Examples of Student Work
*Note: All Theses are available online through CEDAR via Western Library. Older theses are also available via CEDAR.
Recent (Last 2-Years) Thesis Titles - Environmental Science
Sara J. Cendejas-Zarelli, The effect of large woody debris, direct seeding, and distance from the forest edge on species composition on novel terraces following dam removal on the Elwha River, WA.
Natalie Coleman, Partner preference in the intertidal: possible benefits of ocean acidification to sea anemone-algal symbiosis
Julia Tatum, Lidar-Based Riparian Forest Assessment of the Nooksack River, Washington
Octavio Cruz, Clam garden bivalve dietary responses and trophic shifts in relation to environment
Eric J. Lawrence, Incorporating Climate Change Predictions in Ecological Risk Assessment: A Bayesian Network Relative Risk Model for Chinook Salmon in the Skagit River Watershed
Margaret Taylor, Spatial and temporal trends of the annual first detections of Paralytic Shellfish Toxin in Puget Sound, WA
Caroline J. Walls, The Effectiveness of Large Woody Debris Placement at Improving Freshwater Rearing Habitat and Enhancing Juvenile Salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) Production
Erika Whitney, Can arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi protect Rubus idaeus from the effects of soil-borne disease and parasitic nematodes?
Recent Thesis Titles (Last 2-Years) - Environmental Studies/*Environmental Education
Andrew Basabe, Vamos Outdoors Project’s Innovative Schools Based Programs During COVID-19: Program Assessment
Aline C. de Oliveira Machado Prata, How Science Policies Influence Ecological User-Engaged Research in Brazil and Peru?
Kristen Doering, Public Lands and Climate Change: An Evaluation of the North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership
Andrea Gemme, Assessing energy justice: The case of Xwe’chi’eXen, Cherry Point
Jennifer Hahn, Edible Seaweeds of the Salish Sea: Contaminant Levels and Comparison with Common Foods
Sarah K. Parker, Community Perspectives Regarding Building Electrification as a Climate Mitigation Strategy in Bellingham, WA: A Q-Study
Katherine Welch, Creating a Comprehensive Western American/Canadian Fire Dataset, 1880-2018
* Ali Burdick, Sun, Sand, & Afternoon Showers: Creating nature-based, outdoor classroom curriculum for a central florida preschool
Hannah Drummond, Metrics of shoreline armoring impacts on beach morphology in the Salish Sea, WA
* Amy L. Fitkin, Land, Body, Liberation: An Ecofeminist Pedagogical Approach to Place-Based Education
Katherine Galambos, Applying the United States Forest Service National Framework for Sustainable Recreation to the Entiat Ranger District: From Theory to Implementation,
Ben Hagedorn, Conifer establishment and encroachment on subalpine meadows around Mt. Baker, WA
Riley Hine, Water Resources on the Pacific Crest Trail: Thru-Hiker Experiences and Alternate Water Sources in 2019
* Sarah R. (Sarah Rose) Olson, Interdisciplinary Interspecies Pedagogies for Educating in the Anthropocene: Bringing Critical Animal Studies to Huxley College of the Environment
Patrick Shive, Electrification and Decarbonization for Mid-sized Municipalities: A Case-study Marginal Abatement Cost Analysis
Kayanne J. Sullivan, A Case Study of a Moderate-Sale Small Family Farm in King County, Washington: An Example of Social Capital, Socioemotional Wealth in the Context of Civic Agriculture
Monica A. Villegas, Dendrochronological Assessment of the Easton Glacier's Terminus Position Over the Last 150 Years
Rebecca A. Williams, Textile Recycling: The Influence of Moral Licensing on the Overconsumption of Clothing
Presentations at Professional and Scientific Meetings
Pruitt, C. Ecological benefits and commercial practicality of California sea cucumber below Mediterranean blue mussel aquaculture. Western Society of Naturalists, 2020.
Coleman, N. Partner preference in the intertidal: possible benefits of ocean acidification to sea anemone-algal symbiosis. Western Society of Naturalists, 2020.
Beck, R. Response of the symbiotic sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima to microplastics (with Robert Beck). Western Society of Naturalists, 2020.
Darby, K.J. and R. Youngberg. (2021) Uprooting colonialism and white supremacy: A critical interrogation of conservation land trusts” (presentation with graduate student Raechel Youngberg): Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences Annual Meeting. Virtual
Drummond, H., Bach, A., Grossman, E., Miller, I., and G.M. Kaminsky (2020) Effects of Shoreline Armoring on Physical Beach Characteristics in the Salish Sea, Virtual Salish Sea Ecosystem C
onference. April 21-22.Bach, A. and P. Whelan (2018) Retreating Glaciers, Incipient Soils, Emerging Forests: One-
Hundred Years of Landscape Change on Mt. Baker, WA, Spring Meeting of the Association of Washington Geographers, Bellingham, WA Albertson, Z., and A. Bach (2016). Beyond “fish vs. farmers” in the Klamath Basin: uncovering cultural constructions of nature in environmental controversy. Presented at the Association of Washington Geographers, University of Washington.Wrigley, J., T. Laninga, A. Bach, A. Flower. (2016) "Sea Salmon, See Conflict: the role of spatial overlap in idealogical salmon conflict.” Associated Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP).
Portland, OR. November 3-6.Rosa, K.A. and A.J. Bach (2015) One-hundred Years of Vegetation Succession in the Recently Deglaciated Easton Foreland, Mt. Baker, WA, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Chicago, Il
Bach, A. and P. Whelen (2015) One-hundred Years of Pedogenesis in a Deglaciating Valley, Mt.
Baker, WA, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Chicago, IlBall, D.A. Monitoring the effects of Spartina alterniflora eradication on sediment dynamics in two Pacific Northwest estuaries. Pacific Ecology Conference, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
Ball, D.A. and J.M. Rybczyk. Establishment of a long-term monitoring program in Padilla Bay to determine the effectiveness of chemical controls in returning mudflat habitat to native conditions after Spartina alterniflora removal. Poster presented at Puget Sound Research Conference, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Flores, E. Sunlight damage to the solitary ascidian Chelyosoma productum. Poster presented at American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Salt Lake City, UT
Landis, W.G., E. Hart Hayes and A.J. Markiewicz. Quantitative weight of evidence approach in establishing causal linkages for the decline of the Cherry Point, WA Pacific herring. Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemical Annual Meeting, Port Townsend, WA
Landis, W.G., E. Hart Hayes and A.J. Markiewicz. Weight of Evidence and Path Analysis Applied to the Identification of Causes of the Cherry Point Pacific herring decline. Puget Sound Research Conference, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Maxwell, S. Determining the stability of hydrologically altered Pacific Northwest estuary given sea-level rise. Pacific Ecology Conference, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
Meyer, D.S. Minimizing depressurization stress in Copper Rockfish. Pacific Ecology Conference, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
Penaluna, B.E. Habitat use by juvenile fall Chinook in the Umpqua River estuary in Oregon. Pacific Ecology Conference, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
Rybczyk, J.M. and D.A. Ball. Invasive mound builders in the Pacific Northwest: Spartina alterniflora and sediment dynamics. Poster presented at Society of Wetland Scientists Conference, New Orleans, LA
Fullagar, J.A. and S. Maxwell. Microtox analysis and immunoassays. Biannual Conference of Chemistry Educators, Bellingham, WA
Landis, W.G., E. Hart Hayes and A.J. Markiewicz. Overlapping spatial and temporal scales in modeling landscape risk. SETAC North America 23rd Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT
Landis, W.G., E. Hart Hayes and A.J. Markiewicz. Overlapping spatial and temporal scales in modeling landscape risk. Aquatic Toxicity Workshop, Whistler, B.C., Canada
Drummond, H., Flower, A. 2019. Automated beach feature delineation from high-resolution digital elevation models. Association of Washington Geographers. Ellensburg, WA.
Fast, B., Flower, A. 2019. High-resolution vegetation mapping and monitoring with sUAV’s. Association of Washington Geographers. Ellensburg, WA.
LaGassey, H., Flower, A. 2019. Finding hydrologically teleconnected sites with a network of tree ring chronologies. Association of Washington Geographers. Ellensburg, WA.
Roueche, N., Flower, A. 2019. Two decades of Western spruce budworm outbreaks in the Pacific Northwest. Association of Washington Geographers. Ellensburg, WA.
Hagedorn, B., Flower, A. 2019. Conifer Invasion: A Multivariate Analysis of Seedling Establishment and Encroachment around Mt. Baker, WA. American Association of Geographers. Washington, D.C.
Gleaves, D., Flower, A. 2018. Dendrochronology of Seaside Juniper: a recently discovered rare tree species. Association of Washington Geographers. Bellingham, WA.
Hagedorn, B., Flower, A., Bookout, B., Hankin, L., Lovseth, J., Smith L., Whelan, A. 2018. Muscling into Meadows: recent conifer encroachment in Mount Rainier’s subalpine meadows. Association of Washington Geographers. Bellingham, WA.
Gleaves, D., Flower, A. 2018. Dendrochronology of Seaside Juniper: a recently discovered rare tree species. American Association of Geographers. New Orleans, LA.
Hagedorn, B., Flower, A., Bookout, B., Hankin, L., Lovseth, J., Smith L., Whelan, A. 2018. Muscling into Meadows: recent conifer encroachment in Mount Rainier’s subalpine meadows. American Association of Geographers. New Orleans, LA.
Bloom, T., Flower, A., and DeChaine, E., 2015. The Shortcomings of Historical Herbaria Records for Species Distribution Modeling: Introducing a Standardized Georeferencing Process. Association of Washington Geographers. Bellingham, WA.
Other Publications
Whelan, P., and A.J. Bach (2017) Retreating Glaciers, Incipient Soils, Emerging Forests: One-Hundred Years of Landscape Change on Mt. Baker, Washington, U.S.A., Annals of the Association of American Geographers: 107: 336-349. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2016.1235480
Quesada, A.J., K.L. Schoo and B.L. Bingham (2016). Effect of symbiotic state on the fatty acid composition of Anthopleura elegantissima. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 545: 175 – 187. doi: 10.3354/meps11606
Quesada, Andres. First record of the sea anemone Bunodosoma califoricum (Cnidaria: Actiniarai) on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Marine Biodiversity Records, page 1 of 3. # Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2015 doi:10.1017/S1755267215000536; Vol. 8; e71; 2015 Published online
Hart Hayes, E. and W.G. Landis. Regional ecological risk assessment of a nearshore marine environment: Cherry Point, WA. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. In Press
Landis, W.G., P.B. Duncan, E. Hart Hayes, A.J. Markiewicz and J.F. Thomas. A regional assessment of the potential stressors causing the decline of the Cherry Point Pacific herring run and alternative management endpoints for the Cherry Point Research (Washington, USA). Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. In press
Cushman, S.A. and D.O. Wallin. Separating the effects of environmental, spatial and disturbance factors of forest community structure in the Russian Far East. Forest Ecology and Management 168(1., A.J. Markiewicz and W.G. Landis. Ecological risk assessment of Cherry Point, WA, using the relative risk model: Phase III Problem Formulation Report. Technical Report 0201, Institute of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
Landis, W.G., Markiewicz, A.J., J.F. Thomas and E. Hart Hayes. Regional risk assessment predictions for the decline and future management of the Cherry Point Herring Stock and region. Proceedings of the 2001 Puget Sound Research Conference. T. Droscher, editor. Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team. Olympia, WA
Hagedorn, B., Flower, A. 2021. Conifer Establishment and Encroachment on Subalpine Meadows around Mt. Baker, WA, USA. Forests (accepted).
Bloom, T., Flower, A., Medler, M., DeChaine, E. 2018. The Compounding Consequences of Climate Change and Wildfire for a High Elevation Wildflower in Western North America. Journal of Biogeography, 45 (12): 2755-2765.
O’Leary, D. III, Hall, D., Medler, M., Matthews, R., Flower, A. 2018. Investigating The Early Snowmelt Event of 2015 in the Cascade Mountains Using The MODIS-Based Snowmelt Timing Maps. Frontiers of Earth Science, 12 (4): 693-710.
Bloom, T., Flower, A., DeChaine, E. 2017. Why Georeferencing Matters: Introducing a Practical Protocol to Prepare Species Occurrence Records for Spatial Analysis. Ecology and Evolution 8: 765-777.
Flower, A., Bookout, B., Hagedorn, B., Hankin, L., Lovseth, J., Smith L., Whelan, A. 2017. Muscling into Meadows: a preliminary dendrochronological analysis of recent conifer encroachment in Mount Rainier’s subalpine meadows. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 79: 115-133.
Ellis, T., Flower A. 2017. Climatic Drivers of Western Spruce Budworm Outbreaks in Northeastern Washington. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 47:1266-1277.
Mitchell CJ, Lawrence E, Chu VR, Harris MJ, Landis WG, von Stackelberg KE, Stark JD. 2021. Integrating Metapopulation Dynamics into a Bayesian Network Relative Risk Model: Assessing Risk of Pesticides to Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in an Ecological Context. Integr Environ Assess Manag.17:95-109.
Landis WG, Chu VR, Graham SE, Harris MJ, Markiewicz AJ, Mitchell CJ, von Stackelberg KE, Stark JD. 2020.Integration of chlorpyrifos acetylcholinesterase inhibition, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen concentration into a regional scale multiple stressor risk assessment estimating risk to Chinook salmon. Integr Environ Assess Manag 16(1):28-42.
Landis WG, Brown EA, Eikenbary S. 2020. An Initial Framework for the Environmental Risk Assessment of Synthetic Biology-Derived Organisms with a Focus on Gene Drives. In Synthetic Biology 2020: Frontiers in Risk Analysis and Governance 2020 (pp. 257-268). Springer, Cham.
*Graham SE, Chariton AA, Landis WG. 2019. Using Bayesian networks to predict risk to estuary water quality and patterns of benthic environmental DNA in Queensland. Integr Environ Assess Manag. 15:93-111.DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4091. Best paper award for 2019 for the journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management spring 2020.
O’Brien GC, Dickens C, Hines E, Wepner V, Stassen R, Quayle L, Fouchy K, MacKenzie J, Graham PM, Landis WG. 2018. A regional-scale ecological risk framework for environmental flow evaluations. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 957–975
Harris MJ, Stinson JM, Landis WG. 2017. A Bayesian approach to integrated ecological and human health risk assessment for the South River, Virginia Mercury Contaminated Site. Risk Analysis. 37:1341-1357
*Landis WG, Markiewicz AJ, Ayre KK, Johns AF, Harris MJ, Stinson JM, Summers HM. 2017. A general risk-based adaptive management scheme incorporating the Bayesian network Relative Risk Model with the South River, Virginia, as case study. Integr Environ Assess Manag. 13:115-126. Selected as best paper in Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management for 2017.
Johns, AF, Graham SE, Harris MJ, Markiewicz AJ, Stinson JM, Landis WG. 2017. Using the Bayesian Network Relative Risk Model Risk Assessment Process to Evaluate Management Alternatives for the South River and Upper Shenandoah River, Virginia. Integr Environ Assess Manag. 13:100-114
Landis WG, Ayre KK, Johns AF, Summers HM, Stinson J, Harris MJ, Herring CE, Markiewicz AJ. 2017. The Multiple Stressor Ecological Risk Assessment for the Mercury Contaminated South River and Upper Shenandoah River Using the Bayesian Network-Relative Risk Model. Integr Environ Assess Manag. 13:85-99
Lane M and Landis WG. 2016. Chapter 10. An Evaluation of the Hydraulic Fracturing Literature for the Determination of Cause– Effect Relationships and the Analysis of Environmental Risk and Sustainability. In Environmental and Health Issues in Unconventional Oil and Gas Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804111-6.00010-8Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc.