UW Geography Senior Honors Theses
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Remote Sensing Analysis of the Relationship between Sand Dune Topography and Vegetation Response to Varying Precipitation in the Central Great Plains
(2023)The Central Great Plains is a premier site of sand dune landscapes. These sand dunes are largely covered by native vegetation and as a result, are often used for livestock grazing. The beef industry is an important sector ... -
Settlement Colonialism: ANCSA, the Willow Project, and Colonial-Capitalism in Alaska’s North Slope
(2023)I. Introduction The Willow Oil project is a recently-approved oil development project on the North Slope of Alaska. The project exists on a large piece of land settlers refer to as “the National Petroleum Reserve,” which ... -
Learning Through Map-Making: A Cartographic Exploration of Environmental Education
(2023)1.1. Context: Intersection of Environment Education and map-making Environmental Education (EE) is an established yet evolving discipline, with an increasing importance given the current climate emergency. First officially ... -
Exploring the Political Ecology of a Proposed CAFO within the Driftless area of Southwest Wisconsin
(2022)Plans for what could become the largest hog confinement facility in Wisconsin have created divides over the future of a rural community within the Driftless region of Crawford County. This concentrated animal feeding ... -
Aging in Place: An Analysis of Land Use Accessibility in Madison, WI
(2021)Introduction: Americans are living longer than they ever have before. By 2060, there are expected to be 98 million Americans aged 65 and over, twice as many as there were in 2015. Additionally, the 85+ population, which ... -
Living with Coyotes; Madison Citizens’ Experiences and Attitudes
(2019)The prevalence of some wildlife species in urban areas draws attention from ecologists and social scholars, alike, especially for controversial species like the coyote (Canis latrans). Geographers investigate urban citizens’ ... -
Terra Nullius and Boxing Crocodiles: Colonialism in the Kitsch
(2020-05-20)Early cartographers imagined Australia to be a mythological continent on the other side of the world full of strange creatures. Driving across the landscape today, one is still bound to run into something surreal; be it a ... -
Changes in Nitrogen Cycling During Tropical Forest Secondary Succession on Abandoned Pastures
(2018-05-03)Nitrogen (N) plays two important roles in Earth's climate. As a plant nutrient, the availability of N affects plant growth and the uptake of carbon (C) from the atmosphere into plant biomass. The accumulation of C in ... -
„Wer darf Deutsch sein?”: the Racialization and Integration of Refugees in Germany
(2018-05)This thesis addresses problems with the integration of refugees in Germany, specifically focusing on refugees as the constitutive other to a popularly perceived white German identity. The purpose of this thesis is to ... -
Sustainable Subjects: an Investigation of the Production of Subjectivities in San Francisco de Coyote, Costa Rica
(2017)Over the past decade, the fishers of San Francisco de Coyote, Costa Rica have experienced significant changes to the management of their coastal fishery. In 2006 and 2009, two Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) were created, ... -
Interaction of Human Settlement, Vegetation Patterns and Soils in the Northern Minnesota Prairie-Forest Region from the Euro-American Settlement Era to Present
(2017)From studying pollen and charcoal in lake sediments, scientists have reconstructed the past climate, fire frequency, and intensity as well as the vegetation patterns in the state of Minnesota. They concluded that the climate ... -
Madison, Wisconsin: the Danger of Liberal Havens an Analysis of Neighborhood Formation
(2017-05)To better explore the question of Madison as a liberal haven, I have chosen to study the low-income, minority neighborhood of South Madison. Due to Madison’s large white population, there is little inter-racial mixing in ... -
Evaluating Repatriation as a Durable Solution to Burundi’s Protracted Refugee Situation
(2018)Repatriation, or the return of refugees to their countries of origin, has taken precedence as a durable solution to protracted refugee situations (PRS). Repatriation is the most common solution to refugee cases, but modern, ... -
Do Seed Traits Mediate Plant Community Changes in Wisconsin's Unburned Prairies?
(2016-05)Historically, both natural and human-induced fires have played a key role in North American prairies, providing a disturbance regime that grassland systems are adapted to. With human activity fragmenting these prairies at ... -
(Un) Fixing Biodiversity: Nature, State, and the Techno-politics of Offsetting in the United Kingdom
(2015-05-10)In this thesis I examine the United Kingdom's biodiversity offsetting program. Offsetting is a new form of "market-based" conservation and an attempt by environmentalists and bureaucrats to "sell nature to save it". Critics ... -
The Effect of Consumers' Lifestyle on Trade Area Size -- A Study of TESCO in Ireland and the Czech Republic
(2014-05-05)Trade area size is a fundamental element in retail location analysis. Current theories about trade size calculate the size mostly from total population, store size and industry competition. However consumer lifestyle may ... -
Developing Community in the Garden: the Spatial Relationships of Socialization in the Sheboygan Community Garden
(2012)This study seeks to understand how the spatial dimensions of the garden relate to the social interactions in the Sheboygan Community Garden (SCG). Social interactions are the building blocks for community development in ... -
Assessment of Habitat and Wildlife Density in Community Wildlife Sanctuaries Amboseli Ecosystem, Kenya
(2013)Community wildlife sanctuaries within the Amboseli ecosystem serve as a wildlife corridor for migratory species from Amboseli National Park. The sanctuaries are community-based conservation areas that provide wildlife with ... -
Recreating the Social Environment of Salmon Beach: An Analysis of the Salmon Beach Community and Applications Within the Field of Urban Design
(2011-05-01)Salmon Beach is a community in Tacoma, Washington that remains relatively hidden and unheard of, even to the local population. To get to this community, one must first find the unmarked entrance, which looks more like an ... -
The Role of Government in the Olympic Games: A Comparative Study of the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics
(2011-01-06)The Olympic games have always been the major sports events that draw the attention from the audience, the media and the academics. Every four years, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chooses a city among four to ...