Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Biological Sciences

Environmental degradation has led to a number of environmental issues including, but not limited to, habitat loss, plastic pollution, harmful algal blooms, and climate change. While many of those environmental issues are driven by human actions, there are also numerous environmentally positive, or pro-environmental, behaviors that individuals can adopt to help mitigate negative impacts on the environment. Several theories have aimed to uncover what encourages individuals to change their environmental behavior, such as connection to nature and Theory of Planned Behavior, however, the exact influence and interaction of these theoretical factors, as they encourage pro-environmental behavior adoption specifically, is still unclear. Yet, understanding the factors that influence pro-environmental behavior adoption is critical for environmental educators communicating environmental issues and solutions with the intention of raising awareness and changing behaviors. In this research, I explore the factors that influence pro-environmental behavior adoption in the Lake Erie region through examining the environmental identity of the author through autoethnography, the pro-environmental behaviors of individuals that attend environmental education events, and the influence of social circles on environmental mindedness. Using a mixed method approach, I have uncovered how individuals may be influenced by experiences, education, family, and friends. This information can be used to improve environmentally based communication and encourage more individuals to adopt pro-environmental behaviors.

Committee: Karen Sirum Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Pascal Bizarro Ph.D. (Other); Nathan Hensley Ph.D. (Committee Member); Maria Bidart Ph.D. (Committee Member); Matthew Cross Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Biology; Climate Change; Conservation; Ecology; Education; Environmental Education; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Social Research; Sociology; Sustainability; Wildlife Conservation

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Geography

The rise in rates of opioid overdose is a public health crisis in the United States. Retrospective studies show that the opioid overdose crisis is not homogeneously distributed across space and time, and there is increasing recognition that its etiology is rooted in part by social determinants such as poverty, environmental disadvantage, isolation, and social upheaval. It's important to understand the spatiotemporal variation in opioid overdose emergencies and its possible social and environmental determinants to guide public policy responses to the crisis as the obtained knowledge can benefit health care administration and epidemiological purposes, coupled with the need for generating reliable risk assessment for small geographical areas. This dissertation aims to develop new spatial-temporal methods and utilize new geospatial data for understanding the space-time pattern of opioid overdose events (OOEs) and associated socio-environmental factors for OOEs. This dissertation consists of three major parts: 1) Understand how OOEs evolved over space and time using a regionalized sequence alignment method; 2) Understand the social and physical environmental determinants in OOEs at high spatial-temporal resolution using found geospatial data; and 3) Use city municipal 311 service requests as indicators of neighborhood distress and predicting the trends of OOE hotspots when OOEs data is not available. The outcome of this dissertation helps us understand the critical spatiotemporal characteristics of the opioid overdose crisis and provides valuable information to identify the potential socio-economic and environmental drivers of the crisis as well as geographic areas where vulnerable populations are located, and where interventions should be implemented.

Committee: Harvey Miller (Advisor); Ayaz Hyder (Committee Member); Elisabeth Root (Committee Member); Desheng Liu (Committee Member) Subjects: Geographic Information Science; Geography; Public Health

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2020, Integrated Bioscience

The Laurentian Great Lakes system holds approximately 20% of the world's available surface freshwater while being an immense economic engine for the region. Lake Erie, one of the five North American Great Lakes is classified as highly stressed and deteriorating. Flooding and erosion issues stemming from record-high water levels, as well as excessive nutrients causing harmful algal blooms which compounds the problems. This work investigates novel ways to approach, solve, and manage some of Lake Erie's most pressing problems. First, a historical political ecology approach was used to trace the history of land use practices that transformed the Great Black Swamp into the industrialized agricultural system that the Maumee River Watershed (MRW) is today. The analysis chronicles transformations in structure and function of the MRW implicating diverse drivers such as agricultural practices, legacy nutrient reservoirs, altered landscape hydrology, and energy policy while making policy recommendations at various scales. Second, a low-cost, open-source DIY spectrophotometer was developed in order to obtain crowd-sourced data to understand nutrient loading trends throughout the watershed, particularly the MRW. Tests of this device indicate that the typically expensive hardware is not the limitation. Rather, reagent performance is the leading cause of uncertainty. Third, a social-ecological risk and vulnerability model to flooding and erosion was created for the Ohio Lake Erie shoreline by adapting established maritime coastal indices to the limnological system. The result is both a foundation for Ohio's Department of Natural Resources, Office of Coastal Management to identify scientifically-informed, place-based priority management areas for erosion and flooding, as well as a methodological roadmap to adapt the Coastal and Place Vulnerability Indices to the other Great Lakes' states and provincial shorelines.

Committee: Peter Niewiarowski (Advisor); Hunter King (Committee Member); John Huss (Committee Member); Robin Kundis Craig (Committee Member); Lance Gunderson (Committee Member) Subjects: Biochemistry; Biology; Ecology; Environmental Management; Environmental Science; Geographic Information Science; Public Policy; Sustainability; Water Resource Management

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2019, Environment and Natural Resources

Wildlife value orientations (WVOs) reflect sets of beliefs about preferred modes of treating wildlife and have been found to explain attitudes toward wildlife management interventions. Much research in the academic field of “human dimensions of wildlife" has examined the effects of WVOs on attitudes towards particular management actions, or a handful of particular species. Consequentially, past research has not isolated the effects of species attributes on attitudes. In the current work, I test whether the effects of WVOs on acceptability of lethal removal and risk perceptions about wildlife-related threats differ as a function of the following species attributes: endangered status, taxonomic order (i.e., Herbivora or Carnivora), and whether the species poses a threat. I distributed a self-administered online survey to a panel of 987 individuals using Prolific Academic to measure acceptability of lethal removal and risk perceptions of a species, WVOs (domination and mutualism), and experience with negative human-wildlife interactions in the past year. Moderated linear regression analyses revealed that the effects of the WVOs on acceptability of lethal removal and risk perceptions differed significantly between the experimental treatments. The results indicate that contextual cues about a species can dampen or strengthen the influence of WVOs when people make wildlife-related decisions. When explaining acceptability of lethal removal by a wildlife professional, domination increased acceptability of lethal removal to a greater extent when a species was described as posing a threat or was a carnivore, and to a lesser extent when a species was listed as endangered. When explaining risk perceptions, the relationships between WVOs and taxonomic order and threat treatments were more complex, as 3-way interactions were detected. However, the effects of WVOs on risk perceptions neither increased nor decreased as a function or whether a species was listed as endangered or no (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alia Dietsch PhD (Advisor); Jeremy Bruskotter PhD (Committee Member); Robyn Wilson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Psychology; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2019, Environmental Sciences

Cohabitation between humans and carnivores is vital to the continued existence and integrity of ecosystems. Management policies that concern these carnivores and their environment can best be informed by understanding human environmental and relational values, as well as attitudes towards their cohabitants. Using both established survey metrics and interviews, we aim to understand the values and attitudes towards large carnivores for residents of the Great Bear Rainforest, Canada. We found that respondents generally had pro-ecological attitudes, strong relational values to the rainforest and wildlife, and positive attitudes towards carnivores. Factors found to influence these attitudes were found to include level of education, age, distance to the forest edge, and knowledge of habitation within the Great Bear Rainforest. Unexpectedly, we found that residents exhibited a strong sense of place. This included frequent mention of spiritual and cultural significance of carnivores for First Nations (by non-first nation respondents), recognizing the land as that of the carnivores, and environmental stewardship as a reflection of oneself. Ultimately, these results can help inform future carnivore and environmental management policies by taking into consideration the environmental and relational values of the populations that may be affected, as well as their attitudes towards carnivores and associated influences.

Committee: Amélie Davis PhD (Advisor); Sarah Dumyahn PhD (Committee Member); Ryan Gunderson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Conservation; Environmental Management; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Geographic Information Science; Social Research; Sociology; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2018, Environment and Natural Resources

Human intolerance of wildlife is often associated with negative interactions (i.e., conflict) between humans and wildlife. While many studies of these conflicts focus on which species are involved and the extent of damage caused, few studies focus on understanding the psychological factors that shape how people talk about or “frame” such negative interactions. This investigation seeks to understand how situational-specific factors (e.g., the nature, extent, and frequency of previous interactions) and underlying psychological factors, such as wildlife value orientations, impact an individual's framing of reported problems with wildlife. Using data from a survey of residents living in Washington state, we performed a mixed-methods analysis of 1,837 responses to an open-ended question asking participants to describe the problems they have experienced with wildlife near their homes. Environmental context (place of residence) played a role in the types of species and interactions that an individual identifies. Additionally, there is evidence that demographic (e.g., sex, age) and psychological factors impact what interactions may be the most salient to an individual. These results also indicate nuisance interactions, such as yard or structural damage, may be the most commonly experienced across groups. Other studies have found that nuisance interactions have greatest potential for social conflict over appropriate management decisions and acceptability of lethal control. Experience and engagement in attempts to mitigate problems with wildlife may explain some of this variability. Finally, recognizing the needs of both humans and wildlife was positively associated with describing a mitigation strategy, suggesting acceptance of “problems with wildlife” may be dependent on the ability of the individual to identify effective mitigation strategies.

Committee: Alia Dietsch PhD (Advisor); Robyn Wilson PhD (Committee Member); Jeremy Bruskotter PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management