacy of communion with an expanded sphere of influence not limited to the human. Direct interaction with fellow tribal peoples, deceased ancestors, spirits of land, air and water, as well as the corporeal and spiritual presences of animals all contributed to the establishment of communicative cultural norms. In contrast, a written tradition can normalize stepping away from the immediately shared commonalities of people and place. The validity and authority of this literate public sphere is largely based upon racial, cultural, and anthropologic hierarchies suited to the exploitation of people and resources. The power invested in face-to-face communication rests on a foundation of the situated relationships among diverse life forces. In the literate public sphere, papers and decrees are vested with an authority that overrules the formative influence of place-based relationships steeped in the unifying eco-diversity of the commons. This dissertation explores the implications of this key difference in expressive norms through the writings of the several featured 19th century Anishinaabek authors, as well as through the inclusion of pertinent traditional stories that reflect how unbalanced relationships between people, place, animals, and spirits are of the highest moral and ecological consequence.
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Title: Stated preference of Michigan residents for Great Lakes coastal wetland program characteristics
Creator: Gibson, Melissa Ann
Date: 2005
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Now showing : Great Lakes Indians at your local public history museum
Creator: Smith, Mary Alice
Date: 2006
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Two soybean cropping system challenges : manganese fertilizer antagonism of glyphosate, and scheduling irrigation to increase soybean yield
Creator: Bernards, Mark L.
Date: 2004
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Substrate effects on seedling dynamics in managed northern hardwood forests
Creator: Willis, John Lawrence
Date: 2014
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In order to sustain themselves within forests any tree species must be able to reproduce. Accomplishing this task is often difficult as trees must pass through a variety of life history stages and transitions in order to reach sexual maturity. Given this complexity, it is often difficult to identify why some certain species regenerate prolifically within forests while others often fail to regenerate. This dissertation investigated how different types of forest substrate (bare mineral soil and...
Show moreIn order to sustain themselves within forests any tree species must be able to reproduce. Accomplishing this task is often difficult as trees must pass through a variety of life history stages and transitions in order to reach sexual maturity. Given this complexity, it is often difficult to identify why some certain species regenerate prolifically within forests while others often fail to regenerate. This dissertation investigated how different types of forest substrate (bare mineral soil and decaying coarse woody debris) influence individual species' ability to establish seedlings on the forest floor in the managed northern hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region, where only a small percentage of species are reported to be reproducing successfully. I consider substrate's influence on seedling establishment from three separate starting points: seed added to the forest floor, seed dispersed from local seed sources and seedlings established on bare mineral soil and different types of decaying coarse woody debris. Taking this approach allowed me to investigate not only how substrate influences seedling dynamics, but also how substrate interacted with several factors which could override the influence of substrate including light availability, competing non-tree vegetation, site quality (soil and nutrient availability), local seed source density, and mycorrhizal fungi. Beginning with the presence of a seed (seed additions), bare mineral soil demonstrated a strong influence over smaller seeded species germination, but not larger seeded white pine. In addition, increasing light availability improved seedling establishment for all species. However, under natural regeneration conditions (without seed additions) the importance of bare mineral soil for smaller seeded species and light for all species' seedling establishment became less apparent as, in many situations, local seed source density and site quality exerted a stronger influence over species' initial establishment. Differing types of forest substrate, however, were strongly influential on individual species growth after establishment, as bare mineral soil and decaying hemlock, northern white cedar and paper birch consistently supported greater seedling growth compared to decaying yellow birch, balsam fir, and sugar maple. In addition, seedlings colonized by mycorrhizal fungi generally shown to positively influence seedling growth across substrates, and in certain situations, were associated with dramatic rank changes in species growth performance on different substrates. Collectively, this dissertation demonstrates how different types of forest substrate can alter seedling layer species composition through its differing effects on individual species' seedling establishment. However, it also demonstrates how a host of other factors can mitigate the influence of substrate, suggesting that managing for substrate alone may not reverse the current reproduction failures experienced by several northern hardwood tree species.
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Title: Egg injection studies to determine the effects of polyhalogenated environmental contaminants on avian species
Creator: Powell, Debra Curtis
Date: 1995
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Modeling the impacts of barrier removal on Great Lakes sea lamprey
Creator: Jensen, Alexander James
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Barriers in the Great Lakes represent an effective form of control for the invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) by blocking large extents of river habitat and subsequently eliminating the need for the lampricide treatments in these upstream areas. With increasing pressure for barrier removals, the availability of suitable sea lamprey habitat above these barriers and the expected population response to dam removals represent key uncertainties in decision-making. The development and...
Show moreBarriers in the Great Lakes represent an effective form of control for the invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) by blocking large extents of river habitat and subsequently eliminating the need for the lampricide treatments in these upstream areas. With increasing pressure for barrier removals, the availability of suitable sea lamprey habitat above these barriers and the expected population response to dam removals represent key uncertainties in decision-making. The development and evaluation of models to predict larval habitat quantities using readily-available, reach-scale landscape predictors improved our understanding of common influences on stream habitat, but failed to reliably predict habitat proportions upstream of barriers in the Lake Michigan drainage basin. Subsequent simulation-based modeling of the Lake Michigan sea lamprey population revealed a disproportionate, exponential response to increasing habitat availability, driven in part by decreasing overall lampricide treatment frequencies under a fixed control budget. The same modeling approach was used to generate sea lamprey population predictions associated with projected removal of Grand River's Sixth Street Dam under a suite of alternative management actions and biological assumptions. Based on all simulation results, barrier removals appear to necessitate a substantial increase in annual lampricide control costs to prevent disproportionate increases in sea lamprey abundance across the Lake Michigan basin.
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Title: Characterization of cytochrome P450-1A (CYP1A) enzymes in three aviant species and the development of a caffeine breath test to measure CYP1A activity in vivo
Creator: Feyk, Lori Ann
Date: 1997
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Upper atmospheric controls, surface climate, and phytogeographical implications in the Western Great Lakes region
Creator: Harrington, John Ausman
Date: 1980
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Stories as maps and maps as stories : a navigational epistemology
Creator: Choffel, Ezekiel
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In this thesis, I develop a navigational epistemological lens in order to understand the pathways of navigating knowledge construction. Specifically, I am working with Native American and Indigenous scholars in general, and three scholars specifically, to develop this lens around four main characteristics: history, land, story and relationships. This thesis is broken down into three content chapters, and each chapter focuses on one primary author. Chapter 2 works with Lisa Brooks’ The Common...
Show moreIn this thesis, I develop a navigational epistemological lens in order to understand the pathways of navigating knowledge construction. Specifically, I am working with Native American and Indigenous scholars in general, and three scholars specifically, to develop this lens around four main characteristics: history, land, story and relationships. This thesis is broken down into three content chapters, and each chapter focuses on one primary author. Chapter 2 works with Lisa Brooks’ The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast to build the structure and foundation of the four characteristics. Chapter 3 is a conversation with Andrew Blackbird’s History of the Ottawa and Chipewa Indians of Michigan to better understand how history and land functions in Native epistemology. Chapter 4 is a journey with Louise Erdrich’s Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country, specifically considering the implications of story and relationships in Native epistemology. Together, these chapters offer a method of understanding the ways that knowledge is constructed in an Indigenous context and provides a way to theorize and contextualize history, land, story, and relationships with in scholarly discourse.
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Title: Development of a method for the detection and quantification of 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine in grape juice and wine
Creator: Wampfler, Daniel Joseph
Date: 2003
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Expanding the plant palette for green roofs
Creator: Vandegrift, Drew Anthony
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Fifty-four percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this number continues to grow (United Nations, 2014). Dense development along with the accompanying increase in impervious surfaces can have harmful effects on humans, wildlife, and the earth. Green infrastructure such as green roofs can improve urban areas by introducing plant life to otherwise barren rooftops, thus reducing the negative impact humans may have on the environment. While green roofs are a historically old...
Show moreFifty-four percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this number continues to grow (United Nations, 2014). Dense development along with the accompanying increase in impervious surfaces can have harmful effects on humans, wildlife, and the earth. Green infrastructure such as green roofs can improve urban areas by introducing plant life to otherwise barren rooftops, thus reducing the negative impact humans may have on the environment. While green roofs are a historically old practice, they are relatively new to North America. Because of their novelty, we are still developing best management practices and discovering what plants are best suited to rooftop environments. If the green roof industry is to grow, the list of suitable plant species must be expanded and this information must be disseminated to green roof practitioners and the general public. Because climate differs from one region to the next, data on plant performance for each climatic region is needed to properly specify green roofs within that region. A rooftop experiment was conducted on the Molecular Plant Sciences Building at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA, to test the suitability of several succulents, herbaceous perennials, and grasses in varying depths of green roof substrate over a seven-year period. Forty-five percent of the species were no longer preset on the roof by the end of the study. Still, several species emerged as successful, as defined by their ability to establish themselves on a green roof and long term survival. A reference guide to green roof plants was also compiled based on research from 11 studies conducted in the Great Lakes Region that tested plant performance. The result is a database of 80 plant species that have been successfully grown on green roofs in the region and lists traits such as plant growth habit, size, hardiness, drought tolerance, wildlife attractiveness, and other attributes. The reference guide is mostly composed of herbaceous perennials (65%) and succulents (17%). Based on the 11 studies used to compile the plant database, the average minimum depth required for survival of all species tested was 13 cm. Required minimum depth was less for succulent species alone. In addition to plant performance, I also explain why certain groups of plants performed well and how plant selection influences the desired benefits of the green roof. This reference guide can be used by green roof professionals in the Great Lakes region and in other parts of the world with a similar climate (Köppen climate types ‘Dfa’ (hot summer humid continental) or ‘Dfb’ (warm summer humid continental)).
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Title: The impact of Great Lakes recreational boating on the economy of Michigan
Creator: Schott, Robert W.
Date: 1975
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Crop production and future climate change in a high latitude region : a case study for the Upper Great Lakes region of the United States
Creator: Perdinan
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "Agriculture is particularly susceptible to climate change, as inferred from large historical variations in crop production in response to past climate variability. The major goal of this dissertation is to evaluate the spatial variability of the impacts of projected future climate change on crop production in a high latitude region. Corn and soybean production in the Upper Great Lakes Region (UGLR) of the United States, encompassing the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, serves as...
Show more"Agriculture is particularly susceptible to climate change, as inferred from large historical variations in crop production in response to past climate variability. The major goal of this dissertation is to evaluate the spatial variability of the impacts of projected future climate change on crop production in a high latitude region. Corn and soybean production in the Upper Great Lakes Region (UGLR) of the United States, encompassing the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, serves as the case study."--From abstract.
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Title: Evaluation of changes in Sculpin populations in the Great Lakes associated with shifts in benthic species composition
Creator: Volkel, Shea Lynn
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In the Great Lakes, slimy sculpins (Cottus cognatus) and deepwater sculpins (Myoxocephalus thompsonii) were historically abundant native deepwater fishes that served as important prey items for native piscivores (e.g., lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush, and burbot, Lota lota). However, both of these species have been declining in abundance and biomass recent decades according to USGS trawl surveys. The timing of these declines in sculpin biomass and abundance coincides with several ecological...
Show moreIn the Great Lakes, slimy sculpins (Cottus cognatus) and deepwater sculpins (Myoxocephalus thompsonii) were historically abundant native deepwater fishes that served as important prey items for native piscivores (e.g., lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush, and burbot, Lota lota). However, both of these species have been declining in abundance and biomass recent decades according to USGS trawl surveys. The timing of these declines in sculpin biomass and abundance coincides with several ecological disturbances that have occurred throughout the Great Lakes, including the invasions of dreissenid mussels (zebra, Dreissena polymorpha; quagga, D. bugensis) and the aggressive round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), along with the collapse of Diporeia (formerly one of the most important prey items for these sculpin species). In this dissertation, we provide a comprehensive review of the state of knowledge and investigate the effect of these ecological disturbances on slimy and deepwater sculpins in the Great Lakes. We predicted that these ecological disturbances have negatively affected both slimy and deepwater sculpin populations, particularly slimy sculpins, which we could observe through changes in their spatial (depth) distribution patterns (e.g., shifting deeper to avoid round goby) and body condition (e.g., lower body condition associated with ecological disturbance). Our results indicate that slimy sculpins may be more vulnerable to these ecological disturbances than deepwater sculpins, but data limitations prevent us from offering conclusive causal mechanisms for sculpin spatial and body condition patterns. Both our review and analyses implicate that we need to gain a better understanding of sculpins in order to restore these species in this system.
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Title: Climate change impact assessments for regions of the United States
Creator: Tang, Ying
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Earth's climate is projected to change significantly in the future, which will greatly impact many natural and human systems. Climate projections are important components of climate change impact, vulnerability, and adaptation assessments, and this research aims to examine several issues related to climate models and model projections and the use of these projections in impact assessment studies. The research is composed of three individual studies. The first study compares various...
Show moreThe Earth's climate is projected to change significantly in the future, which will greatly impact many natural and human systems. Climate projections are important components of climate change impact, vulnerability, and adaptation assessments, and this research aims to examine several issues related to climate models and model projections and the use of these projections in impact assessment studies. The research is composed of three individual studies. The first study compares various methods in generating climate change projections for use in agriculture assessment studies at several lake-modified sites in the Great Lakes region of the United States. By producing climate change projections using different data sources and methods and comparing their similarities and differences, the study hopes to inform impact researchers and decision makers about the various choices for generating climate change projections and their advantages/disadvantages. The second study assesses the skill of regional climate models (RCMs) in simulating low-level wind maxima, often referred to as low-level jets (LLJs). As a pronounced climate feature in central United States, the LLJs have their impacts ranging from wind energy, to precipitation, and to bird migration. Knowing how well RCMs simulate the climatology of LLJ is a necessary first step towards a better understanding of RCMs as a powerful tool for generating regional climate change projections through dynamical downscaling for central US and other regions affected by LLJs. Finally, the third study applies RCM projections to assess the potential risk of extreme wildfires in the United States. Climate change is expected to alter the frequency and severity of atmospheric conditions conducive to wildfires. Using outputs from a suite of RCMs, this study examines the changes of an operational fire weather index, the Haines Index, between the current climate and the projected future climate. The results are expected to be used to inform fire managers that future summers might be more conducive to extreme and erratic wildfires.
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