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Title: Framing Climate Change: Structural Education, Individual Action.
Creator: Mullen, Casey Jo, Widener, Patricia, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Sociology
Abstract/Description: Southeast Florida is a region of the U.S. that is predicted to incur severe damage due to climate change (CC). As a result, one particular grassroots organization created a CC workshop to educate, advocate, and build resiliency locally. Social movement’s literature reveals processes of framing, resource mobilization, and organizational structure that have had successful outcomes locally while climate action literature argues that civil society has been ineffective at creating significant...
Show moreSoutheast Florida is a region of the U.S. that is predicted to incur severe damage due to climate change (CC). As a result, one particular grassroots organization created a CC workshop to educate, advocate, and build resiliency locally. Social movement’s literature reveals processes of framing, resource mobilization, and organizational structure that have had successful outcomes locally while climate action literature argues that civil society has been ineffective at creating significant impacts on the global scale of climate policy. In order to expand this literature further, I conducted a research project to examine how different frames presented in CC education influence climate actions in the Southeast Florida region. Using qualitative research methods of participant observations and interviews, my analysis of the data collected suggests that organizers of the workshop used an environmental and climate justice narrative along with a collective action framework, relying on three master frames of place, justice, and power to educate members on CC. Amongst the prognoses presented to members during the education were climate action solutions primarily within the meso (community/civic engagement) level to create structural change within the region. I found that participants interpreted CC to be an issue of 2 places in Southeast Florida, one on the coast and one inland and, thus, depending on which region participants lived, their level of climate action was affected, whether at the individual or community/civic level. Therefore, some participants focused on individual behavioral and household consumer tactics, while other participants worked on community building and creating structural change. Given the unsuccessful nature of local organizations at impacting global climate negotiations and the goal of social movement processes to create change within societal structures, this case study contributes to the growing body of knowledge regarding the influence of climate education on climate actions.
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Date Issued: 2018
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005984
Subject Headings: Climate change, Climatic changes--Florida
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Reimagining Climate Change: Visualizing the Future of Sustainability.
Creator: Dowis, Kaitlin, Afanador-Llach, Camila, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Visual Arts and Art History, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: The world’s path to climate change is inevitable. Activists and legislators, all around the world, are actively working to slow down this process or stop changes. Technology is moving toward a sustainable future of renewable energy and resources to lighten the impact that the human population has on the climate. Whether or not these efforts will slow down the changing climate is unknown, but the world’s scientists, engineers, and designers are preparing for any scenario that comes our way....
Show moreThe world’s path to climate change is inevitable. Activists and legislators, all around the world, are actively working to slow down this process or stop changes. Technology is moving toward a sustainable future of renewable energy and resources to lighten the impact that the human population has on the climate. Whether or not these efforts will slow down the changing climate is unknown, but the world’s scientists, engineers, and designers are preparing for any scenario that comes our way. This thesis uses graphic design to visualize the future of humanity adapting to climate change. Topics that are explored include controlled-environment agriculture, vertical farming, sustainable food production, advancements in the medical industry, advancements in transportation, and sustainable energy production. These elements will come together, in my projects, to visualize one possible future of living in Arizona, where living conditions have become inhospitable for life as we know today.
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Date Issued: 2020
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013557
Subject Headings: Climate Change, Sustainability, Visualization
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Foraminifera Archaias angulatus and Amphistegina spp. as possible indicator species of ocean acidification and temperature increase.
Creator: Davis, Edward, Brooks, W. Randy, Graduate College
Date Issued: 2011-04-08
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3172433
Subject Headings: Climatic changes, Marine fauna, Calcification
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE MANTEÑO OF BOLA DE ORO: PAST HUMAN RESILIENCY TO CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH REMOTE SENSING, EXCAVATION, AND CHRONOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF LANDSCAPE MODIFICATIONS.
Creator: Garzón-Oechsle, Andrés E., Johanson, Erik, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: The term "collapse" has become a widely used term that oversimplifies the intricate histories of human-environment interactions. It has contributed to the belief that civilizations in the Americas and the tropics could not endure over time. However, the Manteño civilization of the Ecuadorian coast challenges this notion. Flourishing for a thousand years (ca. 650–1700 CE), the Manteños inhabited the neotropics at the gates of one of the world's most influential climatic forces, the El Niño...
Show moreThe term "collapse" has become a widely used term that oversimplifies the intricate histories of human-environment interactions. It has contributed to the belief that civilizations in the Americas and the tropics could not endure over time. However, the Manteño civilization of the Ecuadorian coast challenges this notion. Flourishing for a thousand years (ca. 650–1700 CE), the Manteños inhabited the neotropics at the gates of one of the world's most influential climatic forces, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). To thrive, the Manteños needed to navigate the extremes of ENSO during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, ca. 950–1250 CE) and the Little Ice Age (LIA, ca. 1400–1700 CE) while capitalizing on ENSO's milder phases. This research uses change detection analysis of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) on Landsat satellite imagery under various ENSO conditions from 1986 to 2020 in southern Manabí, where the 16th-century Manteño territory of Salangome was situated. The findings indicate that the cloud forests found in the highest elevations of the Chongón-Colonche Mountains provide the most resilient environment in the region to adapt to a changing climate. Further investigations of the cloud forest of the Bola de Oro Mountain using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) equipped with LiDAR, ground-truthing, and excavation uncovered a landscape shaped by the Manteños.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014225
Subject Headings: Climate change, Remote sensing, Archaeology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: IDENTIFYING AREAS AT RISK OF CLIMATE GENTRIFICATION IN TAMPA CITY.
Creator: Ramirez, David Alexander, Zhang, Caiyun, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Gentrification describes rapid infrastructure development and investment in areas with lower income classes. It may cause potential erasure of the original neighborhood's unique culture and the displacement of residents. Due to rising sea levels and the increase in the frequency and intensity of storms, the inundation of Florida will increase as time passes. This creates an ironic relationship where historical coastal areas inhabited by an affluent population will move inland to historically...
Show moreGentrification describes rapid infrastructure development and investment in areas with lower income classes. It may cause potential erasure of the original neighborhood's unique culture and the displacement of residents. Due to rising sea levels and the increase in the frequency and intensity of storms, the inundation of Florida will increase as time passes. This creates an ironic relationship where historical coastal areas inhabited by an affluent population will move inland to historically lower-income populations. This thesis developed a Climate Gentrification Index (CGI) to identify areas at risk of gentrification caused by inundation of storm scenarios in Tampa City, Florida. Socioeconomic data and inundation data produced from a hydrological model were combined to define CGI and areas with high risk were mapped and discussed.
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Date Issued: 2024
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014397
Subject Headings: Gentrification, Tampa (Fla.), Climate change
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S CLIMATE CHANGE: ANALYZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE ANXIETY (CCA) IN SOUTH FLORIDA.
Creator: Mascheri, Megan M., Polsky, Colin, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: South Florida is at the frontlines of climate change impacts. Facing increases in heat waves, flooding, and intensity of storms, climate change has direct detriments on the residents of this region. This research examines the evidence of Climate Change Anxiety (CCA) within Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties. Using the CCA instrument developed by Susan Clayton and Bryan Karazsia in 2020, this study replicates analyses of variables conducted in prior research on the national...
Show moreSouth Florida is at the frontlines of climate change impacts. Facing increases in heat waves, flooding, and intensity of storms, climate change has direct detriments on the residents of this region. This research examines the evidence of Climate Change Anxiety (CCA) within Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties. Using the CCA instrument developed by Susan Clayton and Bryan Karazsia in 2020, this study replicates analyses of variables conducted in prior research on the national level. This research found South Floridians are experiencing moderate levels of anxiety caused by climate change. Additionally, significant relationships exist between CCA and newly examined variables such as family situations, politics, and sociological perceptions. Sociological perceptions such as identities described in Dan Kahan’s Cultural Cognition Theory help us understand how having different views of society and life may alter how an individual is affected by CCA.
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Date Issued: 2024
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014470
Subject Headings: Climate change, Florida, South, Anxiety
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: CLIMATE CHANGE AND OCEAN ACIDIFICATION EFFECTS ON TROPICAL REEF MACROALGAE.
Creator: McNicholl, Conall, Koch, Marguerite S., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Biological Sciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Tropical marine macroalgae perform an essential role in coral reef function and health, however, their persistence in a rapidly changing ocean remains uncertain. The rise in sea surface temperatures and decrease in pH (ocean acidification = OA) are predicted to have damaging effects on marine calcifiers. Calcifying macroalgae have varied, often negative, responses to these conditions, however our lack of understanding about the mechanisms involved with calcification prevent us from...
Show moreTropical marine macroalgae perform an essential role in coral reef function and health, however, their persistence in a rapidly changing ocean remains uncertain. The rise in sea surface temperatures and decrease in pH (ocean acidification = OA) are predicted to have damaging effects on marine calcifiers. Calcifying macroalgae have varied, often negative, responses to these conditions, however our lack of understanding about the mechanisms involved with calcification prevent us from interpreting these results fully. Thus, I conducted a series of experiments on five calcifying species, utilizing microsensors, radioisotopes, and mesocosms, in an attempt to define biotic and abiotic mechanisms involved in calcification and dissolution under OA. Microsensor work demonstrated that all species elevate the thalli surface pH 2-3X higher under OA, which promoted calcification. The use of a photosynthetic inhibitor revealed species-specific light-triggered thalli pH control that stimulated calcification, indicating strong biotic control over calcification. When exposed to OA conditions, stronger organismal control over calcification was shown to maintain calcification in the light. A major gap in our understanding of calcification under OA is whether it affects organismal capacity to form new calcium carbonate, or if dissolution occurs, reducing calcification rates. Using radioisotopes, I found that the ability to form new calcium carbonate under OA in the light was not affected in any species. This suggested that species with reduced net calcification were actually experiencing dissolution. This study also highlighted that all species were experiencing dissolution in the dark under OA. Finally, in a short-term growth experiment, I examined the combined effects of OA and increased temperature and found complex responses in species that are negatively affected by OA. This included a crustose coralline that appears to have an additive negative effect where temperature enhances the effect of OA but also a species that exhibited a negative effect which was evidently offset with increased temperature. Here, I define distinct abiotic (light, temperature, dissolution) and biotic (proton pump & photosynthesis), that are essential for understanding macroalgae persistence on future coral reefs.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013397
Subject Headings: Coral reefs, Seaweed, Climate Change, Ocean acidification
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Very Useful Notion: A Rhetorical History of the Idea of Human-Made Climate Change, 1950-2000.
Creator: Brooten, Gary, Marin, Noemi, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This dissertation tests an original hybrid methodology to explore the rapid spread of the idea of human-made climate change that began in the 1950s after the idea had lain dormant for half a century. It describes the 1950s rhetorical events that triggered the idea’s diffusion, then traces how its rhetorical uses gradually gave root to the end-of-thecentury political impasse over how to respond to the societal implications of the idea. The research methodology rests on the simple logic that an...
Show moreThis dissertation tests an original hybrid methodology to explore the rapid spread of the idea of human-made climate change that began in the 1950s after the idea had lain dormant for half a century. It describes the 1950s rhetorical events that triggered the idea’s diffusion, then traces how its rhetorical uses gradually gave root to the end-of-thecentury political impasse over how to respond to the societal implications of the idea. The research methodology rests on the simple logic that an idea can only spread by being used in human discourses. It combines traditions of rhetorical historiography with a philosophical view of intellectual history as the cumulative effect of a “natural selection” of ideas and their spread by human individuals over time and geography. It calls for sampling and analyzing rhetorical artifacts in light of the rhetorical situations in which they originate, focusing on how the idea of human-made climate change is used rhetorically in scientific and other discourses. The analyses form the basis of a narrative giving emphasis both to rhetorical continuities and to conversation-changing rhetorical events. They also show how these rhetorical dynamics involve interactions of human communities using or attacking the idea for their communal purposes. The results challenge science-focused understandings of the history of the idea itself and also suggest that the methodology may be more broadly useful. As to the history, the analyses highlight how changes in the rhetorical uses of the idea made possible its 1950s breakout in climate science, then led to uses that spread it into other sciences and into environmentalism in the 1960s, attached it to apocalyptic environmentalism in the 1970s, injected it into partisan politics in 1980s and shaped the political impasse during the 1990s. The data show that the methodology reveals elements of the discourses missed in histories emphasizing the “power of ideas,” suggesting that a focus on the usefulness of ideas may be more fruitful. A focus on rhetorical uses of ideas grounds the causation of intellectual change in human motivation and agency, expressed in material acts that multiply and disperse naturally through communities and populations.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004691, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004691
Subject Headings: Climate change mitigation, Climatic changes -- Philosophy, Climatic changes -- Social aspects, Global environmental change, Human beings -- Effect of climate on, Rhetorical criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY ON BASEFLOWS.
Creator: Chen, Hao, Teegavarapu, Ramesh S. V., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Baseflow is the portion of the streamflow that is sustained between precipitation events, fed to streams by delayed pathways. Baseflow estimation and evaluation are two critical and essential tasks for water quality and quantity, drought management, water supply, and groundwater protection. In this research study, the influences of climate change and variability on baseflow derived from hundreds of watersheds in the continental United States are evaluated. Baseflows are estimated using...
Show moreBaseflow is the portion of the streamflow that is sustained between precipitation events, fed to streams by delayed pathways. Baseflow estimation and evaluation are two critical and essential tasks for water quality and quantity, drought management, water supply, and groundwater protection. In this research study, the influences of climate change and variability on baseflow derived from hundreds of watersheds in the continental United States are evaluated. Baseflows are estimated using streamflow data from these watersheds that are least affected by anthropogenic influences. In the initial phase of the study, an exhaustive evaluation of four different baseflow separation methods is carried out using streamflow data at several sites from the South Atlantic-Gulf region which includes a geographical region comprising of nine states in the southeastern U.S. Baseflows are estimated at different temporal scales and are used to assess the performances of different methods over a 44-year period starting from the year 1970 and the best method among these methods is selected for further analysis. Assessments of climate change influence on baseflows are then carried out using two nonparametric statistical trend tests (viz., Spearman’s Rho (SR) and Mann-Kendall (MK)). Trends in baseflows are evaluated at 574 sites located within the watersheds in the U.S. that are known to be least impacted by human influences. Trends were determined for annual maximum, mean, and median baseflows for the period 1970-2013. Spatially non-uniform trends and changes in characteristics of baseflows and strong influences of past precipitation events on the baseflow extremes were noted across the continental U.S. Some regions have shown decreasing baseflow trends and these are cause for concern and have severe implications for drought mitigation plans and low-flow management strategies in several watersheds in the U.S. In the final phase of the study influences of climate variability on baseflow manifested through different phases of individual and coupled oceanic and atmospheric oscillations are evaluated. Baseflows at 574 sites separated by temporal windows that coincide with two or more phases of different decadal, quasi-decadal and multi-year oscillations (viz., Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), and El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO)) are evaluated for statistically significant changes using nonparametric statistical hypothesis tests. Results from the study indicate that unlike climate change influences, climate variability effects are noted only in few specific physiographic regions of the U.S. This study documents an exhaustive and comprehensive assessment of changes in baseflows due to changing climate and results from this work can aid in short- and long-term management of low flows at a regional level that supports sustainable aquatic environment and handle droughts effectively.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013366
Subject Headings: Climatic changes, Streamflow, Base flow (Hydrology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: SPATIOTEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF THE FLORIDA BAY ECOSYSTEM IN RELATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND EVERGLADES RESTORATION.
Creator: Smith, Mason J., Markwith, Scott H., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: One of the largest restoration programs in the world, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) aims to restore freshwater flows to the Everglades and Florida Bay estuary. Coupled with climate change, future changes from restoration highlight the need to implement an ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) approach in Florida Bay. The Ecopath framework was used to develop and apply a mass-balanced food web model to the spatiotemporal dynamics of hydrological restoration and...
Show moreOne of the largest restoration programs in the world, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) aims to restore freshwater flows to the Everglades and Florida Bay estuary. Coupled with climate change, future changes from restoration highlight the need to implement an ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) approach in Florida Bay. The Ecopath framework was used to develop and apply a mass-balanced food web model to the spatiotemporal dynamics of hydrological restoration and climate change through time. Results suggest Florida Bay is stabilized through large detrital energy pathways and low nutrient inputs, but subject to species distribution shifts due primarily to sea-level rise and salinity variation. A suite of winners and losers predicted provide an opportunity to ensure management strategies are designed appropriately to best achieve desired results for the future of the Florida Bay ecosystem.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013913
Subject Headings: Florida Bay (Fla.), Restoration ecology, Climate change
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF THERMAL ANOMALIES ON CORAL REEF BENTHIC COMPETITIVE INTERACTIONS.
Creator: Spagnolia, Christopher T., Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Marine Science and Oceanography, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Climate change has intensified thermal anomalies in coral reef ecosystems, contributing to coral bleaching and decline. As corals die, reef fragmentation increases, and species interactions in the benthos change. However, it is unclear which competitive interactions may prevail and structure future reef ecosystems. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of thermal anomalies on coral reef benthic competitive interactions. Photoquadrats in southeast Florida reef sites were assessed...
Show moreClimate change has intensified thermal anomalies in coral reef ecosystems, contributing to coral bleaching and decline. As corals die, reef fragmentation increases, and species interactions in the benthos change. However, it is unclear which competitive interactions may prevail and structure future reef ecosystems. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of thermal anomalies on coral reef benthic competitive interactions. Photoquadrats in southeast Florida reef sites were assessed over 15-years to generate interaction metrics and determine effects on hard coral survivorship. A state-transition model was created to predict the resultant community across 100 years with thermal scenarios concordant with the IPCC RCP 4.5 and 8.5. Interaction doubled across three thermal anomaly events and ended up mainly composed of pairwise examples between Dictyota, Halimeda, Niphates erecta, and Erythropodium caribaeorum. Century projections confirm that soft coral and sponge interactions will increase through thermal anomalies. The survival of hard corals was more successful when colonies were in permanent or intermittent interactions than when colonies were solitary (indirect interactions). Living hard corals were mostly found interacting with the macroalgae, Dictyota, and sponge Aplysina cauliformis, while corals that died were mainly in interactions with the soft coral E. caribaeorum, and sponges N. erecta, C. delitrix, D. anchorata, and Ircinia campana. Future reefs will be composed of more interactions between soft corals and sponges as thermal anomalies intensify, which will result in a patchier and flatter community.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014257
Subject Headings: Coral reef ecology, Climate change, Benthic ecology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Climate Gentrification and Resilience: A Critical Discourse Analysis.
Creator: Hoermann, Serena A., Sapat, Alka K., Florida Atlantic University, School of Public Administration, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: As cities respond to accelerating climate impacts, scholars have identified climate gentrification as a phenomenon exerting displacement pressures on low-income communities, including ethnic enclaves. While climate gentrification pathways literature primarily addresses economic causes and effects, an opportunity exists to better understand policy contributions and social impacts surrounding resilience and displacement. For this dissertation project, I expanded the concept of climate...
Show moreAs cities respond to accelerating climate impacts, scholars have identified climate gentrification as a phenomenon exerting displacement pressures on low-income communities, including ethnic enclaves. While climate gentrification pathways literature primarily addresses economic causes and effects, an opportunity exists to better understand policy contributions and social impacts surrounding resilience and displacement. For this dissertation project, I expanded the concept of climate gentrification pathways to examine connections between displacement, resilience strategies, and urban planning. Using an interpretive approach, I explored how an ethnic enclave experienced and responded to displacement pressures, especially regarding social impacts related to (climate) gentrification. In addition, this project compared resilience and planning policies and strategies discourse with community discourse related to climate gentrification.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014329
Subject Headings: Climate change, Urban planning, City planning
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Climate change impacts on the secondary metabolite production in Caribbean coral reef sponges.
Creator: Vansach, Tifanie, Duckworth, Alan R., Hard, M., Stubler, A., West, Lyndon, Graduate College
Date Issued: 2011-04-08
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3164802
Subject Headings: Climatic changes --Environmental aspects, Metabolism, Sponges --Caribbean Sea
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Mortality of freshwater-acclimated Litopenaeus vannamei associated with acclimation rate, habituation period, and ionic challenge.
Creator: McGraw, William J., Scarpa, John
Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FCLA/DT/2848317
Subject Headings: Climatic changes, Habituation (Neuropsychology), Ions --Congresses, Shrimp culture, Aquaculture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Burial Marks and Growth Records of a Massive Coral Pseudodiploria Strigosa as a Proxy for Severe Weather Events in Late Holocene.
Creator: Olson, Mark, Oleinik, Anton, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Geosciences
Abstract/Description: Severe weather events that accompany climatic changes have been the main focus of many studies that want to highlight the large processes that surround us every day. These studies are based on years of data collection and other studies to help aid their pursuits. An area of major focus is identifying proxies and supplementary materials that help refine climate records of the geologic past. This study aims to identify reliable proxies for obtaining a record of severe weather events. The...
Show moreSevere weather events that accompany climatic changes have been the main focus of many studies that want to highlight the large processes that surround us every day. These studies are based on years of data collection and other studies to help aid their pursuits. An area of major focus is identifying proxies and supplementary materials that help refine climate records of the geologic past. This study aims to identify reliable proxies for obtaining a record of severe weather events. The research consists of studying a coral species Pseudodiploria strigosa colonies with the goal to document, interpret, and describe the burial and re-exposure of massive coral colonies by severe storm or hurricane events, as recorded in coral growth patterns through density patterns and the analysis of CT-scanned coral specimens.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013249
Subject Headings: Coral colonies, Paleoclimatology--Holocene, Climatic changes, Severe storms
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Real Effects of Shareholder Proposals: Purpose in the Context of Climate Change.
Creator: Tindall, Greg, Javakhadze, David, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Finance, College of Business
Abstract/Description: Extant literature has struggled to identify definitive purpose for shareholder proposals, finding them to depend on their context. Progressively, climate change has gathered interest at annual meetings where shareholders present proposals related to the subject. The literature builds expectations for the role of obsolescence, regulation and other forms of activism to motivate innovation with respect to these proposals. The literature also establishes how diversification can serve as a defense...
Show moreExtant literature has struggled to identify definitive purpose for shareholder proposals, finding them to depend on their context. Progressively, climate change has gathered interest at annual meetings where shareholders present proposals related to the subject. The literature builds expectations for the role of obsolescence, regulation and other forms of activism to motivate innovation with respect to these proposals. The literature also establishes how diversification can serve as a defense. I test the impact that shareholder proposals have on the information environment and on the corporate behaviors of innovation and diversification. I find that capital markets are responsive to proposal pressures and that there are improvements in the information environment. I find that firms in receipt of shareholder proposals related to climate change innovate and diversify more. I find wealth enhancements for these corporate behaviors spurred by climate-related proposals. While definitive statements on causality may elude, my results suggest that shareholder proposals have real effects.
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Date Issued: 2020
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013437
Subject Headings: Corporations--Investor relations, Shareholder proposals, Climatic changes
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: VEGETATION DYNAMICS AT DIFFERENT SPATIO-TEMPORAL SCALES IN FREQUENTLY BURNED MIXED CONIFER FORESTS, NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA RANGE, CALIFORNIA.
Creator: Paudel, Asha, Markwith, Scott H., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Mixed conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada, California, face threats from frequent highseverity fire associated with climate change and fuel accumulation leading to vegetation shifts at local and landscape scales. Under rapid climate change, a clear understanding of how vegetation responds to single and/or repeated wildfires is still lacking and needs to be investigated. Using field and satellite data, the effects of wildfire on vegetation dynamics were explored at the plot and landscape...
Show moreMixed conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada, California, face threats from frequent highseverity fire associated with climate change and fuel accumulation leading to vegetation shifts at local and landscape scales. Under rapid climate change, a clear understanding of how vegetation responds to single and/or repeated wildfires is still lacking and needs to be investigated. Using field and satellite data, the effects of wildfire on vegetation dynamics were explored at the plot and landscape levels in this dissertation project. Results from the field data suggest that management activities may be required in high-severity burned areas to restore dominance of mixed conifer forests and regain historical species composition in areas where live trees persist. Results from satellite data suggested that large shrub patches, created after mixed severity fire, fragment the homogenous mixed conifer dominated forest of the Sierra Nevada to create a more heterogeneous landscape, however the extent of diversity and fragmentation were dependent on fire severity and scales. Natural wildfires may restore landscape heterogeneity to conditions equivalent to the pre-Columbian era, but effects under the projected climate change scenario for 21st century remain uncertain. Mixed conifer dominated forests are predicted to be the dominant component of the Sierra Nevada landscape under historical fire probabilities and excluding higher probability of high-severity fire over the next 100 years.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013966
Subject Headings: Vegetation dynamics, Climate change, Fire ecology, Wildfires--Management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: REEF WARS: MONITORING AND PREDICTING PHASE SHIFTS ON FLORIDA CORAL REEFS.
Creator: Conkling, Megan, Pomponi, Shirley A., Hindle, Tobin, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Reefs off the coast of Florida face threats from stressors associated with climate change which leads to phase shifts. Under rapid climate change, a clear understanding of how reefs and their benthic organisms respond is still lacking and needs to be investigated. Using in situ imagery, a sponge cell model, and long-term benthic biota surveys, the effects of climate change on reef dynamics were explored in this dissertation project. Results from the in situ imagery found that differences in...
Show moreReefs off the coast of Florida face threats from stressors associated with climate change which leads to phase shifts. Under rapid climate change, a clear understanding of how reefs and their benthic organisms respond is still lacking and needs to be investigated. Using in situ imagery, a sponge cell model, and long-term benthic biota surveys, the effects of climate change on reef dynamics were explored in this dissertation project. Results from the in situ imagery found that differences in spectral signatures are found between functional groups (i.e., corals, sponges, and algae) and different species from substrate. Results based on a sponge cell model and transcriptomics data have found a resilience of these sponges to the predicted thermal extremes. Results from benthic biota surveys suggested that depth and light attenuation have the largest influence on the predicted distribution of corals, sponges, and algae at Pulley Ridge. Climate change has been impacting reef benthic biota starting at the organismal scale up to the reef scale. This research demonstrates the importance of monitoring reefs at a finer scale and determining the thresholds and limits of benthic biota to projected thermal extremes to better inform resource managers to preserve these irreplaceable ecosystems.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014323
Subject Headings: Reefs--Florida, Climate change, Coral reef ecology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Advanced methods in sea level rise vulnerability assessment.
Creator: Romah, Thomas., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
Abstract/Description: Increasing sea levels have the potential to place important portions of the infrastructure we rely on every day at risk. The transportation infrastructure relies on roads, airports, and seaports to move people, services, and goods around in an ever connected global economy. Any disturbances of the transportation modes have reverberating effects throughout the entire economic spectrum. The effects include delays, alterations of routes, and possible changes in the origin and destinations of...
Show moreIncreasing sea levels have the potential to place important portions of the infrastructure we rely on every day at risk. The transportation infrastructure relies on roads, airports, and seaports to move people, services, and goods around in an ever connected global economy. Any disturbances of the transportation modes have reverberating effects throughout the entire economic spectrum. The effects include delays, alterations of routes, and possible changes in the origin and destinations of services and goods. The purpose of this project is to develop an improved methodology for a sea level rise scenario vulnerability assessment model. This new model uses the groundwater elevation as a limiting factor for soil storage capacity in determining previously underestimated areas of vulnerability. The hope is that early identification of vulnerability will allow planners and government officials an opportunity to identify and either remediate or create alternative solutions for vulnerable land areas before high consequence impacts are felt.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358965
Subject Headings: Sea level, Environmental aspects, Coastal zone management, Sea level, Climactic factors, Climate change mitigation, Climatic changes, Risk management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Streamflow extremes and climate variability in Southeastern United States.
Creator: Bobsein, Jenna, Teegavarapu, Ramesh, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
Abstract/Description: Trends in streamflow extremes at a regional scale linked to the possible influences of four major oceanic-atmospheric oscillations are analyzed in this study. Oscillations considered include: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The main emphasis is low flows in the South-Atlantic Gulf region of the United States. Several standard drought indices of low flow extremes during two...
Show moreTrends in streamflow extremes at a regional scale linked to the possible influences of four major oceanic-atmospheric oscillations are analyzed in this study. Oscillations considered include: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The main emphasis is low flows in the South-Atlantic Gulf region of the United States. Several standard drought indices of low flow extremes during two different phases (warm/positive and cool/negative) of these oscillations are evaluated. Long-term streamflow data at 43 USGS sites in the region from the Hydro-Climatic Data Network that are least affected by anthropogenic influences are used for analysis. Results show that for ENSO, low flow indices were more likely to occur during La Niña phase; however, longer deficits were more likely during El Niño phase. Results also show that for PDO (AMO), all (most) low flow indices occur during the cool (warm) phase.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004348, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004348
Subject Headings: Atmospheric physics -- Statistical methods, Climate change mitigation, Climatic changes -- Measurement, Hydrology, Mathematical statistics, Maxima and minima, Stream measurement
Format: Document (PDF)

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