Tesis sobre el tema "Wetlands Program"

By 1980, the United States had lost over 50 percent of its original wetland resources. The U.S. National Wetland Inventory estimates that 95 percent of annual wetland losses since 1955 occurred to palustrine wetlands. The majority of these losses occurred to the three types of palustrine vegetated wetlands: emergent, forested, and shrub. The primary cause for wetland losses from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s was agricultural conversion supported by federal agricultural policies, especially the Agricultural Conservation Program that provided significant direct and indirect support for wetland conversions. The rate of converting wetland to agriculture has declined since the mid-1950's with a significant decrease occurring between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s. Statistical analysis using correlation, regression and principal component analysis was performed to identify the major contributory factors in loss rates in the Midwest, Lower Mississippi River Valley and the Southeast United States. The variables considered are: Swampbuster provisions of the Food and Security Act of 1985, Conservation Reserve Program enrolled acreage and rental rates, Wetland Reserve Program and The Clean Water Act Section 404 permits; prices of corn, soybeans and wheat; and the percent of wetlands remaining. The results indicated agricultural policies and Clean Water Act Section 404 permits and wetland loss rates were negatively correlated and prices of corn, soybeans and wheat were positively correlated. The percentage of wetlands remaining, were also positively correlated with loss rates. Taken together, the selected agricultural policies, Section 404 permits, commodity prices and percent of wetland remaining, explain 96 percent of the variance in wetland loss rates and 94 percent of the agricultural losses nationally. These results are consistent, with minor variations, across geographic wetland strata and wetland types. Regional differences exist in the major type of wetland losses; emergent wetland losses were more prevalent in the agricultural Midwest, with forested wetland losses concentrated in the Lower Mississippi River Valley and the Southeast United States. The results of this research reflect the intricate relationships between federal legislation, regulatory programs, legal decisions, economic factors, and changes in society's view and understanding of the importance of wetlands and the need to merge conservation programs with agricultural policies. Economic factors exert a significant impact in decision-making of whether to convert or conserve wetland resources. The economic feasibility of installing drainage system to make wetlands farmable depends upon the relationship of capital investment cost and crop prices. Commodity prices impact decisions regarding enrollment into the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetland Reserve Program; higher commodity prices can make conversion more profitable but low crop prices will make these programs more appealing economically. The Swampbuster provisions are effective in conserving wetlands if the economic penalties are significant to the individual farmer. The policy, legal and commodity variables were used to create models that explain the inter-relationship between agricultural economic factors, policy impacts and commodity prices. The models indicate how the variables could affect decision-making in determining whether to convert or conserve palustrine vegetated wetlands; increased commodity prices coupled with lower conservation program payments could jeopardize wetland conservation efforts and result in increased wetland loss rates due to increased wetland drainage and conversion.

Wetlands play important role in the ecosystem and are a link between land and water. This study investigates a voluntary working wetlands pilot program focusing on small, temporary and seasonal wetlands present on croplands. The program compensates farmers for the positive externality provided by maintaining wetlands on their land. The objective of the study is to determine farmer preferences for a program introduced in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota and with alternative attributes, as well as, their perceptions and attitudes towards other conservation programs and practices. The population is limited to program participants. Results from a choice experiment designed to consider hypothetical program attributes showed increase in program length, payment and flexibility in payment, increases probability of enrollment. Farmers prefer programs that are less restrictive especially with requirements for conservation farming examined in the study. They also require a relatively high financial incentive to participate in the program

Globally, amphibians have suffered dramatic population declines in the past twenty years with habitat destruction implicated as the primary threat. The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) restores wetlands on marginal agricultural land and is a means to restore the spatio-temporal wetland habitat required by amphibians to prevent, reverse, or stabilize declining population trends. The goal of WRP is “to achieve the greatest wetland functions and values, along with optimum wildlife habitat, on every acre enrolled in the program.” Functions and values are defined as the hydrological and biological characteristics of wetlands. A key unanswered question is to what extent is this goal being achieved? Amphibians enable quantifying the WRP goal due to their life-history requirements and explicit incorporation of their habitat needs into WRP plans. My research goal was to determine if hydrological and biological wetland characteristics had been restored to WRP sites in the Lower Grand River basin, north-central Missouri, based on distribution, recruitment success, and relative species richness estimates for members of a regional species pool. I identified three design strategies applied to WRP sites over time: walk-away, maximize hydrology, and naturalistic; the latter emphasizing restoring process as well as structure; and evaluated if design strategy was a useful covariate for restoration efforts. I encountered 10 amphibian species representing 59% of the regional species pool. Design strategy was not a predictive site-level covariate as sites within all three design strategies had varying hydrological wetland conditions resulting in greater habitat heterogeneity than anticipated on maximize hydrology and walk-away sites and less than anticipated on naturalistic sites. Amphibian detections occurred across all sites resulting in no difference among design strategy as the degree of heterogeneity in habitat conditions at the within site-scale demonstrated that amphibians were responding to ecological conditions that occur at a finer resolution than site. Results, irrespective of design strategy, indicate seven of the detected species or groups were widely- distributed, two were moderately- distributed, and two were sparsely distributed on WRP sites indicating hydrological wetland characteristics have been restored to sites given the moderate- to wide-distribution of species associated with both seasonal and permanent wetlands. Although species were successfully recruiting young into adult populations, only leopard frogs had high estimates of recruitment success whereas the remaining species had moderately high to moderate to low recruitment estimates indicating biological wetland characteristics are somewhat lacking to lacking for these species. Results from the relative species richness assessment indicate that, whereas 74% of the sites provided some degree of wetland habitat for members of the regional species pool over the course of the field season (7 March – 19 September), 52% of the sites lacked suitable habitat conditions during the peak of amphibian breeding and larval development (May through July). Targeting management actions that result in suitable seasonal wetland habitat conditions (shallow, vegetated wetlands that gradually dry by mid-to late-summer) throughout the time needed for species to complete their life history requirements is one method to increase the biological wetland value of restored WRP sites. Results show the value of WRP at conserving and restoring river-floodplain amphibians; however, achieving optimum wildlife habitat on every enrolled acre will be difficult at a site-level scale as habitat requirements, although overlapping, vary widely for the full range of species. Providing for all species in the regional species pool requires sites that transverse both the longitudinal and lateral floodplain gradient. If WRP is to realize its full potential, there must be recognition that optimum wildlife habitat can be defined at multiple spatial and temporal scales that match the landscape setting. Optimum wildlife habitat at a wetland scale is not the same as optimum wildlife habitat at the floodplain scale. The intent of WRP is to convert marginal, flood-prone agricultural lands back into wetlands so enrollment of lands located outside the active floodplain may be impracticable or unrealistic. Whereas attaining optimum wildlife habitat on every acre enrolled in the program may not be an achievable objective, providing optimum wildlife habitat for members of a regional species pool within an appropriately defined geography that includes both a longitudinal and lateral gradient represents an objective that is both desirable and attainable.

No evaluations of plant and wildlife communities in Wetlands Reserve Program wetlands have been conducted in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Therefore, I evaluated active and passive moist-soil management (MTYPE) and early and late draw-down on plant communities, waterbird use, and water quality on 18 WRP lands, Mississippi, 2007-2009. Active-early sites had greater waterfowl Vegetative Forage Quality (VFQI), percentage occurrence of grass, plant diversity, and structural composition than passively managed sites (P < 0.10). I modeled variation in densities of wintering waterbirds; the best model included VFQI*MTYPE and decreased % woody vegetation (w_i ≥ 0.79). Additionally, waterbird densities varied positively with active-late management (R² ≤ 0.27), as did duck species richness with flooded area (R² = 0.66). I compared water quality parameters among managed wetlands and drainage ditches but did not detect differences due to variability. Therefore, wetland restoration on WRP lands should focus on active management and maximizing wetland area.

The nation's Section 404 permitting program, of the Clean Water Act (CWA), represents one of the longest regulatory histories of designing and implementing credit trading programs to satisfy regulatory requirements. The role and the function of in-lieu fee (ILF) programs in supporting this regulatory structure have undergone a substantial change. For the first time in the history of the Sec. 404 program, 33 CFR Part 332 and 40 CFR Part 230, Subpart J (the "2008 mitigation rule" or "rule"), prioritizes the use of off-site mitigation over on-site-mitigation. Additionally, the rule prioritizes advanced, third-party mitigation; especially as achieved through mitigation banks; over any off-site compensatory mitigation provided by ILF programs (33 CFR 332.3(b)(1)). This new regulatory environment favors the use of commercial mitigation bank credits while acknowledging that the limited permittee demand of off-site mitigation credits, in particular areas, justifies the continuing need for ILF programs (Corps and EPA 2008, p.19606,19611). This research examines how regulatory officials use ILF programs under the 2008 mitigation rule, and, it determines the extent to which ILF programs are capable of fulfilling the role envisioned for them under the 2008 mitigation rule. Simulation results indicate that commercial mitigation banks cannot meet risk adjusted returns under limited credit demand conditions. ILF programs offer some additional financial capacity to fill the void in commercial bank coverage; but, this potential is limited in low demand conditions. Furthermore, empirical case studies of a Virginia and Georgia provide evidence that regulatory officials rely on ILF programs to provide off-site compensatory mitigation almost exclusively in the absence of private credit supply, as intended in the 2008 rule. Evidence in Georgia and Virginia also indicate that, in some situations, ILF programs face difficulties in providing mitigation under the constraints of limited demand and more stringent regulatory requirements.
Master of Science

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; and (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, June 2011.
"June 2011." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-141).
The objective of this research is to investigate incorporating a wetland component into a land energy and water fluxes model, the Community Land Model (CLM). CLM is the land fluxes component of the Integrated Global Systems Model (IGSM), a framework that simulates the relationship of physical systems to climate variations. Wetlands play an important role in the storage and regulation of the global water budget so including them in a land water cycle model is found to be necessary in balancing the regional water budgets of simulated river basins. This research focuses on modeling broad hydrological characteristics of wetlands (and lakes) into CLM. CLM's wetland component is reconstructed to reflect a more realistic wetland water budget; it allows for the exchange of water with CLM's river routing component; it allows for varying the storage of wetlands; it allows for calculating discharge from wetlands based on the physics of these ecosystems; and allows the surface water extent of wetlands to vary, a characteristic important to ecological behavior of wetlands and management of wetland ecosystems. The research then implements the modified version of the model for the Sudd wetland, in South Sudan, as it relates to its larger river system, the White Nile. Projects designed to better manage this wetland, such as diverting its inflow to reduce the amount of water consumed by evaporation, are currently under review by its various stakeholders. This diversion stands to change the area of the Sudd, which has direct implications on the ecological and social services derived from the wetland locally. The modified CLM is thus used to provide a better understanding of the science of this management option, and furthers the discussion on the benefits or drawbacks to diversion. Thus, using area as a proxy for environmental impact, what are the environmental, economic and social risks associated with diverting water from inflow into the Sudd? The new wetland component's performance is evaluated against existing observed and modeled data on Sudd hydrology and compared to existing models of the Sudd. The research finds that the potential benefits of diversion cannot be said to unequivocally better the larger system of the White Nile.
by Sirein Salah Awadalla.
S.M.
S.M.in Technology and Policy

This research used Geographical Information System (GIS) data to estimate the acreage of wetland loss due to small-scale activities (taking into account exempt, permitted, and unauthorized activities) in the Southwest District of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) between 2006 and 2011 and compared that net loss with the unmitigated wetland net loss that DEP documented during that time for authorized activities and violations that were discovered. The comparison allowed an estimation of the extent of undocumented small-scale unmitigated wetland loss that occurred during those six years. DEP records show that 88% of non-compliance cases remain unresolved, and the net loss of wetlands that was documented by DEP is 28.66 acres. The change in acreage of DEP-regulated wetlands (and wetlands on agricultural parcels) as determined by GIS analysis is 1,250 acres gained. However, evidence shows that some of the water features categorized as wetlands in the GIS interface are reservoirs which may not be providing the functions necessary to mitigate for wetland loss. Evidence also shows that many small-scale wetland alterations were not detected by remote sensing, indicating that there is a great level of uncertainty in the GIS interpretation. Consequently, achievement of the No Net Loss goal in Florida cannot be determined using documented alterations, nor can it be determined by use of medium-high resolution aerial imagery. The analysis can be extrapolated to the rest of Florida, where State wetland protection regulations are constant.

Financial support is one of the main ways in which the Swedish government can encourage restoration and construction of wetlands. Despite having the tool of financial support for constructing wetlands in place, there is little information on how the support systems are structured and how they compare to each other. Another knowledge gap is the regional variation in wetland construction among counties and how this differs between them.  The purpose of this study is therefore two-part. Firstly, to map and compare the three main financial systems for constructing wetlands in Sweden, namely LOVA (the Local Water Preservation Grant), LONA (the Local Initiative for Nature Conservation) and the RDP (the Rural Development Programme). Results from the national comparison among financial systems shows that the RDP is the significantly most influential grant in wetland construction, whereas LOVA make up 9% and LONA 1% of the sum of hectares of constructed wetlands. These findings are the reason why this study only uses the RDP as a basis for the second purpose of this study, which is to investigate the regional variation in wetland construction. These results reveal two main findings, firstly that Skåne is the county with the most constructed wetlands, both in terms of hectares and number of wetlands. Finally, the purposes of the constructed wetlands which are financed by the RDP, are reviewed in this study. The purposes differ greatly between counties and do not necessarily align with the targets set in the Regional Action Plans.  The reasons for the large variations between counties, the low numbers of constructed wetlands within LONA and the administrative process of the RDP are topics which are recommended to research further.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Dácio Roberto Matheus
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia Ambiental, 2017.
A água é um bem essencial para a sobrevivência de todos os seres vivos. Atualmente, tem-se observado o despejo de efluentes domésticos e industriais causando a degradação dos recursos hídricos. Estudos de ecotecnologias para tratamento destes efluentes se fazem necessários, em especial em pequenas comunidades, que acabam gerando poluição pontual nos corpos d'água, realidade da grande maioria dos municípios brasileiros. Aliado a outros indicadores de qualidade, ensaios ecotoxicológicos são muito importantes para monitorar a qualidade dos efluentes e dos corpos receptores. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho de alagados construídos com fluxo subsuperficial horizontal cultivados com as macrófitas aquáticas Eleocharis sp. (junco); e Typha sp. (taboa), na redução da toxicidade de efluentes domésticos. Para isso, foram utilizados ensaios ecotoxicológicos com o microcrustáceo Daphnia similis, com a dicotiledônea Lactuca sativa (alface), a monocotiledônea Sorghum vulgare (sorgo) e com as macrófitas aquáticas Lemna sp. (lentilha d'água) e Azolla sp. O efluente doméstico se mostrou tóxico à Daphnia similis com média de EC50 de 1,3%. Os tratamentos com macrófitas reduziram significativamente a toxicidade do efluente, com médias de EC50 73% para o tratamento com junco, EC50 53,17% para o tratamento com taboa, EC50 78,25% para o tratamento com taboa+junco. O controle (sem macrófitas) também reduziu significativamente a toxicidade, com média de EC50 63,13%. Nos ensaios de fitotoxidade, a alface e o sorgo não se mostraram sensíveis ao efluente analisado, embora sejam para outros tipos de efluentes. A macrófita Lemna sp. também não foi sensível ao efluente estudado, no entanto observou-se a capacidade de identificar, com esta espécie, o potencial eutrofizante do efluente, já que a mesma se desenvolveu melhor no efluente bruto do que nos efluentes tratados. Com a macrófita Azolla sp. foi possível verificar que o efluente bruto possui maior potencial eutrofizante se comparado com os tratamentos com junco, taboa e controle, onde houve remoção de N e P. No entanto, evidenciou-se efeito tóxico para Azolla sp. nos efluentes tratados.
Water is an essential for the survival of all lives. Currently, it has been observed the dumping of domestic and industrial effluents causing the degradation of water resources. Studies of ecotechnologies to treat these effluents are necessary, especially in small communities, which end up generating diffuse pollution in water bodies, a reality of the great majority of Brazilian municipalities. In addition to other quality indicators, ecotoxicological tests are very important to monitor the quality of effluents and receptor bodies.The research objective was to evaluate the performance of wetland treatment in reducing the toxicity of domestic effluents. These project used constructed wetland with horizontal sub-surface flow cultivated with Eleocharis sp. (reed); and Typha sp. (typha). For this we used ecotoxicological tests with the microcrustacean Daphnia similis, with the dicotyledon Lactuca sativa (lettuce), the monocotyledon Sorghum vulgare (sorghum) and the aquatic macrophytes Lemna sp. (Duckweed) and Azolla sp. The domestic effluent was toxic to Daphnia similis with a mean EC50 of 1.3%. Macrophyte treatments significantly reduced effluent toxicity with EC50 averages 73% for reed treatment, EC50 53.17% for typha treatment, and EC50 78.25% for typha+ reed treatment. The control (without macrophytes) also significantly reduced toxicity, with a mean EC50 of 63.13%. In the phytotoxicity tests, lettuce and sorghum were not sensitive to the analyzed effluent, although they were for other types of effluents. The macrophyte Lemna sp. was also not sensitive to these studied effluent. However, it was possible to identify the eutrophic potential of the effluent with this species, since it was better developed in the raw effluent than in treated effluents. With the macrophyte Azolla sp. it was possible to verify that the raw effluent has a greater eutrophic potential when compared to the treatments with reed, typha and control, where we observed there was nitrogen and phosphorus removal. However, toxic effect for Azolla sp. Treated effluents.

Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Roseli Frederigi Benassi
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia Ambiental, 2016.
As zonas úmidas são importantes fontes de gases com potencial de efeito estufa como o metano e o dióxido de carbono devido aos processos de decomposição da matéria orgânica por diferentes vias metabólicas. Por esta razão, este trabalho determinou os fluxos destes gases na zona úmida no Braço do Rio Grande, no Reservatório da Billings, e a sua relação com as variáveis limnológicas e a carga poluidora afluente. Para atingir este objetivo foram efetuadas medições físico-químicas do perfil da coluna de água e coletadas amostras de macrófitas, sedimento, água e gases na interface água-ar em três estações (Estação 1, Estação 2 e Estação 3) localizadas em áreas com diferentes graus de ocupação do solo para análise em laboratório. Com base nos resultados obtidos, verifica-se que as três estações de medição apresentaram indicadores distintos tanto sazonalmente como espacialmente, sendo que a Estação 2, no período seco, é a que possui valores mais elevados de Fósforo, Sólidos em Suspensão Totais, Condutividade Elétrica e Nitrogênio Total, indicadores de poluição por esgoto bruto, além de emitir os maiores fluxos de metano e gás carbônico, na ordem de 0,31 e 60,86 g.m-2.d-1, respectivamente, embora não seja a estação com as maiores concentrações de carbono. Os fluxos de gás carbônico variaram na ordem de 3,31 a 60,86 g.m-2.d-1, para as estações no período considerado seco, enquanto que no período chuvoso a ordem foi de 3,74 a 18,34 g.m-2.d-1. Para metano, os fluxos variaram de 0,09 a 0,31 g.m-2.d-1, no período seco e de 0,09 a 0,13 g.m-2.d-1, no período chuvoso. As zonas úmidas do Reservatório da Billings emitiram quantidade significativa de gás carbônico e metano, principalmente na Estação 2, devido a diversos fatores, principalmente a alta concentração de Nitrogênio Total e Fósforo Total, responsável também pelo estado hipereutrófico no braço Rio Grande, além da alcalinidade, elevada concentração de Carbono Dissolvido Inorgânico e a profundidade. As macrófitas e os sedimentos também armazenaram grande quantidade de fósforo total e nitrogênio total, principalmente na Estação 2. Considerando que as altas concentrações de nitrogênio, fósforo e carbono provenientes da coluna d¿água, macrófitas e sedimentos da zona úmida da Billings contribuíram para aumentar a emissão de gases de efeito estufa, cuja origem provavelmente seja o lançamento de esgoto doméstico e poluição difusa remanescente, soma-se mais uma razão para impedir o despejo de efluente neste reservatório cujo principal uso é de abastecimento público e proteger suas zonas úmidas.
The wetlands are important sources of gases with potential greenhouse effect as methane and carbon dioxide, due organic matter decomposition processes by different metabolic pathways. Therefore, this academic work determined the flow of these gases in wetlands in branches of Rio Grande, in Billing¿s Reservoir, and it¿s relation with the limnological variables and affluent polluting load. To achive this goal physicochemical measurements of the water column profile were made and collected samples of macrophytes, sediment, water and gas in the water-air interface in three treatment plants (Station 1, Station 2 and Station 3) located in areas with different occupation rate for laboratory analysis. Based on the results obtained, it appears that the three measuring stations showed different indicators both seasonally as spatially, which the Station 2, in the dry season, has higher levels of phosphorus, total suspend solids, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, pollution indicators by raw sewage, addition to emit the highest methane fluxes and carbon dioxide, approximately 0,31 and 60,86 g.m-2.d-1, respectively, although it is not the station with the highest concentrations of carbon. The carbon dioxide fluxes vary in order 3,31 to 60,86 g.m-2.d-1, for dry seasons, whereas in the rainy season the order was from of 3,74 to 18,34 g.m-2.d-1. For methane, the fluxes vary from 0,09 to 0,31 g.m-2.d-1, in the dry season and from 0,09 a 0,13 g.m-2.d-1, in rainy season. The wetlands of the Billing¿s Reservoir, emitted significant amount of carbon dioxide and methane, especially in Station 2, due to several factors, mainly the high concentration of total nitrogen and total phosphorus also responsible for hypertrophic condition in branches of Rio Grande, besides of alkalinity, high concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon and depth. The macrophytes and sediments also store large amounts of total nitrogen and total phosphorus, mainly in Station 2. Considering that the high nitrogen concentrations, phosphorus and carbon from the water column, macrophytes and sediments of Billings's wetlands contributed to increasing the greenhouse gases, whose origin probably the domestic sewage flushing and diffuse pollution remainder, adds one more reason to prevent the effluent dump in this reservoir and protect its wetlands.

Wetland value is threatened by invasive plant species such as Reed Canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea). Hence the research objectives of this project were to determine if reed canarygrass abundance has an effect on plant species diversity and assess the effectiveness of novel treatments on reed canarygrass control in a constructed wetland. Four treatments (mowing, herbicide, mowing plus herbicide, and a control) followed by broadcast seeding were applied to regulate growth of reed canarygrass. Principal components analysis, biodiversity measures, and ANOVA were used to identify community composition, quantify biodiversity values and identify treatment differences respectively. Results indicated differences in species composition between east and west blocks of the study site, reed canarygrass abundance appears to keep plant species diversity low, indigenous species were rare, and reed canarygrass was resistant to treatments.The results of this study are not surprising considering there is little evidence that treatments for reed canarygrass control are effective.

碩士
臺北市立教育大學
課程與教學研究所課程與教學碩士學位在職進修專班
98
The objective of this research is to understand the effects of learning on the mid-level elementary students putting into practice of the civic action approach of “Dialogues with Wetlands” curriculum, and later on discusses how the students feel and their feedbacks in accordance with this lesson. According to references, records have been drawn as the key foundation for this objective to analyze the designing models of civic action approach. Also the global education environmental issues and the domestic wetlands preservation are discussed, and with the subject of wetlands preservation as the intension in education, designed mainly and suitable for mid-level elementary students in the course, with the teaching progress lasting for four months, were the results analysis being conducted. This study adopts the nonequivalent- groups pretest- posttest design of quasi-experimental designs, with the target of three classes of fourth graders from a Taipei County elementary school. Two out of the three classes are the Experimental Groups, with the third class as the Comparison Group. Experimental Group 1 progresses in the course of the civic action approach of “Dialogues with Wetlands”; Experimental Group 2 proceeds in the same course contents, but via general class lectures only; for the Comparison Group, no experiments are being tested. The implements for this study are “civic action towards environmental preservation chart” and “civic action towards knowledge quiz,” individually tested on the three groups of students before and after fifteen periods of lessons. Then using the acquired database by using the following three means to analyze the learning efficiency of the three samples: descriptive statistics, analysis of covariance, and Paired-Samples t Test. Furthermore, there are additional such as self-made “Students’ Feedbacks Survey ” , teacher’s retrospection and reflection notes, students worksheets, video-taping observations, etc. Conclusions are drawn as follows: 1. Putting “Dialogues with Wetlands” into practice can improve students’ abilities on “awareness and care”, “investigation and empowerment”, and “civic action.” 2. Putting “Dialogues with Wetlands” into practice can improve students’ abilities on “environmental cognition”, “environmental affection”, and “environmental action.” 3. After carrying out the lesson “Dialogues with Wetlands,” a high percentage of students enjoy this course. 4. After carrying out this course, students all have a more broadened view of this global village, and are active in caring for this environment. Besides that, students altered to a more positive attitude on the level of civic action. 5.“Global view, locally active” environmental course can make up for the loss of the insufficient education of the wetlands. Therefore students need long term training on investigating ability, and also need the tutoring help from teachers, but most important of all need the support from school administration and parents. Combining all the conclusions as the above has shown, students can be promoted to a more worldwide view via the course “Dialogues with Wetlands” learning. Besides realizing the importance of the wetlands environment to the humans, we can also take further steps in investigating interesting environmental issues, therefore bringing about a series of civic action.

碩士
嘉南藥理大學
休閒保健管理系
102
The purpose of this study is to analyze the cognition, attitude and behavior of school pupils after participation in Environmental Education Programmes at Taijiang Wetland School. The factors of gender, school grade, location of school, educational background of parents are evaluated to determine their influence on the environmental cognition, attitude, behavior, satisfaction and willingness for further participation. A total of 273 questionnaires were issued and 261 questionnaires were returned, hence the response rate is 96%.The results of this research are as followed：（1）There are significant differences in environmental awareness of elementary school students of different grades.（2）There are significant differences in environmental attitudes of students of different genders, grades and educations level of mothers.（3）There are significant differences in environmental behavior of elementary school students of different genders, grades,mother’s educations level and school locations.（4）There are significant differences in satisfaction degree of elementary school students of different genders, grades and school locations.（5）Different background have no significant impact on the willingness for further participation.The study results could serve as reference materials for the Taijiang National Park Headquarters for modification of the environmental programs.

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
自然科學教育學系碩士班
99
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to describe the process and the effectiveness of the researcher (author) in cooperation with six volunteers to hold a 3-days wetland camps for primary and junior high students under the concepts of learning organization,exploration education and flow-leaning method. The curriculum titled as “ the rise of hero/in from wetlands: from eyes, tongue, nose, ears, mind, hands” was constructed by our community for more than three months. It emphasizes on: (1) "learning experience" and "content packaging" for whole design, (2) "discussion" and "let go and do" through the process of all activities, (3) the "security" and "fluency " of the materials and running process. There are 75 students of third to seventh grade and 6 instructors involving in the activities of wetland camp. Data were collected by the field notes of participant observations, transcripts of videotaping and recording , and self-assessment by students. Results showed that, (1) students perceived that they have already achieved the learning objectives of this course, (2) the experience of instructors affects the representation of teaching content and strategies as well as students' learning, (3) students’ background is one of the factors to influence the effectiveness of participation. Finally, this study suggests that: (1) “exploring into natural environment” is a basic idea for future curriculum developing for camping activities, (2) expanding the quality and quantity of instructors by the idea of “learning organization”, (3) from diverse perspectives to design curriculum for “ exploring the mystery of wetland”.

碩士
國立陽明大學
科技與社會研究所
103
The present study attempts to describe the relationships between nature and human society by carefully reviewing the case of a solar power plant development program in the Yungan wetland. In this case, one party proposed to build a solar power plant in Yungan wetland for the purpose of reducing global carbon dioxide emissions, while another party fought against this proposal in order to maintain the ecological environment in the wetland. Through this controversial process, environmental and consumer groups reached a consensus of nature conservation, yet had different perspectives in terms of what a role of “Nature” should play in this event. Literature reviews showed evidence that when issues of nature conservation were discussed, they have only focused on the human actors, with lack of consideration for non-human actors. This dissertation uses Actor Network Theory, which also called Material Semiotics, and the categorized methods that were mentioned in the book of Geographies of Nature as theoretic models. This present study aims to draw an overall picture of interactions among human actors and non-human actors in the program of the Yungan wetland. We especially focus on the processes of cooperation, negotiation, and competition among local camps when they encountered issues of nature conservation, technology policy, and renewable energy. We also analyze the activities from non-human actors to gain multiple points of view to define the role of nature. Finally, we propose a network system to describe relationships between human and nature. Our conclusion also try to describe what perspective we should have when we face the environmental controversy which related to clean-energy technology system.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
環境教育研究所
103
This study is focused on exploring summer camp student’s learning experiences in Luodong nature center. It is focused on how they to gain the learning experiences? Students how to learn? How to promote learning in the learning process? The researcher investigate student’s learning process and in response to the learning experiences by discussing the first-hand learning experience of Students in the real river environment. This study uses qualitative research methods to collect interviews data, participant’s observation records and documents data by collecting 16 students which participate in summer camp. This data let researcher understand student’s learning experiences, analyze these datas to discover student’s learning and provide the basis of program modification in future. The results can be divided into three parts: First, about the student’s learning experience and learning process in the summer camp, the researcher found that the summer camp offer students rich learning experience to help students recognize and feel the river environment, and to promote environmental awareness and the development of social interaction, and to affect students' feelings and emotional empathy for the creature. The researcher also found that the Griffin’s learning process indicators can help researcher to understand the students how to learn. Second, the researcher found that combination of real-life experiences of the game, the guide’s teaching experience and skills and cooperative learning are playing an important role to promoting the learning in the environment. Third, the camp’s design meet the five principles of teaching methods based on the experience, the reflection of the learning experience is inadequate, and the exploration of free time are the other findings of the study.