Geography and Geospatial Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

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Open Access
Linking Diversity–Productivity Conditions of Farming Systems with the Well-Being of Agricultural Communities
(MDPI AG, 2024-08-09) Francois, Jean R.; Nelson, Katherine S.; Burchfield, Emily K.
Agricultural diversity, productivity, and human well-being have been popular topics in recent decades, partly fueled by our quest for sustainability. However, the exact nature of the interconnections among these global priorities remains an area yet to be fully understood and explored. We contribute to this literature by examining how community well-being interacts with distinct levels of diversity and productivity in cropping systems across multiple U.S. communities. Using data at the county-level from 2010 to 2019, we first analyze how well-being varies across communities that differ in their levels of crop diversity and productivity. Then, we investigate how well-being varies across both diversity–productivity characteristics and farming intensity levels. We employ mapping techniques in conjunction with descriptive statistics to uncover and visualize patterns in well-being across contexts. Study findings show a consistent pattern of high levels of well-being across most diversity–productivity categories, with the notable exception of areas that are both highly diverse and highly productive. In addition, places with substantial commercial operations, and where agriculture contributes greatly to overall GDP and employment generally appears to have higher well-being scores compared to other places. Our analysis also reveals that there is more variability in the index of community well-being within each group than across groups of counties. Overall, the results suggest that the differences in community well-being are not solely determined by agricultural indicators, such as diversity–productivity characteristics and farming intensity levels, but also depend on contextual factors, such as social infrastructure, non-agricultural job opportunities, or local economic diversification.
Embargo
Angela N. H. Creager and Jean-Paul Gaudillière: Risk on the table: food production, health, and the environment
(2024-03-06) Francois, Jean R.
Food safety is an age-old but quotidian societal issue that has remained a concern throughout human history. The matter is gaining more significance in today’s globalized era, where minor food issues can now have extensive repercussions, impacting lives and economies worldwide in a very short time. In Risk on the Table: Food Production, Health, and the Environment, Angela Creager, Professor in History of Science at Princeton University, and Jean- Paul Gaudillière, Historian at Cermes3 and Professor at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, have assembled a compelling anthology that explores how scientific developments, industrial practices, and regulatory frameworks have shaped and responded to the risks associated with food production and consumption in modern society.
Embargo
Examining the State of Community Well-Being at the Intersection of Rurality and Agricultural Engagement in the Contiguous United States
(2024-04-16) Francois, Jean R.; Nelson, Katherine S.
As the 21st century progresses, rural residents across the United States have often found themselves in disadvantaged positions by many socio-economic measures compared to their urban counterparts. In addition, agriculture– once the emblem of rurality– shares a disputed relationship with the well-being of rural communities in social science literature. However, the literature specifically related to how community well-being (CWB) varies across both rurality and agricultural engagement is limited. This study addresses this gap in the body of knowledge. Using county-level data on socioeconomic conditions from the past decade, we examine how agricultural engagement is associated with community well-being in rural areas. We combine descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis with mapping techniques to identify and visualize patterns in the data. We show that CWB varies widely regardless of rural status and engagement in agriculture across the 3107 counties included in the study. However, the most disadvantaged communities are primarily located in rural places. Study findings also show that agricultural engagement is usually associated with somewhat improved, but not significantly different, CWB in rural areas. These findings indicate that the level of urbanicity/rurality might be the primary factor driving differences in CWB and that CWB in rural communities is generally similar regardless of local economies’ reliance on agriculture.
Open Access
Fostering Community Well-Being in Farming Practices
(2023-05-23) Francois, Jean R.
In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of agriculture’s critical role in promoting the well-being of both you [farmers] and your communities, which is a crucial outcome of many sustainability efforts. The role of agricultural producers extends beyond fields to support their livelihood and the well-being of their communities and their nation. Producers’ decisions and actions have, therefore, a profound and lasting impact on the well-being of their communities. This story map explores this interconnection of farming and community well-being and highlights key management decisions that farmers are consciously considering in their decision-making process. It also describes some potential benefits this agriculture– community relationship might have on both farm profitability and the overall well-being of agricultural communities. Through interviews with agricultural stakeholders, we gain valuable insights into practices and approaches that farmers across various regions in the U.S. are embracing to create a positive and sustainable impact on their communities.
Open Access
Beyond the Farms: Setting the Stage of Agricultural Decision-Making for Sustainable Futures
(2024-06-07) Francois, Jean R.; Nelson, Katherine S.
Open Access
Agent-Based Model of Navigable Inland Waterway Tow Operation Procedures
(2017-01-01) Nelson, Katherine S.; Camp, Janey V.; Philip, Craig E.; Abkowitz, Mark D.
Transportation modeling within the context of extreme weather events induced by climate change is critical to understand and improve the resilience of transport systems as the world moves further into the 21st century. Among transportation modes, navigable inland waterways in particular face severe challenges to their future reliability as a result of extreme weather events. The economic implications of inland waterway operational efficiencies on commercial shipping have been studied in detail for several decades. Less well understood, however, are the effects of tow operation procedures enacted during adverse river conditions that have resulted from extreme weather events. This paper describes a model of a waterway segment that simulates stakeholder decision making and tow operator behavior to provide stakeholders with insights into the possible benefits of waterway action plans as operational guidance documents. Simulations run for a test area of the navigable inland waterway system indicated that operational procedures recommended in waterway action plans might have a significant impact on waterway operational efficiencies, which suggests that the model may be a useful decision-support tool for waterway stakeholders.
Open Access
An integrative approach to conceptualizing sustainable resilience
(2019-04-03) Gillespie-Marthaler, Leslie; Nelson, Katherine S.; Baroud, Hiba; Kosson, David S.; Abkowitz, Mark
Vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability are three concepts commonly used in assessing the quality of a variety of systems. While each can be applied independently when performing risk analysis, there is growing interest across multiple disciplines in understanding how these concepts can be integrated when considering complex adaptive systems, such as communities. In this paper, we identify issues related to the use of these respective concepts in assessing complex adaptive systems, and describe how these issues may produce imbalanced results and maladaptive outcomes. We identify five critical areas where alignment and integration across concepts can lead to improved system assessment. As a result, we introduce a new paradigm, sustainable resilience, in which these concepts are integrated to enable alignment of adaptation and transformation strategies with desired resilience outcomes. This work provides the foundation for the development of an integrated assessment framework to help guide informed risk-based decisionmaking for sustainable and resilient systems.
Open Access
An integrated and dynamic framework for assessing sustainable resilience in complex adaptive systems
(2020-09-02) Nelson, Katherine S.; Gillespie-Marthaler, Leslie; Baroud, Hiba; Abkowitz, Mark; Kosson, David
Growing awareness of climate change and resulting impacts to communities have generated increasing interest in understanding relationships between vulnerability, resilience, sustainability, and adaptive capacity, and how these concepts can be combined to better assess the quality of complex adaptive systems over time. Previous work has described interactions between these concepts and the value-added should they be integrated and applied in a strategic manner, resulting in a new understanding of system quality defined as sustainable resilience. However, a framework for explicitly integrating vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability assessment to develop understanding of system sustainable resilience has yet to be proposed. This paper presents a high-level, integrated and dynamic framework for assessing sustainable resilience for complex adaptive systems. We provide a set of functional definitions, a description of each step in the proposed assessment process, and walk through an example application of the framework, including a discussion of preliminary analyses, technical methodologies employed, and suggested future advances.
Open Access
Translating Water Fund Payments for Ecosystem Services in the Ecuadorian Andes
(1905-07-12) Joslin, Audrey
As a form of environmental governance, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is imbued with ideological values that can conflict with those of participating rural communities. The discursive frame surrounding PES may be contentious, even if the conservation activities promoted by these initiatives are not. Moving PES into practice therefore requires a process of translation from urban-based practitioners to rural communities. Drawing upon an empirical case study of FONAG, a water fund from Ecuador that is often promoted as the ideal type, this article employs data from participant observation, key informant interviews and textual materials to examine this process of translation. The article focuses particularly on the efforts to negotiate the discourse of PES that move the projects into on-the-ground practice. While Ecuador's political context has softened the emphasis on economically valuing ecosystem services, FONAG uses neoliberal conservation narratives that identify rural poverty as the main cause of environmental degradation and target the reform of local people through economic incentives. To enrol communities, however, intermediaries are needed to translate water fund PES to appeal to local perspectives, values and institutions. The author argues that contrasting narratives of PES can exist simultaneously between the entities that are implementing PES and the targets of that implementation.
Open Access
Fire history reconstruction in grassland ecosystems: amount of charcoal reflects local area burned
(2015-11-04) Leys, Bérangère; Brewer, Simon C.; McConaghy, Scott; Mueller, Joshua; McLauchlan, Kendra K.
Fire is one of the most prevalent disturbances in the Earth system, and its past characteristics can be reconstructed using charcoal particles preserved in depositional environments. Although researchers know that fires produce charcoal particles, interpretation of the quantity or composition of charcoal particles in terms of fire source remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a unique four-year dataset of charcoal deposited in traps from a native tallgrass prairie in mid-North America to test which environmental factors were linked to charcoal measurements on three spatial scales. We investigated small and large charcoal particles commonly used as a proxy of fire activity at different spatial scales, and charcoal morphotypes representing different types of fuel. We found that small (125–250 μ m) and large (250 μ m–1 mm) particles of charcoal are well-correlated (Spearman correlation = 0.88) and likely reflect the same spatial scale of fire activity in a system with both herbaceous and woody fuels. There was no significant relationship between charcoal pieces and fire parameters <500 m from the traps. Moreover, local area burned (<5 km distance radius from traps) explained the total charcoal amount, and regional burning (200 km radius distance from traps) explained the ratio of non arboreal to total charcoal (NA/ T ratio). Charcoal variables, including total charcoal count and NA/ T ratio, did not correlate with other fire parameters, vegetation cover, landscape, or climate variables. Thus, in long-term studies that involve fire history reconstructions, total charcoal particles, even of a small size (125–250 μ m), could be an indicator of local area burned. Further studies may determine relationships among amount of charcoal recorded, fire intensity, vegetation cover, and climatic parameters.
Open Access
Lake storage variation on the endorheic Tibetan Plateau and its attribution to climate change since the new millennium
(2018-05-30) Yao, Fangfang; Wang, Jida; Yang, Kehan; Wang, Chao; Walter, Blake A.; Crétaux, Jean-François
Alpine lakes in the interior of Tibet, the endorheic Changtang Plateau (CP), serve as ‘sentinels’ of regional climate change. Recent studies indicated that accelerated climate change has driven a widespread area expansion in lakes across the CP, but comprehensive and accurate quantiﬁcations of their storage changes are hitherto rare. This study integrated optical imagery and digital elevation models to uncover the ﬁne spatial details of lake water storage (LWS) changes across the CP at an annual timescale after the new millennium (from 2002–2015). Validated by hypsometric information based on long-term altimetry measurements, our estimated LWS variations outperform some existing studies with reduced estimation biases and improved spatiotemporal coverages. The net LWS increased at an average rate of 7.34 ± 0.62 Gt yr−1 (cumulatively 95.42 ± 8.06 Gt), manifested as a dramatic monotonic increase of 9.05 ± 0.65 Gt yr−1 before 2012, a deceleration and pause in 2013–2014, and then an intriguing decline after 2014. Observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites reveal that the LWS pattern is in remarkable agreement with that of regional mass changes: a net effect of precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-ET) in endorheic basins. Despite some regional variations, P-ET explains ∼70% of the net LWS gain from 2002–2012 and the entire LWS loss after 2013. These ﬁndings clearly suggest that the water budget from net precipitation (i.e. P-ET) dominates those of glacier melt and permafrost degradation, and thus acts as the primary contributor to recent lake area/volume variations in endorheic Tibet. The produced lake areas and volume change dataset is freely available through PANAGEA (https://doi.pangaea.de/ 10.1594/PANGAEA.888706).
Open Access
Reconstructing grassland fire history using sedimentary charcoal: Considering count, size and shape
(2017-04-27) Leys, B. A.; Commerford, J. L.; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; mclauch; McLauchlan, Kendra K.
Fire is a key Earth system process, with 80% of annual fire activity taking place in grassland areas. However, past fire regimes in grassland systems have been difficult to quantify due to challenges in interpreting the charcoal signal in depositional environments. To improve reconstructions of grassland fire regimes, it is essential to assess two key traits: (1) charcoal count, and (2) charcoal shape. In this study, we quantified the number of charcoal pieces in 51 sediment samples of ponds in the Great Plains and tested its relevance as a proxy for the fire regime by examining 13 potential factors influencing charcoal count, including various fire regime components (e.g. the fire frequency, the area burned, and the fire season), vegetation cover and pollen assemblages, and climate variables. We also quantified the width to length (W: L) ratio of charcoal particles, to assess its utility as a proxy of fuel types in grassland environments by direct comparison with vegetation cover and pollen assemblages. Our first conclusion is that charcoal particles produced by grassland fires are smaller than those produced by forest fires. Thus, a mesh size of 120 mu m as used in forested environments is too large for grassland ecosystems. We recommend counting all charcoal particles over 60 mu m in grasslands and mixed grass-forest environments to increase the number of samples with useful data. Second, a W: L ratio of 0.5 or smaller appears to be an indicator for fuel types, when vegetation surrounding the site is before composed of at least 40% grassland vegetation. Third, the area burned within 1060m of the depositional environments explained both the count and the area of charcoal particles. Therefore, changes in charcoal count or charcoal area through time indicate a change in area burned. The fire regimes of grassland systems, including both human and climatic influences on fire behavior, can be characterized by long-term charcoal records.
Open Access
Wildfires and geochemical change in a subalpine forest over the past six millennia
(2016-11-24) Leys, Bérangère; Higuera, Philip E; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; Dunnette, Paul V; bleys; mclauch; Leys, Bérangère; Higuera, Philip E; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; Dunnette, Paul V
The frequency of large wildfires in western North America has been increasing in recent decades, yet the geochemical impacts of these events are poorly understood. The multidecadal timescales of both disturbance-regime variability and ecosystem responses make it challenging to study the effects of fire on terrestrial nutrient cycling. Nonetheless, disturbance-mediated changes in nutrient concentrations could ultimately limit forest productivity over centennial to millennial time scales. Here, we use a novel approach that combines quantitative elemental analysis of lake sediments using x-ray fluorescence to assess the geochemical impacts of high-severity fires in a 6200 year long sedimentary record from a small subalpine lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. Immediately after 17 high-severity fires, the sedimentary concentrations of five elements increased (Ti, Ca, K, Al, and P), but returned to pre-fire levels within three decades. Multivariate analyses indicate that erosion of weathered mineral material from the catchment is a primary mechanism though which high-severity fires impact element cycling. A longer-term trend in sediment geochemistry was also identified over millennial time scales. This decrease in the concentrations of six elements (Al, Si, K, Ti, Mn, and Fe) over the past 6200 years may have been due to a decreased rate of high-severity fires, long-term ecosystem development, or changes in precipitation regime. Our results indicate that high-severity fire events can determine elemental concentrations in subalpine forests. The degree of variability in geochemical response across time scales suggests that shifting rates of high-severity burning can cause significant changes in key rock-derived nutrients. To our knowledge, these results are the first to reveal repeated loss of rock-derived nutrients from the terrestrial ecosystem due to high-severity fires. Understanding the future of fire-prone coniferous forests requires further documentation and quantification of this important mechanism linking fire regimes and biogeochemical cycles.
Open Access
Recent advances quantifying the large wood dynamics in river basins: New methods and remaining challenges
(2016-07-15) Ruiz-Villanueva, V.; Piégay, H.; Gurnell, A. A.; Marston, Richard A.; Stoffel, M.; rmarston; Marston, Richard A.
Large wood is an important physical component of woodland rivers and significantly influences river morphology. It is also a key component of stream ecosystems. However, large wood is also a source of risk for human activities as it may damage infrastructure, block river channels, and induce flooding. Therefore, the analysis and quantification of large wood and its mobility are crucial for understanding and managing wood in rivers. As the amount of large-wood-related studies by researchers, river managers, and stakeholders increases, documentation of commonly used and newly available techniques and their effectiveness has also become increasingly relevant as well. Important data and knowledge have been obtained from the application of very different approaches and have generated a significant body of valuable information representative of different environments. This review brings a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative summary of recent advances regarding the different processes involved in large wood dynamics in fluvial systems including wood budgeting and wood mechanics. First, some key definitions and concepts are introduced. Second, advances in quantifying large wood dynamics are reviewed; in particular, how measurements and modeling can be combined to integrate our understanding of how large wood moves through and is retained within river systems. Throughout, we present a quantitative and integrated meta-analysis compiled from different studies and geographical regions. Finally, we conclude by highlighting areas of particular research importance and their likely future trajectories, and we consider a particularly underresearched area so as to stress the future challenges for large wood research. ©2016. American Geophysical Union.
Open Access
High dissimilarity within a multiyear annual record of pollen assemblages from a North American tallgrass prairie
(2016-06-29) Commerford, Julie L.; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; Minckley, T. A.; mclauch; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; Commerford, Julie L.
Grassland vegetation varies in composition across North America and has been historically influenced by multiple biotic and abiotic drivers, including fire, herbivory, and topography. Yet, the amount of temporal and spatial variability exhibited among grassland pollen assemblages, and the influence of these biotic and abiotic drivers on pollen assemblage composition and diversity has been relatively understudied. Here, we examine 4 years of modern pollen assemblages collected from a series of 28 traps at the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research Area in the Flint Hills of Kansas, with the aim of evaluating the influence of these drivers, as well as quantifying the amount of spatial and temporal variability in the pollen signatures of the tallgrass prairie biome. We include all terrestrial pollen taxa in our analyses while calculating four summative metrics of pollen diversity and composition -beta-diversity, Shannon index, nonarboreal pollen percentage, and Ambrosia: Artemisia -and find different roles of fire, herbivory, and topography variables in relation to these pollen metrics. In addition, we find significant annual differences in the means of three of these metrics, particularly the year 2013 which experienced high precipitation relative to the other 3 years of data. To quantify spatial and temporal dissimilarity among the samples over the 4-year study, we calculate pairwise squared-chord distances (SCD). The SCD values indicate higher compositional dissimilarity across the traps (0.38 mean) among all years than within a single trap from year to year (0.31 mean), suggesting that grassland vegetation can have different pollen signatures across finely sampled space and time, and emphasizing the need for additional long-term annual monitoring of grassland pollen.
Open Access
Determination of climatologically suitable places in the Midwest for feedlot cattle production by using the comprehensive climate index model
(2016-04-01) Koknaroglu, H.; Harrington Jr, John; Mader, T. L.; jharrin
The objective of this study was to determine climatologically suitable places to raise feedlot cattle in the Midwest. Hourly average temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed values for 22 locations (Des Moines, Mason City, Sioux City, Waterloo, Concordia, Dodge City, Goodland, Russell, Topeka, Wichita, Columbia, Kansas City, KCI, Springfield, St. Louis, Grand Island, Lincoln, Norfolk, North Platte, Omaha, Scottsbluff, and Valentine), spanning the last 10 yr, were obtained. Daily solar radiation values could not be obtained from the weather stations and were calculated based on a formula that takes hemisphere, latitude, and day of the year into account. The comprehensive climate index (CCI) model was used to predict DMI, ADG, and feed efficiency of feedlot cattle. The CCI enables one to quantify beef cattle performance for a number of breeds based on environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation) at any time in the year. Because mostly beef cattle breed calves are placed into the feedlot in the Midwest, the British (beef breed) option in CCI was chosen to calculate the maintenance energy requirement of cattle. It was assumed that calves would be placed on feed at 340 kg and be marketed at 613 kg and that diets would have 3200 kcal/kg metabolic energy and would have DMI of 2.10% of the BW. Results comparing the 22 locations showed that Mason City had the highest and Columbia had the lowest DMI (P < 0.05). Cattle raised in Kansas and Missouri had lower DMI than those raised in Iowa and Nebraska. Cattle had ADG ranging from 1.74 to 1.69 kg/d; Scottsbluff and Goodland had the highest ADG and Columbia had the lowest ADG (P < 0.05). As it is observed in DMI, cattle raised in south latitudes had lower ADG than those raised in northern latitudes. Springfield and Wichita had better feed efficiency than other locations, and Mason City had the worst feed efficiency. Cattle raised in Kansas and Missouri had better feed efficiency than those raised in Iowa and Nebraska (P < 0.05). Results showed that there are differences in terms of performance of cattle raised in different locations in the Midwest and this should be taken into consideration for economical beef production.
Open Access
Cultural energy analyses of climatologically suitable places in Turkey for feedlot cattle production determined by using the comprehensive climate index model
(2016-04-01) Koknaroglu, H.; Harrington Jr, John; Mader, T. L.; jharrin
The objective of this study was to conduct cultural energy analyses on feedlot cattle production in Turkey. The comprehensive climate index (CCI) model was used to predict DMI, ADG, and feed efficiency of feedlot cattle in 15 locations in Turkey. The CCI enables one to quantify beef cattle performance for a number of breeds based on environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation) at any time in the year. Because mostly dairy breed calves are placed into the feedlot in Turkey, the Holstein (dairy breed) option in the CCI was chosen to calculate the maintenance energy requirement. Based on previous feedlot feeding studies conducted in Turkey, it was assumed that calves would be placed on feed at 250 kg and be marketed at 520 kg and that the diet would have 2600 kcal/kg metabolic energy and would have DMI of 2.31% of the BW. It was assumed that cattle would receive 2 kg/d straw and that the concentrate mixture would consist of 52.65% barley, 26% corn, 19% cotton seed meal, 1.5% limestone, 0.25% vitamins, 0.5% salt, and 0.1% minerals. Cultural energy inputs were calculated by multiplying the amount of inputs and their corresponding cultural energy based on values from existing literature. Cultural energy used for feed was derived from DMI of cattle and corresponding values for each feed ingredient. Transportation energy was also included in the analysis, including costs for shipping calves from animal market to the farm, shipping yearlings to slaughterhouse, and shipping feed ingredients to the farm. Cultural energy expended for feed made up more than half of the total cultural energy and differed among cities (P < 0.05). Cultural energy for feed was highest for the coldest places and lowest for hot locations. Cultural energy of transportation constituted the second highest cultural energy expenditure. Cultural energy expended per kilogram live weight gain (defined as total cultural energy expended divided by kg live weight gain) was highest for the coldest location and lowest for relatively hotter cities (P < 0.05). Cultural energy use efficiency (defined by kcal input/kcal output) followed the feed efficiency ranking with cattle having better feed efficiency also have better cultural energy use efficiency. Results showed that cattle having higher ADG did not mean that they would also have better cultural energy use efficiency.
Open Access
Theoretical basis for at-many-stations hydraulic geometry
Gleason, C. J.; Wang, Jida; jidawang
Open Access
Evidence of Hantavirus Infection among Bats in Brazil
(2015-08-05) Sabino-Santos, G.; Maia, F. G. M.; Vieira, T. M.; Muylaert, R. D.; Lima, S. M.; Goncalves, C. B.; Barroso, P. D.; Melo, M. N.; Jonsson, C. B.; Goodin, Douglas; Salazar-Bravo, J.; Figueiredo, L. T. M.; dgoodin
Open Access
Spatiotemporal analysis of nitrogen cycling in a mixed coniferous forest of the northern United States
(2015-07-01) Howard, I.; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; mclauch

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