Papers by Kristen C. Nelson
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2020
Public land managers are on the front lines of vegetation management and decision making as essen... more Public land managers are on the front lines of vegetation management and decision making as essential players in urban sustainability efforts. Green infrastructure, including lawns, has the potential to relieve climate changerelated strains on municipal budgets while enhancing the quality of life. The most common urban vegetation that managers make decisions about is turfgrass, which dominates urban areas across North America and Europe. Recent appeals for changes in the ubiquitous lawn, promoting a transition from high input (e.g., fertilizer, water) to low input, more sustainable forms of urban vegetation have arisen. Despite the broad critique of the lawn, perspectives from public land managers on issues of transitioning to low input turfgrasses in urban areas remain mostly unknown. We conducted focus groups with land managers across the northern United States, specifically in Oregon, Indiana, and New Jersey to understand factors they consider opportunities and barriers in transitioning to low input cool-season turfgrasses, using the example of fine fescue varieties. Overall, managers articulated significant opportunities for a transition to low input turf. Across all groups, managers noted labor and time savings, as well as anticipated future climate and other challenges (e.g., watering restrictions, declining water quality), which could aid in the adoption of low input turfgrasses now and in the near future. Mangers also articulated significant current barriers such as previously negative experience with earlier varieties of fine fescues and their confusion around the naming of current varieties to overcome before widespread adoption could take place. More work needs to be done to demonstrate the benefits of low input turfgrasses, get managers hands-on experience with improved varieties, as well as work on simplifying and organizing the publicly used names of fine fescues.
Environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms, Volume 3. Methodologies for transgenic fish
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Environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms. Volume 1: A case study of Bt maize in Kenya
Estudios, 1997
SIDALC - Servicio de Informacion y Documentacion Agropecuaria de las Americas.
Go to AGRIS search. Participation and empowerment : a comparative study of IPM technology generat... more Go to AGRIS search. Participation and empowerment : a comparative study of IPM technology generation in Nicaragua. Nelson, KC. Record number, NI2006004596. Personal authors, Nelson, KC. Corporate authors, Natural Resources and Environment, Michigan. ...
INTERCIENCIA- …, 1995
... Proc. Tech. Workshop to Explore Options for Global Forest Management. April 1991, Bangkok,Tha... more ... Proc. Tech. Workshop to Explore Options for Global Forest Management. April 1991, Bangkok,Thailand. London LIED. ... In D. Howlett and C. Sargent (eds.) Proc. Tech. Workshop to Explore Options for Global Forest Management. April 1991, Bangkok, Thailand. London IIED. ...
Environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms. Volume 2: methodologies for assessing Bt cotton in Brazil, 2006
This chapter provides a framework for specifying the problem, evaluating the utility (including b... more This chapter provides a framework for specifying the problem, evaluating the utility (including benefits) of the transgenic plant in specific Brazilian crop production contexts and comparing it to other potential solutions to the problem. By specifying the problem, the framework defines the target agroecosystems for which Bt cotton or an alternative solution is proposed, including the crop system, farming system and ecological and structural context, and the people who will be affected. It also addresses one of the most critical aspects for scientific experiments in support of risk assessment, the appropriate comparisons for the experiments. The problem formulation and option assessment provides a means to identify and specify appropriate alternative futures through a deliberative process.
Journal of Urban Affairs
Despite the social and ecological importance of residential spaces across the country, scant rese... more Despite the social and ecological importance of residential spaces across the country, scant research examines urban yard management policies in the U.S. Governance scholarship points to the implem...
Ecological Applications, 2021
Urbanization has a homogenizing effect on biodiversity and leads to communities with fewer native... more Urbanization has a homogenizing effect on biodiversity and leads to communities with fewer native species and lower conservation value. However, few studies have explored whether or how land management by urban residents can ameliorate the deleterious effects of this homogenization on species composition. We tested the effects of local (land management) and neighborhood‐scale (impervious surface and tree canopy cover) features on breeding bird diversity in six US metropolitan areas that differ in regional species pools and climate. We used a Bayesian multiregion community model to assess differences in species richness, functional guild richness, community turnover, population vulnerability, and public interest in each bird community in six land management types: two natural area park types (separate and adjacent to residential areas), two yard types with conservation features (wildlife‐certified and water conservation) and two lawn‐dominated yard types (high‐ and low‐fertilizer app...
Urban Ecosystems, 2015
Although ecosystem services have been intensively examined in certain domains (e.g., forests and ... more Although ecosystem services have been intensively examined in certain domains (e.g., forests and wetlands), little research has assessed ecosystem services for the most dominant landscape type in urban ecosystems-namely, residential yards. In this paper, we report findings of a cross-site survey of homeowners in six U.S. cities to 1) examine how residents subjectively value various ecosystem services, 2) explore distinctive dimensions of those values, and 3) test the urban homogenization hypothesis. This hypothesis posits that urbanization leads to similarities in the
Environmental Entomology, 2006
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2022
Upper left: "Sometimes others are motivated to become involved when a neighbor takes visible acti... more Upper left: "Sometimes others are motivated to become involved when a neighbor takes visible action." Photo credit: V. Sturtevant, Southern Oregon University Upper right: "Smaller scale plans inspire landowners to remove hazards in undeveloped areas on their land." Photo credit: P. Jakes, U.S. Forest Service Lower left: "Multiple frames bring more people to the CWPP process. A frame centered on safe evacuation motivated residents of the community to clear along roadways." Photo credit: D. Williams, U.S. Forest Service Lower right: "A Firewise plan is useful for implementing on-the-ground projects identifi ed in larger scale county CWPPs.
vii the "Buffaloes," my lifelong close circle of friends, for the many, many long conversations, ... more vii the "Buffaloes," my lifelong close circle of friends, for the many, many long conversations, since the beginning of time, but especially during these thirteen years as I soldiered on. It's fitting that the seeds for this study began at Harvard Divinity School, and in my work at the Oral History Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where we all met. I want to thank my parents, Rudy and Shirley Nelson, for being really good parents, for being my friends and thinking partners, and, most important, for always welcoming and liking my friends! I'm especially thankful that you gently nudged me toward divinity school when my questions started to take shape. Thank you to my brothers, my sisters-in-law, my nieces, nephew, and grandnieces for all the laughter in my family. And families continue to evolve and blossom and send off new shoots. To Chuck Roberts, Charlotte Roberts, Sophie Bady-Kaye, and Bob Bady, and everyone you have brought into my life. You are my home on the planet.
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Papers by Kristen C. Nelson