Ph.D., Antioch University, 2017, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

This research explores intentional food practices and journeys of consciousness in a network of people in The Bahamas. Intentional food practices are defined as interactions with food chosen for particular purposes, while journeys of consciousness are cumulative successions of events that people associate with healing, restoration, and decolonization personally and collectively. This research examines (1) experiences and moments that influenced people's intentional food practices; (2) food practices that people enact daily; and (3) how people's intentional food practices connect to broader spiritual, philosophical, and ideological perspectives guiding their lives. The theoretical framework emerges from a specific lineage of theories and philosophies of hybridity, diaspora, creolization, poetics, critique, and aesthetics from the Caribbean. The research explores how intentional food practices reflect expressions of emerging foodways and identities in the Caribbean and joins them with the history of consciousness and intentional food practices in African and Caribbean diasporas. Ethnographic research methods, poetic analysis, and constant comparative analysis provided a foundation for an exploratory approach grounded in the realities of everyday lives. A purposeful snowball sample of twenty-seven (27) in-depth semi-structured interviews provided a primary method of data collection, supported by personal journals, field notes, and document review. No food security research has been published that explores intentional food practices in The Bahamas generally or on the island of New Providence specifically. Key findings suggest a broad variation in people's intentional practices. The intentions underlying these practices reflect desires for individual and collective healing, restoration, and decolonization in their daily lives. By exploring their food practices, interviewees express how they find restoration and healing through visceral experiences with their bodies.

Committee: Elizabeth McCann Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jean Kayira Ph.D. (Committee Member); Selima Hauber Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jean Amaral (Committee Member) Subjects: Caribbean Studies; Environmental Studies; Ethnic Studies; Philosophy; Sustainability

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

Seagrass meadows and mangrove forests are ecologically and economically important systems that are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activity. This study used a non-invasive method, baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS), to observe mobile marine vertebrates in the seagrass-mangrove ecotone in North and South Bimini, the only area where mangroves remain in the northwestern Bahamas. An extensive area of mangroves and seagrass was removed for coastal development in North Bimini, where a marine protected area, the North Bimini Marine Reserve (NBMR), has been under consideration for decades. This research applied principles of seascape ecology to assess species abundance, diversity, and richness of marine fauna at 102 BRUVS deployment sites to answer the central research question, how does seascape composition and configuration influence mobile marine vertebrates in seagrass meadows adjacent to mangrove and non-mangrove habitats in Bimini, Bahamas? Findings highlighted the importance of the seagrass-mangrove ecotone for marine vertebrates (teleosts, elasmobranchs, and reptiles) with greater species abundance, diversity, and richness associated with denser seagrass near mangrove-lined shores.

Committee: Lisabeth Willey PhD (Committee Chair); James Jordan PhD (Committee Member); Phil Colarusso PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Studies

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2021, Agricultural and Extension Education

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face unique developmental challenges and vulnerabilities with food security. In particular, Caribbean Island SIDS continue to remain vulnerable to drastic shifts in global markets and natural disasters. Moreover, they are exposed to the inequities, fragilities, and underlying risks in the global food system. In the case of The Bahamas, explicitly, this reality holds as the country suffers from the lack of structured and sustainable agricultural programs that can supply agricultural products for the entire country. One solution to this ongoing food dilemma may be to shift developmental focus towards enhancing sustainable urban agricultural practices, such as backyard gardening. To that end, this descriptive quantitative research study appraised residents' current behavioral intentions on the islands of New Providence and Grand Bahama to adopt and engage in the practice of backyard gardening. This study also explored the current status of social and economic well-being on the two islands. The adoption of this behavior was analyzed using the theory of planned behavior and was supplemented by self-determination theory. Results indicated that there was a positive sense of economic and social well-being among residents. Concerning behavioral adoption, the inverse relationship with perceived behavioral control and positive relationship with subjective norms explained 16.7% of the variance in the model. Conclusions determine that residents had a stronger perceived sense of capability toward the practical aspect of backyard gardening versus the technical side. Further, the intention to engage was driven by a desire to be sustainable for the country's greater good. Recommendations include formulating backyard gardening programs that improve residents' technical abilities while promoting food sovereignty and food capacity.

Committee: Mary T. Rodriguez Dr. (Advisor); Amanda Bowling Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Caribbean Studies; Sustainability

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2020, Earth Sciences

The isotopic composition and mineralogy of modern microbialites provides us with tools useful for interpreting the formation processes and environments of ancient microbialites. Growing in the hypersaline and turbid Storr's Lake on San Salvador Island in The Bahamas today are microbialites with low levels of photosynthesis and high levels of sulfate reduction-in contrast to many of their modern counterparts. Living planktonic, motile microorganisms and suspended algal and bacterial debris create the high turbidity of the shallow lake (<2 m) and rapidly attenuate sunlight in the water column. Within Storr's Lake microbial metabolisms induce precipitation of carbonate within microenvironments of the microbial mats. Both high-Mg calcite (HMC) and aragonite are found within a majority of the microbialites measured leading to the hypothesis that the organomineralization process involves a step where HMC transforms to aragonite. Mineralogy and elemental analysis of a wide sampling of microbialites was undertaken to understand the extent of aragonite within Storr's Lake microbialites. It was found that aragonite occurs at water depths greater than 40 cm within the lake and was present in all but one microbialite measured in this study. New calcium (Ca) stable isotopic analyses from the thermal ionization mass spectrometer using a 42Ca-43Ca double spike provides evidence for exploring the systems fractionating Ca within Storr's Lake water and microbialites. In contrast to geochemical data and previous Mg stable isotopic measurements on the same waters, the Ca stable isotopic value (δ44/40Ca) of water in Storr's Lake is not homogeneous. While the northern sector is primarily influenced by seawater, the southern sector δ44/40Ca is shifted away from seawater to lower values, suggesting internal variability within the lake. In both microbialites measured, δ44/40Ca is strongly correlated to mineralogy and trace elements in the carbonate. To explore the potenti (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Griffith PhD (Advisor); Matthew Saltzman PhD (Committee Member); Thomas Darrah PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biogeochemistry; Earth; Geobiology; Geochemistry; Geological; Geology; Morphology; Petroleum Geology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2018, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology

Citizen science has broadened the scope of biodiversity monitoring and research. Citizen scientists visit more locations, more often and collect data on more species than any single study can. They have fewer restrictions related to funding, scheduling and political will. They create more data than ever before, especially in remote locations such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). However, citizen science uses traditional science perspectives in data analysis; acknowledging the perspectives of the citizen scientist is important when making conservation decisions based on citizen science data. I use novel perspectives that make citizen science data more useful/powerful. I focus on 16 native bird species and 20 migrant species of international concern using volunteer observations from the open access eBird database. Using forestry maps and satellite data, I created a new, adaptable, classified habitat map for Grand Bahama and appended the habitat data to eBird observations for the island. Observer effort was significantly higher in beach and grass habitats. I found most of the focal species in this study outside their documented habitat type. Bird species richness and observer richness differed significantly among habitat types. Bird species composition was significantly influenced by habitat type and survey effort. Mantel tests showed significant correlation between geographic locations and both bird species dissimilarity and observer dissimilarity. The Mantel tests also showed significant correlations between observer community differences and species community differences. I used Moran's I to determine spatial autocorrelation of observer effort and recorded species diversity within the dataset. Observer richness and the total number of surveys were negatively spatially autocorrelated in the overall dataset. I found that observer community similarity showed significant effects on recorded survey effort and species diversity in most habitats.

Committee: Robert Cummins (Advisor); James Oris (Advisor); David Russell (Committee Member); Mary Henry (Committee Member); Thomas Crist (Committee Member); Jing Zhang (Committee Member) Subjects: Animals; Biology; Statistics; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management; Zoology

BA, Oberlin College, 2000, Geology

In 1993 and 1994, the Shelf and Slope Experimental Taphonomy Initiative (SSETI) deployed thirty-five samples of sea urchins along the continental shelf/slope of the Bahamas in an effort to explore the paleoecology and taphonomic potentials of shallow water carbonate environments. Samples were retrieved at 1-, 2-, and 6-year intervals for examination and comparison of epibiont accumulation. Tests and spines of the sea urchin Eucidaris were examined for encrusting cheilostome Bryozoa. Specimens were identified to the genus level. Assessment of abundance and distribution patterns with water depth shows that cheilostomes are prevalent in photic waters, and lacking at depth. Burial of substrates limits bryozoan settlement patterns in shallow waters but not below the photic zone. Preliminary results indicate that cheilostomes may be useful biomarkers, at least in modern environments.

Committee: Karla Parsons-Hubbard (Advisor) Subjects: Geology

BA, Oberlin College, 2000, Geology

The fields of Paleontology and Paleoecology would not be complete without taphonomy, the study of the processes affecting organisms between death and fossilization. Taphonomy is important because it allows us to make more complete conjectures about prehistoric organisms and environments, and makes us aware of possible holes and biases in the fossil record due to highly destructive processes or the loss of delicate, non-resistant organisms. Studies on the processes affecting modern organisms have contributed greatly to the understanding of ancient processes; however, most of these studies are nearshore and short-term. What is lacking is information on the effects of these factors over long periods of time, and to depths below 50 meters. To gain more information about long-term effects, the Shelf and Slope Experimental Taphonomy Initiative (SSETI) has deployed sets of crabs, molluscs, urchins, and wood on a variety of substrates at depths from 15 to 300 meters in the Bahamas. Sample groups have been collected every few years for the last six years, and are compared to control sets.My research focuses specifically on the crabs, species Callinectes sapidus, from experimental sites in the Bahamas. The crab remains display a wide range of breakage, dissolution and disarticulation, varying by depth. To determine the effects of depth and environment on the crab remains, changes in size, mass, and surface condition of each of the specimens was documented and the results were analyzed for trends across a depth gradient. Scanning electron microscope analysis of carapace surface conditions was conducted to determine the degree of dissolution of each specimen.The crabs were reduced to disarticulated chelipeds, mandibles, and carapace fragments within one year in most environments, and the outer surfaces of the remains show near-complete loss of pigmentation, and microscopic pitting. Although the sample sizes in this experiment are fairly small, a trend of better preservation in (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karla Parsons-Hubbard (Advisor) Subjects: Biological Oceanography; Biology, Animal Physiology; Geology; Marine Geology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Arts and Sciences : Anthropology

Landscape archaeology has been successfully used in the study of plantation contexts within the Caribbean and United States as a method of comparative analysis across regions and sites, and as a tool for detecting and interpreting the existence of agency, or the actions and resistance, of the slaves who inhabited those sites during the period from the 16 th through 19 th centuries. Within the Bahamas, however, there is a lack in landscape analysis; though surveys of former plantations reveal the standing remains of the built environment, these buildings are used for little more than locating site features and recording construction techniques used during the Loyalist period of 1783 to 1834. In this thesis the history of the Bahamas, its geographic and historical connections to other Caribbean islands and the American mainland, and its participation in the plantation economy of the 16 th to 19 th centuries are used to explain how employing comparative landscape studies in the archaeological analysis of the Bahamian plantation context would benefit the archaeology of the Bahamas archipelago by providing further insight to the role and experiences of the suppressed slave population, and how their traditions persist today within the living inhabitants of the Bahamas.

Committee: Kenneth Tankersley Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Sarah Jackson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Archaeology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Geography

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are an increasingly popular conservation strategy that seeks to protect oceans from over-exploitation of fisheries by setting aside large spaces as reserves. While they are similar to conservation areas on the land in design and implementation, little research has examined the ways that MPAs change the ocean into a contested political space. In contrast to the historical perspective of the ocean as a weakly territorialized space in which conservation can occur with little resistance, this dissertation examines MPAs as an object that needs to be examined through the concept of territoriality. The dissertation develops a theory of territorialization as practice to analyze the process of MPA formation in the Exumas Islands in the Bahamas. The Exumas are slated to have three no-take Marine Protected Areas as part of a wider plan to set aside twenty percent of the ocean in the Bahamas. Drawing on archival and field research such as interviews and participant observation, the central argument is that MPAs are territorializing objects, and that the ways in which they are deployed can offer political possibilities for either resistance or new expressions of state power. The dissertation first analyzes three existing approaches commonly used to explain and/or justify MPAs, but finds that these explanations are wanting. It then interrogates the ways in which policy actors in the Bahamas deploy specific spatial imaginaries that frame marine conservation. It shows that policy actors are dependent on logics of state territory and natural resource management that do not fully account for resource users. Finally, the dissertation turns to the fishers of the Exuma Cays, to record both their spatial imaginaries and the ways they relate to ocean conservation as it has been imposed in places they use for their livelihoods. It becomes clear that the people of the Exuma Cays are responding to the threat of MPAs in ways that resist the conventional logic of (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Becky Manfield PhD (Advisor); Mathew Coleman PhD (Committee Member); Kendra McSweeney PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Caribbean Studies; Cultural Resources Management; Environmental Justice; Environmental Management; Environmental Studies; Geography; Natural Resource Management; Sustainability; Wildlife Conservation

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2012, Environmental Sciences

In fulfillment of the Master of Environmental Science (M. En.) at Miami University, Ohio, I completed a twelve month internship with the Northern Caribbean Program of The Nature Conservancy, based on New Providence Island in The Bahamas, from January to December 2009. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is an environmental non-profit organization with offices in all fifty states and in thirty-three countries. The focus of the internship with the Northern Caribbean Program was to provide Geographic Information Systems (GIS) support, field research assistance and institutional support. Responsibilities included compiling, reviewing, analyzing GIS data and creating GIS maps for TNC and its partners, providing field research assistance, community outreach and fundraising support. This report summarizes the projects and activities undertaken during the internship and the value of the educational experience provided by the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Miami University which led to the successful pursuit of a permanent position at TNC.

Committee: Dr. Mark Boardman (Advisor); Dr. Sandra Woy-Hazleton (Committee Member); Suzanne Zazycki (Committee Member) Subjects: Conservation; Environmental Management; Environmental Science

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2012, Botany

Bush medicine is the traditional use of indigenous and introduced plants for medicinal purposes in the Bahamas. Even with access to westernized health care, elderly Bahamians in the Family Islands continue to rely heavily on bush medicines because these remedies are affordable, readily available, accepted within the culture, and considered more effective than biomedicine or over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. This oral tradition is severely threatened as younger generations are increasingly influenced by westernization and lured by greater economic opportunities, causing them to become disassociated from the land and its flora. Ethnobotanical fieldwork aimed at documenting and identifying plants used for therapeutic purposes was conducted on two Bahamian Islands: Long Island in 1998, where 47 persons were interviewed; and on Cat Island in 1999 and 2000, where 56 persons were consulted. This investigation represents the first attempt to quantify the various medicinal applications attributed to numerous plant species in the Bahamas. Information on all plant species reported to have therapeutic value was recorded, including scientific identity, illness(es) treated, plant part used, preparation, mode of administration, and common name(s). The results were quantified for each island individually and for both islands collectively. A total of 176 plant species were reported from both islands as having medicinal value. Of those, 120 species are commonly used on both islands for similar purposes. This continuity demonstrates that transfer of knowledge between islands is extensive, with disparities most likely attributed to ecological differences affecting floristic composition. In addition, the most frequently reported species (>10%) used to treat 56 different popular or emic medical complaints are presented. Cognitive symptomatologies for each illness are described, in addition to a plant remedy's relation to naturalistic or personalistic theories of disease causation and the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: W. Hardy Eshbaugh PhD (Committee Chair); Adolph M. Greenberg PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Michael A. Vincent PhD (Committee Member); Susan R. Barnum PhD (Committee Member); Mark R. Boardman PhD (Other) Subjects: African American Studies; African History; African Studies; Alternative Medicine; American History; Biology; Black History; Black Studies; Botany; Caribbean Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; European History; Folklore; Health; Health Care; History; Medicine

Master of Science, Miami University, 2010, Botany

Different disturbances in similar habitats should produce unique successional assemblages of plants. Plant species cover data was collected to investigate the effects of three common disturbances–fire, bulldozing, and bulldozing followed by goat grazing–on early-successional coppice communities on Eleuthera, The Bahamas. For each disturbance type, both the ground layer (< 0.5 m) and shrub layer (> 0.5 m) were sampled in eight patches (> 1 ha) of varying age (1-28 yr) since disturbance. Results suggest that goats accelerate succession by quickly removing non-woody ground cover, and increase the representation of woody ground cover; these results also suggest that managed goat grazing delays plant succession by inhibiting growth of tree species and maintaining early-successional shrubs. These effects may lead to different coppice successional trajectories, and may have important conservation implications for the threatened Kirtland's warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii), who's wintering habitat consists of early-successional coppice rich in Lantana fruits.

Committee: Dr. Charles Kwit PhD (Advisor); Dr. Elisabeth Schussler PhD (Advisor); Dr. Thomas Crist PhD (Committee Member); Dr. M. Henry H. Stevens PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Botany; Ecology

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2010, Environmental Sciences

The nation of The Bahamas is an archipelago vulnerable to plant invasion. Small island nations share characteristics such as isolation and high endemism, which make them the most susceptible to loss of biodiversity resulting from invasions of non-native plants. Biological invasion is particularly prominent on islands because of reduced numbers of, and in some cases, extinction of, native plants. Because The Bahamas is overrun by alien invasive plants, it is critically important to address this problem. The implementation of innovative and dynamic management practices is key to controlling invasive plants and establishing stable ecosystems. This report examines existing laws, best management practices, regulations and protocols of the Bahamas as a background for establishing a management model. A model is proposed that may be useful to The Bahamas, and issues related to effectuating this management model ARE discussed. This paper also examines several invasive plant species in the Bahamas archipelago. Using the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission categories (species recommended for eradication, species recommended for control, and other potentially invasive plants), this writer provides relevant information and pictorial images to make identification of plants easier for persons engaging in ridding the country of invasive weeds.

Committee: Michael Vincent Dr. (Advisor); Mark Boadman Dr. (Committee Member); Jerry Green Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Botany; Environmental Science

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2007, Environmental Sciences

The algal and seagrass abundance, dry weight and diversity were surveyed at a site along the coast of Grahams Harbor in San Salvador, Bahamas in the Caribbean during June 2004. One hundred randomly distributed plots were surveyed via SCUBA to determine the influence of a sewage effluent pipe on algae and seagrass assemblages. The objectives of the study were to determine if there was a distinction among regions of marine algae and seagrasses due to the effluent, and if distance from the effluent source influenced diversity (measured through Shannon's Diversity Index, H', Simpson's Diversity Index, D' and Evenness, E'), species richness, percent cover and dry weight. Results showed that the dry weight and percent cover decreased significantly with a decrease in distance from the pipe. Additionally, regions outside the flow of the effluent pipe showed significant increases in species number.

Committee: Hays Cummins (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Science, Miami University, 2003, Geology and Environmental Earth Science

In this study, the geochemistry and mineralogy of several rock cores from the upper 12 meters from Andros Island were evaluated along with water samples collected at specific depths from within the aquifer. Mineralogy was determined by x-ray diffraction, and the elemental composition (major and minor elements) was examined in selected rock samples by DCP spectrometry. The elemental composition of the groundwater was determined by DCP spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromotography, and in-situ pH. By comparing the Ca/Sr ratios of both the groundwater and the limestone along with saturation states of the groundwater, we concluded that dissolution was the dominant process operating in the upper, freshwater lens. By linking petrology, rock geochemistry, water geochemistry, and the location of sea-level, we were able to gain a better understanding of the progress and stages of diagenesis that are presently ongoing in this Pleistocene aquifer.

Committee: Mark Boardman (Advisor) Subjects: Geology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, American Culture Studies/Ethnic Studies

This research seeks to describe the links between whiteness and tourism in the construction of ‘Othered' identities. It adds to the challenge of theorizing identity as posed by Frantz Fanon and Stuart Hall, and presents sociopolitical and theoretical insights informed by the historical constructions of whiteness from the lived experiences of black Bahamian women's struggles for agency. Throughout this dissertation, I use Frantz Fanon's inquiry into black identity formation – that is, as a construct in opposition to whiteness – as a framework to examine the development of tourism and identity negotiations in the Bahamas. Fanon himself – colonized French, black, expatriate, and activist – knew all too well the pitfalls of being at the margins of many identities. Moreover, with the advent and development of tourism throughout the Bahamas, whiteness became the protracted mode by which Bahamian progress was assessed. The minority white elites in the Bahamas benefited financially from the tourist industry, building an economy and a country where rich wealthy whites are served by the majority black populace, hence the development of a ‘white tourist culture.' I use the term ‘white tourist culture' in this dissertation to describe how Bahamian national identity is constructed through our dependency on a tourist economy that has built its financial system on a myth of paradise, where white tourists are catered to, and black Bahamians serve, entertain and cultivate the exotic. Through examination of my own life experiences and the experiences of women working both in and outside of the tourist industry, this work helps to reposition whiteness as a form of oppression for racialized Bahamian women. This project uses the voices and experiences of women working in the Bahamas Cultural Markets (the straw market, as it is known by the local people of the Bahamas). It discusses the lived experience of women, who on a daily basis are compelled to ‘perform' their constructed indigen (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Radhika Gajjala PhD (Committee Chair); Lara Lengel-Martin PhD (Committee Member); Kamala Kempadoo PhD (Committee Member); Bonnibeth Fonseca-Greber PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2012, Integrated Bioscience

The modern synthesis of paleontology with evolutionary biology has successfully integrated population ecology into the study of the fossil record. While it may prove impossible to measure and account for the important processes that structure communities through time, the integration of community ecology into paleoecology remains to be done to further the modern synthesis. This dissertation attempts to integrate community ecology into the study of a lacustrine ostracode metacommunity across space today and through the mid Holocene on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Patterns of community change across space today are investigated by comparing the live/dead agreement in taxonomic composition and rank-abundance of species in seven lakes. This taphonomic study establishes that live/dead agreement of ostracode assemblages is high in all lakes save one. Therefore, sampling of death assemblages, as is common in many paleolimnolgical studies, can be used to investigate changes in alpha and beta diversity of assemblages across time and space. Death assemblages were then sampled from thirty-two lakes on San Salvador to investigate the metacommunity dynamics that explain patterns of beta diversity of communities. I found that beta diversity was most strongly controlled by the local environment in which communities live with the change in communities most strongly correlated with changes in a complex hydrological gradient of: conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and alkalinity. After establishing that the metacommunity dynamics conformed to a species sorting model, I exploited the association between ostracode assemblages and conductivity to create a statistical model that used changes in ostracode assemblages to predict changes in conductivity within individual lakes on San Salvador. This model was then applied to archives of ostracode assemblages from the mid-Holocene to today to create a record of changing conductivity through time in three lakes. The model reveals large, hi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lisa E. Park Dr. (Advisor); Francisco B.-G. Moore Dr. (Committee Member); Jean J. Pan Dr. (Committee Member); John M. Senko Dr. (Committee Member); Alison J. Smith Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Paleoecology

Master of Science, University of Akron, 2008, Geology

Because of its position within the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, San Salvador Island, Bahamas has been the site of many hurricane strikes throughout its history. As such, it remains an effective setting in which to examine hurricane intensity in the Late Holocene. The lakes along the island's margin provide a depositional archive recording the paleotempestites from these storm events. Storrs Lake is a shallow (<2m), hypersaline (>66µS) lake located along the eastern side of the island and is separated from the ocean by Holocene dunes. It, like other lakes on San Salvador, is constantly recording climatic changes, vegetation shifts and the history of colonization. This study addresses the following questions: 1) What is the depositional history of Storrs Lake through the last 3,000 years and 2) Can we see large storm events in the sediment record and determine the biologic response to these events? Cores were recovered from Storrs Lake that varied in length from 5 to 200 cm, including transects across the Fortune Hill basin. The cores from Fortune Hill basin were analyzed for organic and carbonate content, dry bulk density, grain size, chemical composition, sediment fabric, trace elements, spectralphotometry, ostracode and mollusk faunal composition. Large storms can be identified through time by a distinct increase in grain size and a change in dry bulk density. The adjacent dunes have been mapped and sediment analyzed. The allochthonous sand found within the basin matches the sand found on the dune faces and identified as storm wash-over deposits. Biologic patterns suggest that species richness and abundance change after these large storm events, possibly due to the freshening that occurs from the storm and a change in the basin substrate. Cyanobacterial mats, or stromatolites, that are prevalent throughout many of the lakes on San Salvador also have a documented response to these freshening events by a community shift and increase in productivity. These cores r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lisa Park PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Biology; Geochemistry; Paleontology