Evaluating the role of citizen science in the context of human-wildlife conflict management

2014 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis presents two manuscripts that explored the potential of citizen science programs to be utilized in urban centers that are experiencing heightened rates of human-wildlife conflict (HWC). In particular, we focused on human-coyote conflicts, which are an emerging problem in many cities throughout North America. Recent reports have shown that while coyotes typically pose a minimal threat to people, attacks on humans have recently escalated. Certain traditional methods such as lethal control for dealing with human-coyote conflict, and HWC more broadly, are increasingly considered unacceptable to the public, creating a need for management authorities to consider other alternatives. Citizen science, a method in which members of the public contribute to real-world research studies, is one tool that could be considered, as citizen science is thought to be a valuable mechanism for increasing citizens' knowledge of ecological systems and the scientific process, and engaging them in resource management. The overall purpose of this thesis was to determine the motivations and characteristics of citizen science participants and evaluate if involvement in these programs can in fact lead to desired changes in participant understanding and subsequent behavior, therefore offering a useful approach for assisting with HWC management. The purpose of the first paper was to evaluate the potential for a citizen science program called Coyote Watch to change participant understanding and subsequent behavior in the context of human-coyote conflict in the Denver Metro Area (DMA) of Colorado. Our first objective was to assess the effects of the program over time on participants' attitudes, beliefs, behavioral intentions, and knowledge regarding coyotes. Our second objective was to explore the broader impacts of the program, including the extent to which participants used their program education and observation experiences to take action in their communities to prevent and manage conflict with coyotes. Data were collected using a mixed methods approach, including on-site and online surveys and interviews that were administered to new and previously trained volunteers of Coyote Watch. Results indicated that participation in Coyote Watch is positively affecting volunteers in terms of how they relate to and think about coyotes and coyote-related issues in their communities. Qualitative data from open-ended survey questions and interviews corroborated quantitative findings and demonstrated that the program is not only providing participants with enhanced knowledge of coyotes and their ecology, but it is also empowering some of these individuals to take action to prevent and manage conflicts with coyotes. The second paper focused on understanding the characteristics of citizen science volunteers with the intent of being able to inform the development and marketing of future programs in an HWC context. We had three objectives for this case study investigation:1) assess volunteers' motivations for joining Coyote Watch and subsequently determine whether these motivations were similar to or different from those identified by previous research on volunteerism in environmental projects, 2) explore the extent to which volunteers represented the DMA resident population as a whole with respect to key demographic characteristics, and 3) compare Coyote Watch participants to respondents from a larger DMA resident survey in regards to their coyote-related attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions. Data collection was accomplished using on-site and online surveys administered to Coyote Watch volunteers and through mailed and online surveys for the larger DMA study. Results indicated that volunteers often had more than one motivation for joining the program, such as an enjoyment of wildlife, a desire to participate in research and to inform others people about coyotes and coyote issues, and that they did in fact share some of the demographic characteristics of DMA residents as a whole. However, we also noted certain demographic differences between volunteers and the resident population, particularly with respect to gender, age, and education. Furthermore, results determined that Coyote Watch volunteers differed in some respects from respondents to the larger DMA-wide resident survey in their attitudes, beliefs and behavioral intentions regarding coyotes, as the volunteers had more positive general attitudes regarding coyotes, they were more likely to agree with advantages of having coyotes in their areas, and they were more likely to perform certain actions around their homes in order to reduce conflict with coyotes. As a whole, these studies demonstrated that many individuals who participated in Coyote Watch expressed a better understanding of coyote behavior and an ability to use their education to take measures to prevent and manage conflict. Additionally, these individuals may be similar to other residents in the DMA, but they tend to feel more positively toward coyotes and they are willing to take more steps to decrease negative interactions with coyotes. Thus, our findings suggest that citizen science programs may offer an innovative alternative method to augment traditional forms of HWC mitigation in urban settings

The Impact of Borehole Wells and a Hygiene and Sanitation Program on Diarrhea: Evidence from Rural Southwest Uganda

Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death for children under age five, killing approximately 2,089 children a day (WHO, 2013). Clean water access, sanitation facilities, and good hygiene behavior are solutions to decreasing child mortality and morbidity caused by fecal contamination. I estimate the impact of borehole wells and a hygiene and sanitation program on diarrhea by creating a retrospective panel. I ask mothers to rank children from the most to least diarrhea when under the age of two and use this ranking to compare siblings, where at least one had been exposed to the program. The methodology causes bias in the dependent variable and I therefore do not find a statistically significant impact of borehole wells or the hygiene and sanitation program on diarrhea. I explore the program’s ability to change water and sanitation behavior and find the program increases water access and use. However, many households use multiple water sources and do not consistently treat water, which likely diminishes the effect of clean water

Preferences for Exposure Control of Power-Frequency Fields among Lay Opinion Leaders

The authors report on surveys, differing according to focus on remedial costs, of Pittsburgh-area adults indicating beliefs about possible health effects of electromagnetic fields and the acceptability of options for reducing or eliminating the potential impact

Ghetto Regionalism: Place, Identity, and Assimilation in the Fiction of Abraham Cahan, Sui Sin Far, and Zitkala-Sa

My thesis is an exploration of turn-of-the-century immigrant and minority fiction. I deal specifically with the marginalization of minorities who live in ghettos, how and why such a demarcated place and space informs their social identity, and the function and ramifications of the assimilation process on those individuals, as shown in the fiction of Abraham Cahan, Sui Sin Far, and Zitkala-Sa

Molecular and morphological characterization of Echinococcus granulosus of human and animal origin in Iran

Iran is an important endemic focus of cystic hydatid disease (CHD) where several species of intermediate host are commonly infected with Echinococcus granulosus. Isolates of E. granulosus were collected from humans and other animals from different geographical areas of Iran and characterized using both DNA (PCR-RFLP of ITS1) and morphological criteria (metacestode rostellar hook dimensions). The sheep and camel strains/genotypes were shown to occur in Iran. The sheep strain was shown to be the most common genotype of E. granulosus affecting sheep, cattle, goats and occasionally camels. The majority of camels were infected with the camel genotype as were 3 of 33 human cases. This is the first time that cases of CHD in humans have been identified in an area where a transmission cycle for the camel genotype exists. In addition, the camel genotype was found to cause infection in both sheep and cattle. Results also demonstrated that both sheep and camel strains can be readily differentiated on the basis of hook morphology alone

Development and application of novel tracers for environmental applications.

Novel glass tracers, organic and inorganic polymers based on narrow band atomic fluorescence, have been developed for deployment as environmental tracers. The use of discrete fluorescent species in an environmentally stable host has been investigated to replace existing toxic, broad band molecular dye tracers. The narrow band emission signals offer the potential for the tracing of a large numbers of signals in the same environment; this has been investigated by examining multiple doped tracers which have the potential for coding to specific effluent sources or particulates. The concept of using lanthanide doped glasses as environmental tracers has been demonstrated. The spectral characterisation and concentration studies of the lanthanide doped tracer allow the selection of parameters to produce future tracers and detection systems for particular applications. Therefore by altering the chosen lanthanide dopant, number of dopants, dopant concentration and using selective excitation and emission wavelengths there are a huge number of possible unique tracer combinations. The significantly narrower bandwidth emission peaks of the lanthanide based tracers achieve more selective detection of multiple tracers without overlap interference and gives the potential to selectively and simultaneously monitor many different tracers in the same location. The spectral lifetime characteristics of the lanthanide tracers are very different from the lifetime of background fluorescence which is typically molecular in origin. This is an extra discrimination against background interference and is an important additional advantage of using lanthanide based tracers. Overall this work shows that a very large number of unique environmental tracers can be obtained by varying the concentration, the number of lanthanide ions in a glass and also the possibility of using organic and inorganic lanthanide chelate doped tracers