From the Field: Paul Holloway in Botswana

Paul is a Phd student whose research applies movement pattern analysis to improve species distribution models (SDMs). He sent us this update from Botswana earlier this week.

Much like Costa Rica, the roosters of Botswana also like to rise extremely early, three 3 hours before sunrise in fact. And when they are joined by the town dogs and the river's toads, it makes for an interesting morning alarm, and one that I'm not going to miss.

I've spent the last two weeks in the field travelling across northern Botswana, in an attempt to understand the landscape from a brown hyena's perspective. Several nights in Nxai Pans and Makgadikgadi National Parks in the east of the country showed me the barrenness of their habitat, driving through miles and miles of grasslands and savannas.I've collected near to 100 GPS points of that area, with corresponding photos, so I'm looking forward to comparing MODIS land cover to actual on the ground images. It was also noticeable that there was near to no natural water to speak of in the area, with all the wildlife clustered either the river or the artificial wells near the cattle posts. There was also a bounty of dead animals by the side of the only tarmac road in the area, a fact the hyenas must also be aware of...

I also had several exciting animal sightings. Having been lectured on the necessity of not straying beyond sight of the tents due to a high lion presence in the area, I'm not ashamed to say my heart did stop beating for a second when all I could hear was the sound of water being lapped at 2am one night when nature called and I had to leave my tent. Fortunately it was only a black backed jackal, which didn't look too blood thirsty.

 I'm looking forward to getting back in front of my computer and making the shapefiles come to life through the images and landscape I've seen and collected. Thanks to my guides while I was out there, Thoralf, Kelley and Thomas. Hope it's not too hot in Austin, and I'll see y'all shortly.

And no, I didn't actually spot any hyenas. The perfect excuse for next year...

[in print] Recent Publications from Molly Polk and Robert Bean

Doctoral students Molly Polk and Robert bean have new publications available. Follow the links below for the full text of each article.

Bury, J., Mark, B. G., Carey, M., Young, K. R., McKenzie, J. M., Baraer, M., … Polk, M. H. (2013). New Geographies of Water and Climate Change in Peru: Coupled Natural and Social Transformations in the Santa River Watershed. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 103(2), 363–374.

Abstract: Projections of future water shortages in the world's glaciated mountain ranges have grown increasingly dire. Although water modeling research has begun to examine changing environmental parameters, the inclusion of social scenarios has been very limited. Yet human water use and demand are vital for long-term adaptation, risk reduction, and resource allocation. Concerns about future water supplies are particularly pronounced on Peru's arid Pacific slope, where upstream glacier recession has been accompanied by rapid and water-intensive economic development. Models predict water shortages decades into the future, but conflicts have already arisen in Peru's Santa River watershed due to either real or perceived shortages. Modeled thresholds do not align well with historical realities and therefore suggest that a broader analysis of the combined natural and social drivers of change is needed to more effectively understand the hydrologic transformation taking place across the watershed. This article situates these new geographies of water and climate change in Peru within current global change research discussions to demonstrate how future coupled research models can inform broader scale questions of hydrologic change and water security across watersheds and regions. We provide a coupled historical analysis of glacier recession in the Cordillera Blanca, declining Santa River discharge, and alpine wetland contraction. We also examine various water withdrawal mechanisms, including smallholder agriculture, mining, potable water use, hydroelectric power generation, and coastal irrigation. We argue that both ecological change and societal forces will play vital roles in shaping the future of water resources and water governance in the region.




Lafrenz, M. D., Bean, R. A., & Uthman, D. (2013). Soil ripening following dam removal. Physical Geography, (ahead-of-print), 1-12.

Abstract: The onset of pedogenesis in dewatered reservoir sediments following a dam removal was evaluated using a ripening index that was initially developed to describe the condition of drained, marine sediments behind Dutch dikes. The drained reservoir exposed lahar terraces, mantled with reservoir sediment, upstream of the former dam at a similar geomorphic position to a downstream lahar terrace. Three years following dam removal, the exposed sediment has physically ripened (n-values are less than 0.7) over 1 m to the depth of a buried soil. However, the sediment has only chemically ripened to a depth of approximately 16 cm, the depth at which pH values become higher than those of the downstream terrace soils. Even at the surface, the sediment has not biologically ripened, as indicated by the low carbon-to-nitrogen ratios (13:1) relative to those of the downstream soil surface (28:1). These results indicate that chemical and biological ripening happen more slowly than physical ripening. As such, dewatered reservoir sediments likely reach field capacity before other crucial edaphic conditions have developed, such as the accumulation of plant-available iron and nitrate. This difference will greatly affect vegetation successional pathways in these newly created upland environments.

Chang, H., Jung, I.-W., Strecker, A., Wise, D., Lafrenz, M., Shandas, V., Bean, R.,...Paris, M (2013). Water Supply, Demand, and Quality Indicators for Assessing the Spatial Distribution of Water Resource Vulnerability in the Columbia River Basin. Atmosphere-Ocean, 1–18.

We investigated water resource vulnerability in the US portion of the Columbia River basin (CRB) using multiple indicators representing water supply, water demand, and water quality. Based on the US county scale, spatial analysis was conducted using various biophysical and socio-economic indicators that control water vulnerability. Water supply vulnerability and water demand vulnerability exhibited a similar spatial clustering of hotspots in areas where agricultural lands and variability of precipitation were high but dam storage capacity was low. The hotspots of water quality vulnerability were clustered around the main stem of the Columbia River where major population and agricultural centres are located. This multiple equal weight indicator approach confirmed that different drivers were associated with different vulnerability maps in the sub-basins of the CRB. Water quality variables are more important than water supply and water demand variables in the Willamette River basin, whereas water supply and demand variables are more important than water quality variables in the Upper Snake and Upper Columbia River basins. This result suggests that current water resources management and practices drive much of the vulnerability within the study area. The analysis suggests the need for increased coordination of water management across multiple levels of water governance to reduce water resource vulnerability in the CRB and a potentially different weighting scheme that explicitly takes into account the input of various water stakeholders.

From the Field: Greg Schwartz

Greg is a Phd student researching neoliberalism, sustainable development, and women's land-use decisions in Costa Rica. He sent us this update from the field earlier this week.

I've now been in and around the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica for about a month now with three more weeks to go, based in the town of Puerto Jimenez. Each morning I'm awakened by a combination of howler monkeys, a resident rooster,  and the beaming tropical morning sun. This area is home to one of the largest contiguous stands of primary tropical rainforest in the country, which I have wandered into several times and had many many animal sightings. Yet, it took the neighbor's pit bull here in town to log my first animal attack on this trip. No serious damage though. Otherwise, I'm doing lots of informal interviews and a few fully structured ones, resulting in lots of good contacts. I was even invited, then uninvited due to cost issues, to a beach wedding.

So far, I've found that the region's economy seems to be based, in descending order, on 1) tourism 2) African oil palm plantations & processing 3) Rice plantations 3) Payment for environmental services (government paying land owners not to cut down their trees) 4)  government and/or NGO jobs and 5) gold mining (almost entirely illegal)

Can't wait to have some Home Slice pizza on South Congress :) See you all soon & have a great 2nd half of the summer !

Which States Drink the Most Beer?

As Austinist noted, despite how you may be feeling after the July 4th weekend, Texas does not rank first in beer consumption in the US. That title goes to North Dakota, which drank the equivalent of 488 beers per person in 2012.* You can explore how thirsty the rest of the America was in 2012 with our handy map. Of course, Texas will always have the highest per capita beer consumption in The Republic of Texas.

*per person aged 21+. 1 beer = 12oz. Data courtesy of The Beer Institute.

Grads Participate in US-IALE

The 2013 Annual Symposium for the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) took place in Austin from April 14-18th. Co-chaired by leading landscape ecologist and faculty member Ken Young, the event was a big success with over 250 papers and posters presented within the three day period. Graduate and undergraduate students Molly Polk, Xuebin Yang, Sara Diamond, Katherine Lininger, Thomas Christiansen, Paul Holloway, Collin Roland and Emily Mixon represented the Department of Geography and the Environment throughout the week. Geography grads also contributed to the strong selection of research presented throughout the week, with Paul Holloway presenting his work in the ‘Spatial Analysis: Movement’ session, and Molly Polk a co-author on a paper in the ‘Landscape Change’ session. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and was involved throughout the week. It would not have been such a success without your help. See you all in Anchorage 2014!

Molly Polk speaks at Hornsby Bend this weekend

Ph.D. Candidate Molly Polk will discuss her doctoral research, “Climate Change and Mountain Mires in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca,” this Saturday, as part of the Center for Environmental Research's Ecological Literacy Volunteer Day.

Molly's lunchtime talk follows a four hour work and learn event in which volunteers conduct maintenance on the trails, habitat gardens, and kiosks at Hornsby Bend.

You can find the full event details on the CER website. Contact Kevin Anderson with any questions: Kevin.Anderson@austintexas.gov

UT Students Establish ASPRS Chapter

UT students, with sponsorship from the Department of Geography & Environment, have founded a new student chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).  
Founded in 1934, ASPRS is a scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. The mission of ASPRS is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences to promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies. Members work in the fields of Agriculture/Soils, Archeology, Biology, Cartography, Ecology, Environment, Forestry/Range, Geodesy, Geography, Geology, Hydrology/water Resources, Land Appraisal/Real Estate, Medicine, Transportation, and Urban Planning/Development.

Congratulations to everyone for their hard work getting the chapter started! The next meeting will be Monday, February 18, at 5 pm. Contact chapter president Robert Bean for further details.

Students Represent Department at American Meteorological Society Meeting

Students Jennifer Alexander, Xuebin Yang, and Molly Polk represented the Department of Geography and the Environment at the Weatherfest event of the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). On participating in the event, which took place from January 6 - 10 in Austin, doctoral student Molly Polk said, "we were happy to spread the good word about our department and about the beauty and importance of our fine discipline." The AMS meeting was co-chaired by meteorologist and faculty member Troy Kimmel.

Jen, Xuebin, Troy, and Molly at the UT Geography and the Environment booth

 

Students Present at American Geophysical Union Meeting

Graduate students from UT's Department of Geography and the Environment recently presented posters at the American Geophysical Union's Annual Fall Meeting, held from December 3rd-7th in San Francisco, CA. Christine Bonthius, Richard Knox, Katherine Lininger, and Edward Park presented in a session titled,"River Morphodynamics and Channel Patterns: How Do River Patterns Come to be Different?" Poster topics included: flooding patterns of the middle Araguaia River of Brazil (Lininger); morphodynamics of the Madeira River of Brazil (Bonthius); bedload transport and effective discharge of a segment of the Mississippi River (Knox); and, using remote sensing techniques to model suspended sediment concentrations in the Amazon (Park).

Joomi Lee Wins Award from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies

UT Geography doctoral candidate Joomi Lee has been awarded  the Mark Tessler Graduate Student Prize from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies for her paper, The End of Local Craftsmanship: A Case Study of Sale's Disappearing Artisans. The award includes a cash prize, and the paper will be submitted for publication in The Journal of North African Studies. Congratulations to Joomi! Abstract below.

Invocation of tradition' is a popular discourse and practice in the on-going urban renewal of Islamic cities of the Arab world. Much effort is being put into the rehabilitation of the visual and tangible forms of cultural heritage over the course of the renewal. The rehabilitated architectural forms have become an important ingredient in the urban 'mis-en-scene', befitting the image of a modern Islamic city. With a case study of the Bouregreg project in Morocco, this paper criticizes this contemporary Arab urban renewal's obsession with creating an urban spectacle underlying the role of tangible forms of tradition. We argues that certain categories of tradition are actually privileged in the Project's stated strategic agenda of "revival of the glorious past" of the Bouregreg River, consequently resulting in structural negligence of others, particularly intangible ones such as local artisanship. In this inquiry, we are particularly attentive to the historical dynamics of the neighboring cities of Rabat and Salé in the River Valley. Salé, once described as 'a city of high Islamic civilization' comparable to Fez during the medieval age, has since French colonial rule descended to the status of a mere 'cite-dortoir' for Rabat. We argue that though the narrative of 'revitalization of Salé' is inscribed in the Project's agenda of cultural revival, Salé's artisans - both individuals and communities - are still caught up in a multifaceted trap of structural negligence, leaving many the city's traditional craftsmanship out of the proposed urban renewal which is now on the verge of extinction.

Plaid Avengers to be Remembered as Conscious, Plaid-Wearing

Plaid Avengers, the GAGs trivia team and 2011 champions of the McCombs Business School International Week Trivia Night declined to defend their title this year, citing organizational and scheduling issues.  The team, who cruised somewhat effortlessly to victory last year after garnering a satisfactory 88 points, will be remembered for their characteristic patterned shirts of alternating colored threads and continuous state of awareness throughout the competition. "In the moment, I don't think we realized the gravity of our achievement," recalled team alumnus Jonathan Lowell, "I mean, each of us was experiencing coherent cognitive and behavioral responses to the external world." Although the fully-conscious, tartan-clad bunch will, by default, lose their status as reigning trivia champions when the 2012 competition kicks off on Wednesday, the Plaid Avengers' legacy endures. While noting that he preferred tweed, university president Bill Powers said of the teams' 2011 victory, "[Plaid Avengers'] complete wakefulness and indisputably crisscrossed attire will not be forgotten in the relatively near future."

Students participate in Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Doctoral candidates Naya Jones and Bisola Falola co-organized and chaired two sessions at the 2012 Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference (hosted in part by the Ethnic Geography Specialty Group of AAG) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Both sessions were titled: (En)countering Space, Place, and Agency: Everyday Youth  Geographies

Naya presented: Of Soul Food and Barbacoa: Black and Latin@ Youth, Food, and Intersubjectivity

Bisola presented: Entangled Emotions: Connecting the Links between Race, Emotional Landscapes, and Youths’ Future Expectations

The sessions were well attended and had engaging discussions!

Students and faculty present at annual SWAAG meeting in Las Cruces, NM

Department of Geography and the Environment graduate students and faculty members traveled to Las Cruces, NM, last week to present their research at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SWAAG). Congratulations to the presenters for their hard work!

The Case of the Missing Laureate: The Communication Geography of the 2010 Nobel
Peace Prize; Dr. Paul Adams

Rural-to-Rural Trading in the City: Artisanal Sugarcane Liquor Commercialization in
the Northeastern Peruvian Amazon; Mario Cardozo

Spatial Analysis of Woody Species in Northwest Botswana; Thomas Christiansen

An Evolving Home: Communal Vision and Changing Livelihood in an Amazonian
Religious Community; Jonathan Lowell*

Land Cover Change in Seronga, Botswana Between 2003 and 2011; Xuebin Yang*

*denotes participation in student competitions

Graduate students at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

[in print] Recent Publications from Matt LaFevor and Niti Mishra

 Doctoral candidates Matt LaFevor and Niti Mishra have new publications available. Follow the links below for the full text of each article.

LaFevor, M. 2012. Sulphur Mining on Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano (1820-1920): Origins, Development, and Human- Environmental Challenges. Journal of Latin American Geography. 11(1): 79-98.

This paper traces the origins and development of a little-known extractive industry in nineteenth-century Mexico: volcanic sulphur mining. Unpublished documents from Mexican archives, nineteenth-century travel literature, reports from early scientific expeditions, and historical newspapers provide the bulk of data. Documents show how both Mexican and United States interests – indigenous sulphur miners (azufreros) and venture capitalists – confronted the challenges of mining sulphur from the crater of Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano, at 5,426 meters (17,802 feet) elevation.

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 LaFevor, M. 2012. Building a Colonial Resource Monopoly: The Expansion of Sulphur Mining in New Spain (1600-1820). Geographical Review. 102(2): 202-224. 

 The discovery, extraction, and monopolistic control of key natural resources was a priority of New Spain's colonial administration. Managing the region's abundant resources, however, often proved difficult for the Spanish Crown. Human and environmental challenges impeded protoindustrial growth and development, and monopolistic control of resources often met resistance. In this article I examine these processes in the context of New Spain's little-known monopoly on sulphur—a yellow, powdery mineral the Crown jealously guarded as its own.

 

 

Mishra, N. B., Crews, K. A., & Neuenschwander, A. L. (2012).Sensitivity of EVI-based harmonic regression to temporal resolution in the lower Okavango Delta. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 33(24), 7703–7726.

In this study, we examined how satellite time-series-based characterization of ecological cycles and trends is sensitive to the temporal depth and spacing of the time series and whether the observed sensitivities were cover and/or cycle specific. The results show that as the temporal depth decreases, the sensitivity to both short- and long-term ecological cycles was lost in the seasonally dynamic environment.

[event] Food for Black Thought

Fri, September 28, 2012 • 11:00 AM - 9:30 PM • The John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center

 

Critical discussions of food and the food system are on the rise in academic research, public policy, and in popular media. Organized by the Department of Geography and the Environment Doctoral student Naya Jones, Food for Black Thought (FFBT) will explore how these issues involve, impact, and engage Black populations from transdisciplinary and community-based perspectives. FFBT will explore Black experiences with food and the food system, past and present, in Austin and beyond.

The 2-day community + action symposium will take place at the Warfield Center for African and African American Studies (UT Austin) and at the George Washington Carver Cultural Center. Facilitators and presenters include youth and adults, from the University of Texas at Austin, the greater Austin community, and from across the United States.

Geographic highlights include keynote Dr. Kwate of Rutgers, who discusses urban space, access, and race in relationship to food. Roundtable speakers include UT faculty from Planning, Advertising, and American Studies (Dr. Englehardt). 

Full schedule: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/caaas/events/24115

Doctoral Students receive AAG EDGE Career Grants

Congratulations to Marina Islas and Naya Jones for receiving the 2012 AAG EDGE Careers and Outreach Grant.  They will both use the NSF funded grant to promote geography outreach and build diversity in the field.

Marina’s funds will support the Undergraduate Diversity Liaisons Project (UDLP) which aims to: 1) broaden the participation of underrepresented groups within the Department and 2) to promote geography as a declared major for undergraduates. During the upcoming year, the diversity liaisons will promote geography at orientations, give geography-related presentations to fellow undergraduates, and further develop their knowledge about the discipline.

Naya’s grant will increase the educational component of her participatory food mapping research by enabling her to support a peer facilitator and expose the youth participants to the discipline and related career paths. Her undergraduate peer facilitator will share mapping/GIS knowledge with diverse juniors and seniors from East Austin as part of the project.

AAG Annual Meeting 2013 - Call for Papers

Online registration for the AAG Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 9-13, 2013, is now open. All presenters and attendees are invited to register. Abstracts for papers and sessions are also being accepted. Abstracts are due by October 24. 

The AAG Annual Meeting is an interdisciplinary forum open to anyone with an interest in geography and related disciplines. All scholars, researchers, and students are welcome to submit abstracts for papers and presentations. 

Please take a moment to read the Call for Papers and Abstract Guidelines. 

Register to Attend

Julio Postigo was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Dissertation Award

Julio Postigo was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Dissertation Award for the study areas of Social Sciences, Business and Education. Julio began in the doctoral program in the Department of Geography & the Environment in 2007. Previously, he completed his M.A. degree in 2006 in Latin American Studies.

His dissertation is entitled “Responses of Plants, Pastoralists, and Governments to Social Environmental Changes in the Peruvian Southern Andes.” He found that the ecological and social systems in the Andes Mountains are responding not only to climate change, but also to simultaneous changes in social, economic, and political factors. The fieldwork involved vegetation sampling, household and community interviews, and analyses of governmental responses. His dissertation supervisor was Dr. Kenneth Young. The other committee members were Drs. Kelley Crews, William Doolittle, Gregory Knapp, and Camille Parmesan.

Julio continues to do research on global environmental change, as informed especially by social science and interdisciplinary approaches.The Outstanding Dissertation Award included a $3000 prize.

Abstract of his dissertation: Anthropogenic global changes are altering properties and functions of social and ecological systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In addition to climate change, the Peruvian Southern Andes has also experienced dramatic political and social change. This dissertation addresses the responses of plants, humans, communities and sub-national governments to the impacts of these changes. Methods from both the social and natural sciences were used at three levels: 1) on the forelands of the Quelccaya ice cap a chronosequence approach was used and 113 quadrats (1m2) sampled the vegetation covering an altitudinal range from 5113 to 4830 m.a.s.l.; 2) with the households of herders in the Quelcaya community surveys, interviews, participant observation, and archival research were employed; and 3) with the three Regional Governments (Arequipa, Cusco, and Puno) interviews with officials and stakeholders were conducted. The results show an upward displacement of the elevational limit of plants and a trend towards homogenization of vegetation. Warming climate, a shortened rainy season, and longer dry and cold spells are the most relevant impacts of climate change in the study area. Responses to these changes occur within households, supra-household units and communities, through dynamic institutions, traditional knowledge, and flexible polycentric social organization. These responses originate from path dependencies generated by human-environment interactions in the Peruvian Southern Andes. For instance, pastoralists increased livestock mobility within their pastures, created wetlands through irrigation, and introduced agriculture of bitter potatoes. The women agriculturalists modified the productive calendar to adjust agricultural tasks to changes in the rainfall regime; they replaced maize for wheat and fava bean, because these crops are more resistant to cold spells. Agro-pastoralists increase institutional water governance and demand infrastructure to improve efficient water use. Synergies between local and regional adaptive responses to climate change may be led by projects like building irrigation infrastructure and strengthening local resource governance, although there are also disjunctions that limit adaption. Local social ecological systems are adaptive and resilient to multi-scale social environmental disturbances by a malleable forging of former strategies to face change, innovation, polycentric social organization, and a dynamic institutional body that promptly response to change.

http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/awards/news/student-winners2012.html

Doctoral student receives residency at Center for Land Use Interpretation

Doctoral student Kathleen Shafer has received a residency at the Center for Land Use Interpretation's Wendover, Utah site. Wendover was a stop on the Western Pacific Railroad and later home to the Wendover Air Force Base which trained B-17 and B-24 bomber crews. Much of the air base remains intact. Shafer will spend one month in Wendover this October/November.

The Center operates a residence program to support the development of new interpretive methodologies and ideas. The program is open to artists, researchers, theorists, or anyone who works with land and land use issues in an innovative and engaging manner. Residents primarily work out of the CLUI facilities at Wendover, Utah, and explore and interpret the landscape of that unique and inspiring geographic region, which includes the Great Salt Lake and its desert and salt-flat environs. More information can be found at the CLUI website at http://clui.org/.

Graduate Students Receive Research Funds from the Latin American Studies Institute

Two graduate students in the Department of Geography and the Environment received Summer 2012 Research Grants from the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LILAS). Ph.D. student Josh Rudow received a grant for preliminary dissertation research in Peru. He will investigate how small- to medium-sized farmers are adapting to the effects of climate change, including unpredictable weather conditions and loss of glacier melt. Master’s student Katherine Lininger also received a grant to conduct research on floodplain processes on the Araguaia River in the Brazilian Cerrado.