7 research outputs found
The South Shore Food Hub : a jump start for the northwest Indiana local food system
This creative project proposes an intervention, specifically a food hub, which will strengthen the local food system in Northwest Indiana. The design of the proposed intervention draws from theorists and practitioners influential to the fields of landscape architecture and planning. The nature of the intervention is influenced by a review of relevant research on local food systems, food systems data and statistics, the history of the region, and local food system stakeholder input.Thesis (M.L.A.)Department of Landscape Architectur
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The role of water in environmental migration
Water has always been a driver of human mobility, migration, and displacement. But water is increasingly central to explaining environmental migration in the context of climate change. Most studies of the relationship between water and environmental migration are framed around punctuated, extreme weather events and disasters that either limit agricultural or livestock productivity or make a community physically unlivable. The chronic experiences of household water insecurity and poor water governance also shape migration decision-making through a variety of social, political, and economic factors, but these relationships have received considerably less attention. This article provides an overview of punctuated and chronic water-related triggers of environmental migration at the household level. We also offer a conceptual framework based on multiphasic response theory that highlights water's multiple roles in migration decision-making. We close by reflecting on key gaps in the climate-water-migration literature, identifying research questions that might help us better understand these relationships, and considering the implications for sustainable development policies that could potentially ease pressures on water-related displacement
Pre-extinction Demographic Stability and Genomic Signatures of Adaptation in the Woolly Rhinoceros
Ancient DNA has significantly improved our understanding of the evolution and population history of extinct megafauna. However, few studies have used complete ancient genomes to examine species responses to climate change prior to extinction. The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) was a cold-adapted megaherbivore widely distributed across northern Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene and became extinct approximately 14 thousand years before present (ka BP). While humans and climate change have been proposed as potential causes of extinction [1-3], knowledge is limited on how the woolly rhinoceros was impacted by human arrival and climatic fluctuations [2]. Here, we use one complete nuclear genome and 14 mitogenomes to investigate the demographic history of woolly rhinoceros leading up to its extinction. Unlike other northern megafauna, the effective population size of woolly rhinoceros likely increased at 29.7 ka BP and subsequently remained stable until close to the species’ extinction. Analysis of the nuclear genome from a similar to 18.5-ka-old specimen did not indicate any increased inbreeding or reduced genetic diversity, suggesting that the population size remained steady for more than 13 ka following the arrival of humans [4]. The population contraction leading to extinction of the woolly rhinoceros may have thus been sudden and mostly driven by rapid warming in the Bolling-Allerod interstadial. Furthermore, we identify woolly rhinoceros-specific adaptations to arctic climate, similar to those of the woolly mammoth. This study highlights how species respond differently to climatic fluctuations and further illustrates the potential of palaeogenomics to study the evolutionary history of extinct species