North Carolina Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/8858

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Open Access
Master at Sea: Navigation Aboard La Concorde/Queen Anne's Revenge
(East Carolina University, May 2024) Baker, Nicholas
The La Concorde/Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck has a diverse assemblage with research potential that offers valuable insight into life under the pirate Edward Thatch as well as its previous purpose for the transportation of slaves across the Atlantic. As new artifacts continue to be exposed through conservation efforts, the ship’s navigational instruments and possible surveying tools present an opportunity for a unique material culture study that reflects not only their origin and functionality in terms of broader 18th-century navigation methods for pirates, but also how French sailing crews aboard slave ships operated on extended voyages. Included in this collection are instruments such as lead sounding weights, writing slates, a sector, dividers, compass components, and equipment believed to be associated with coastal or terrestrial surveying. These instruments are conserved at the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory before being curated and exhibited in the North Carolina Maritime Museum: Beaufort. Each of these instruments were evaluated to determine the navigational needs and training of the pirates who may have used them as well as the French sailors who operated the vessel before its capture by Edward Thatch.
Open Access
The Interconnection of Foodways: An Investigation of Artifacts and the Connections of Three Individual Groups Throughout the Life of La Concorde/ Queen Anne’s Revenge
(East Carolina University, May 2024) Hoots, Michaela C.
Artifacts recovered archaeologically from La Concorde/ Queen Anne’s Revenge (31CR314) represent three distinct social groups that lived, worked, and were enslaved aboard this vessel, the French La Concorde crew, enslaved Africans, and pirates. Each of these groups acquired, prepared, and ate their food in diverse ways, both on land and at sea. These relate to variables like culture, rank, and time period. This research will focus on the material culture representing foodways, like fragments of brick stoves, faunal remains, cauldrons, pewter sadware, stemware, and cutlery excavated from the wreckage site. It will also compare foodways artifacts to archaeological collections from other slave and pirate shipwrecks. This research initiative aims to add further information and analysis to understanding experiences aboard 18th-century pirate and slave vessels that sailed across the Atlantic. It will contribute towards other themes such as health, slave trade, 18th century piracy, and French maritime history.
Open Access
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: A MATERIAL CULTURE STUDY OF HAND TOOLS FROM QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE
(East Carolina University, 2020-11-19) Lawrence, Kendra G
Blackbeard was one of the most notorious pirates during the 1700s and today maintains a high profile in popular culture. The remains of his flagship Queen Anne's Revenge were discovered by researchers off the coast of North Carolina nearly 300 years after the vessel wrecked. The excavation and conservation of this site continues to offer new insights into the work, lives, and shipboard activities of pirates, crew, and slaves aboard La Concorde. The hand tools, which include hammers, files, pry bars, jacks, and other instruments for shaping wood represent a growing category of artifacts recovered from the wreck and over a dozen are currently undergoing conservation in Greenville, North Carolina. This thesis examines these artifacts through material culture and object biography lenses and provides insight into vessel maintenance and repair activities that sailors and craftspeople performed aboard vessels in the eighteenth-century. Specific crafts and trades represented by these tools include carpentry, painting, and possible weapon repair.
Open Access
Reconstructing the waterfront : an historical and archaeological examination of the ninetenth century port of Washington, NC
(East Carolina University, 2020-11-05) Nassif, William T
The purpose of this project is to gather historical and archaeological data to illuminate potential relationships between economic and social trends in the construction of wharf structures and enhance our understanding of the multitude of factors that drive the growth and decline of port communities. Ports and harbors have long been understudied aspects of maritime archaeology. Yet, they are gateways into the historical and commercial past of regional, as well as international cultures. Therefore, this study is a unique opportunity to analyze waterfront installations within their economic context. To do this, the coastal town of Washington, NC, situated along the Tar-Pamlico River, will be used as a case study. Historical and archaeological information will be gathered from several sources and will be assessed for correlation.
Open Access
HULL PRESERVATION: PRESERVATION METHODS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA MEMORIAL WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
(East Carolina University, 2020-11-06) Vestal, Joshua
The USS North Carolina (BB-55), was the most decorated battleship in the United States Navy during World War II. During its service, the USS North Carolina participated in every major action in the Pacific receiving fifteen battle stars. The ship was decommissioned in 1947 after only six years of service. It was then stricken from the Naval Vessel register in 1960 and was set to be sold for scrap. However, the residents of North Carolina, including thousands of school children, saved the ship from being scrapped and raised enough money to have it towed down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, NC. It now serves as a memorial to the veterans of North Carolina who served in World War II.After sitting in its berth for decades, the ship began to experience hull deterioration. A project to repair the worst section of the hull (the starboard bow) finally took place in 2011. Now, several other sections need repair. Today, caretakers of USS North Carolina have recently finished installing a permanent cofferdam around the vessel. Repairs to several sections of the ship's hull are currently underway. Utilizing archaeological and cultural resource management approaches, this thesis will discuss the preservation issues that steel-hulled battleship museums face, focusing on the USS North Carolina, as well as the methods for restoring and maintaining the hulls of these ships. It will also analyze methods used to solve these preservation issues, which will allow for better preparation when dealing with similar issues that may arise in more recently converted battleship museums. This thesis will also seek to understand the relationship that battleship museums play in preserving cultural heritage.
Open Access
POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS AT A NC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: A PROGRAM EVALUATION
(East Carolina University, 2020-11-16) Meadows, Christopher Lynn
AB STRACT Chris Meadows, POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS AT A NC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: A PROGRAM EVALUATION (Under the direction of Dr. Marjorie Ringler). Department of Educational Leadership, December 2020. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a multi-tiered framework utilized in over 26,000 schools across the United States, to create a school culture consisting of a positive learning environment and successful student (Sugai & Horner, 2020). This study sought to determine the effectiveness of PBIS at a North Carolina public charter school in regards to three major indicators: student attendance; student academic achievement; and student discipline. The rise of charter schools in both the US and NC is discussed along with charter school advocate and critic perceptions. To gain a greater understanding of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of PBIS at this charter, many topics were detailed to mirror the charter’s student population. At the time of the study, the study site was predominately African American and high poverty. Because of the predominate student population of the study’s site, African American and high poverty student issues and concerns are discussed based on numerous educational theorist’s ideas and their respective research. Determining the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of PBIS at the charter occur through data collection procured through various PBIS documents from the three years at the charter, equating to the first year (2017-18) of PBIS implementation, the second year (2018-2019) of PBIS implementation, and the third year (2019- 2020) of PBIS implementation. The three years of data included student proficiency on NC End of Grade (EOG) assessments, student suspension data, and student attendance rates. Qualitative data was obtained from charter school staff responses of semi-structured interview questions. The evaluation of this this program was completed with the CIPP (Context; Input; Process; and Product) method. The program evaluation was favorable overall in the fidelity of PBIS implementation and generated the following findings: academic growth in each of the three years of PBIS implementation; a decrease in student short-term suspensions in each of the three years of PBIS implementation; and a steady and remarkable increase in student attendance rate in each of the three years of PBIS implementation.
Open Access
A CULTURAL HISTORY OF RIVER HERRING AND SHAD FISHERIES IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA: THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
(1997-08) Heath Jr., Charles L.
This thesis focuses on the cultural exploitation of four anadromous fish species of the Family Clupeidae, in the Genus Alosa: the blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis). the alewife (A. pseudoharengus), the American shad, (A. sapidissima), and the hickory shad. {A. mediocris). in eastern North Carolina. The study assesses anadromous Alosa fisheries in the prehistoric and historic periods from a combined anthropological. archaeological, ethnohistorical and historical perspective. The research combines oral interview data collected by the author with information gathered from previously published sources. The findings are interpreted in the context of adaptive strategies, as originally conceptualized and proposed by John Bennett. Anadromous Alosa fisheries provided an important seasonal subsistence and trade resource to prehistoric (circa 3,000 B.C. to AD. 1650) and historic (circa. AD. 1584 to 1950) period cultures in eastern North Carolina. The significance as a subsistence resource was later paralleled by capital intensive commercial fisheries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Four natural characteristics of Alosa account for the vitality as a major subsistence and trade resource: (I) predictability {in time and space), (2) availability (in massive spawning runs), (3) accessibility (ease of access and harvest with minimal effort), ( 4) storability (short-term and long-term preservation by smoke-drying or salt-curing). The seasonal exploitation of shad and river herring through time reflects the aggregation of conscious choices by individuals in response to the range of natural resources available in the region. Such choices gradually developed into regional, culture-wide adaptive strategies that evolved from a great fishing tradition of the past century into the last vestiges of shad and river herring fisheries that are seen today. The decline of the subsistence fishery tradition has been paralleled by a dramatic decline in Alosa stocks in North Carolina waters. The reasons for the biological decline relate back to the concept of adaptive strategies, whereby the human population in the region shifted from lowenergy to high-energy production practices (e.g., fisheries, agricultural, industrial) over time. Highenergy cultural processes increase pressure on Alosa stocks through the destruction of spawning habitat and overfishing. The evolution from low-energy to high-energy production has led to both resource degradation and the displacement of segments of the population who traditionally relied on the fishery resources (e.g., commercial and subsistence fishermen).
Restricted
An Exploration of Health/Nutrition Managers Common Experiences with Measuring, Tracking, and Reporting BMI in North Carolina Head Start Programs
(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Clow, Jesse M
More than 1 million children are enrolled in Head Start (HS) programs across the United States. Possibly linked to their socioeconomic status, children enrolled in HS are at increased risk for obesity. Correctly assessing and reporting childhood Body Mass Index (BMI) in HS has the potential to reduce or prevent obesity rates, yet information related to the specific processes and policies related to BMI assessment in Head Start centers is limited. NC HS Health/Nutrition Managers, who oversee and implement assessments of children's BMI in their programs can provide initial insight in to this research gap. The purpose of this study was to examine HS Health/Nutrition Managers common experiences with measuring, tracking, and reporting the BMI of low-resource, low-income 3-5-year-old children. Researchers conducted in-depth, structured telephone interviews (n=15) with Managers across NC. Interviews were recorded using digital audio and transcribed verbatim. The phenomenology approach was used to guide the research design, data collection, and analysis. Two trained researchers coded the data and identified themes. Researchers focused on the "how" and "what" of Manager's experience with measuring, tracking, and reporting BMI in their program. Interviews continued until saturation was reached. Researchers identified four emergent themes including, (1) HS's Perceived Role in Childhood Obesity Prevention; (2) Measuring, Tracking, and Reporting; (3) Family Background, Education, Communication, and Engagement; and (4) Community Partnerships. A majority of administrators felt childhood obesity prevention was one of many roles of Head Start, however many Managers reported mixed feelings towards BMI as a form of assessment for childhood overweight/obesity. Reported measuring processes varied between programs, with some Mangers reporting teachers take measurements, while others obtain data from yearly physicals. Communication methods varied including sending home newsletters and/or "BMI report cards" or communicating directly with families through meetings or telephone calls. Parents were frequently mentioned as a barrier to obesity prevention efforts, even after families were made aware of a concerning BMI. Finally, community partnerships included dietitians, physicians, and the Women's, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Dietitians generally offered centers menu support and consultations if parents requested. Physicians rarely communicated with centers beyond providing a physical. However, WIC was referenced many times as a useful partner and resource for HS programs, including for parental support. HS is an ideal place to gather information about the health of our nation's youngest children. However, data from the current study implies the process for measuring, tracking, and reporting that data BMI may vary largely between programs which may lead to questions about the accuracy of reported data. Additional research is needed to explore accuracy of BMI child measurements obtained in HS, effectiveness of BMI training materials for staff and parents, and parental perspective of their child's BMI reports obtained from HS.
Open Access
BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO BUPRENORPHINE PRESCRIBING AMONG NURSE PRACTITIONERS WORKING IN PRIMARY CARE SETTINGS IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Speight, Chandra
The opioid crisis has disproportionately impacted rural areas such as eastern North Carolina. Buprenorphine is an evidenced-based treatment for individuals experiencing opioid use disorder that is well suited for rural areas because it can be prescribed in primary care settings. Providers must have a specialized Drug Enforcement Agency prescribing waiver to prescribe buprenorphine. Nurse practitioners were granted the right to apply for these waivers in 2016. However, few NPs have obtained prescribing waivers. Literature to date has focused on barriers and facilitators to physician prescribing. Nurse practitioners are educated, regulated, and reimbursed differently than physicians, thus it was important to explore nurse practitioners' potentially unique experiences. This qualitative, descriptive study used semi-structured interviews with nurse practitioners to address the research question: what are the barriers and facilitators to buprenorphine prescribing among nurse practitioners working in primary care settings in eastern North Carolina? The Theoretical Domains Framework, a comprehensive framework to address implementation problems among health care professionals, guided data collection and analysis. Analysis identified barriers and facilitators in eight domains: beliefs about capability, beliefs about consequences, emotion, environmental context and resources, reinforcement, skills, social influences, and social and professional role identity. This study is significant because it is the first qualitative study of nurse practitioner buprenorphine prescribing. Findings extend and clarify existing literature on buprenorphine prescribing. Analysis found that nurse practitioners face similar, though more pronounced, environmental barriers than physicians. Other striking barriers included those in the social influences domain: NPs expressed, had witnessed, or had experienced negative attitudes toward buprenorphine, individuals living with opioid use disorder, and providers who prescribe buprenorphine. Notable facilitators included developing skills to meet buprenorphine prescribing challenges and the sense of reward nurse practitioners experienced when patients were successful on buprenorphine therapy. Addressing the research question within the Theoretical Domains Framework laid groundwork for theory-informed intervention studies. This study also provides information for policymakers as they work to provide a regulatory environment amenable to buprenorphine prescribing and for educators as they prepare nurse practitioners to meet the treatment challenges presented by the opioid crises.
Open Access
Skin Carotenoid Levels Over Time and Differences by Age, Sex, and Race Among Head Start Children (3-5 years) Living in Eastern North Carolina
(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Burkholder, Sarah
Objective: Examine differences in skin carotenoid levels (SCL) based on time, age, sex, and race of preschool-aged children (PSAC) enrolled in Head Start (HS) in North Carolina (NC). Design: Data were collected using surveys from participating families. PSAC's SCL were measured 3 times over a 6-month period. Setting: 3 HS centers in NC Participants: 112 children aged 3-5 years old, enrolled in HS Main Outcome Measure(s): Differences in SCL assessed using the Veggie Meter[registered] based on time, sex, race, and age Analysis: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction to assess SCL at Time 1 between sex, race, and age (n=112). Repeated measures ANOVA to assess SCL over time (n=45) using Bonferroni correction(b). Results: On average, children were 4 years old, African American (81.3%), male (57%) and mean SCL 266 (SD 82.9). SCL were significantly different over time (p[less-than].001). Significant differences were observed between ages (p=.01) and sex (p=.01), but not between race. Conclusions and Implications: The Veggie Meter[registered] is a promising tool to assess fruit and vegetable intake but needs to be validated in PSAC as has in adults. Sex, age, and race are potential confounders which should be assessed in future studies using the Veggie Meter[registered].
Open Access
RECONSTRUCTING THE CHILDHOOD DIET OF AN 18TH TO 19TH CENTURY LAND-OWNING FAMILY IN BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Taylor, Corinne
Breastfeeding and weaning practices can greatly impact a child's immune system development and nutritional status, later causing long-term health effects. This research explores the relationships between weaning practices, metabolic disease, and childhood frailty in an 18th to 19th century coastal North Carolina land-owning family. Ten individuals were recovered from the 2017 and 2018 field seasons at the Gause cemetery at Seaside (GCAS), and six of the ten individuals were under the age of eight. Most of the GCAS individuals experienced non-specific physiological stress in the form of either dental enamel hypoplasias (DEH) and/or cribra orbitalia. The [delta]¹⁵N and [delta]¹³C values received from incremental dentin collagen of 13 teeth and 10 bone collagen samples were used to analyze dietary and trophic level shifts that occurred during weaning and post-weaning periods. Additionally, radiographic and histological analysis were performed on the first permanent molars of the adult from Grave 2, and two subadults from Grave 9 and Grave 10 Burial 1, to determine whether they experienced a metabolic disease during childhood. The GCAS sample had a diet consisting of C3 plants with supplementation of marine sources or C4 plants. The GCAS sample ceased weaning at age 2.5 years with a weaning diet that largely consisted of C3 plants with a larger contribution of C4 plants than adults. Stable isotopes incremental dentin values were compared to DEH formation ages. Much but not all of the DEH coincided with the weaning period of the GCAS sample. Only the adult individual from Grave 2 experienced interglobular dentin (IGD) between the ages of 2.5 and 3 years suggesting they were vitamin D deficient. Evidence from analysis of stable isotopes and dental histology indicates that weaning age and metabolic disease did not notably increase childhood frailty in this family.
Open Access
GRAVITY SURVEY OF A BURIED TRIASSIC RIFT BASIN, BERTIE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Shell, Cody
The North American rift margin includes of a series of Triassic rift basins along the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. This continent-scale rift basin system is comprised of complex and variable geometries that can be generalized into regions with similar structural, deformational, and sedimentary characteristics. Rift basins provided accommodation space for organic-rich Triassic age sediments that may be source rocks for natural gas and petroleum. Most of the known basins are exposed at the surface and relatively easy to access, but a few buried basins have been identified beneath coastal plain strata. I used primarily geophysical methods to study a buried Triassic rift basin in Bertie County, North Carolina, recently discovered from a deep core sample that documented Triassic sedimentary rocks buried underneath approximately 300 meters of Cretaceous and younger, sediments and sedimentary rock. Approximately 30 meters of Triassic strata were recovered from the well, but basement rock was not reached leaving the overall thickness of the basin undetermined. I used a gravity survey to constrain the dimensions and geometry of the basin and surrounding rock bodies at depth. Data processing, modeling, and integration with preexisting data was accomplished using Oasis:Montaj software. The buried basin creates a maximum gravity anomaly of approximately 7 mGal. Modeling of the data suggests the basin is generally elongate, SW to NE, and has maximum dimensions of approximately 15 km wide, 50 km long, and as much as 2.5 km deep (basin infill). In cross section, the basin is asymmetrical and wedge-shaped, with a NW margin that dips steeply SE and a SE margin that dips more shallowly NW. The Bertie basin is deepest to the south and was likely hydrogeologically open in that direction. Previous datasets have been derived from analysis of the cores at the North Carolina Geologic Survey and include whole rock geochemical analysis, thin sections, and magnetic susceptibility. Interpretation of the geochemical data suggests the Triassic strata are derived from a continental island arc, and thin section analysis suggests a provenance of recycled orogenic material. The rocks classified as Triassic tend to have lower magnetic susceptibility than the overlying Cretaceous rock. One interpretation of these data is a change in sediment provenance from late-stage Triassic basin infill to the overlying Cretaceous strata. The Bertie Basin is located in the Southern Segment of the North American rift margin, suggesting that its geometry and stratigraphy should reflect regional trends and exhibit characteristics similar to other southern rift basins. The characteristic geometry of basins in the Southern Segment generally includes narrow to medium size (10 to 25 km across), fault-bounded, half-grabens with no or very subtle growth structures. The Bertie Basin may be part of a series of basins or a sub-basin within a larger basin due to sequential, domino-style faulting during rift migration. Higher extensional rates and faster rift migration within the Coastal Plain province may be related to its reduced dimensions. Burial underneath Coastal Plain strata may also have helped to preserve the Bertie Basin's original geometry and size which allows for improved constraints on initial tectonic conditions and structures, sedimentary deposition, paleo-environments, and processes related to supercontinent breakup.
Open Access
PIRATES IN THE GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC: CONSERVATION AT THE QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE LAB
(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Eckert, Brandon
The Anthropology Department at East Carolina University offers an internship option for the partial fulfillment of the requirements of a master's degree. As a result of the academic partnership between East Carolina University and the Queen Anne's Revenge Conservation Laboratory, an internship in archaeological conservation was made possible. While conservation and archaeology are often viewed as separate disciplines, the methods and theory in conservation are integral to the goals of archaeology both in the field and the laboratory. Since 2003, the QAR Conservation Lab on ECU's West Research Campus has served as the primary facility for the management and conservation of artifacts recovered from the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck in Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. An internship at the QAR Lab provides students with hands-on exposure to the routine operations of a conservation facility. This includes daily and weekly duties, as well as personal projects and special artifact treatments. The skills developed as a result of this experience are highly important for archaeologists in both field and laboratory settings, but also for archaeologists responsible for the management of museum collections.
Open Access
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET AT THE PITT COUNTY HOME
(2020-08-12) Grubb, Muriel
The Pitt County Poor Farm, also known as the Pitt County Home, was established in the early nineteenth century to feed and house the local poor population of Pitt County, North Carolina, prior to the establishment of the federal welfare system. The farm was continuously occupied and reorganized several times before it was closed in 1965. Four seasons of archaeological and cartographic work on the site have narrowed down the location of the poor farm buildings and expanded the interpretation of what life in rural eastern North Carolina was like for this underprivileged, disenfranchised population. The findings from Pitt County are comparable to other contemporary poor farm and farmstead sites throughout the country during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Open Access
PILOT PROJECT FOR GLOBAL COMPETENCY EDUCATION IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOLS
(East Carolina University, 2020-05-04) Quinones-Martinez, Taylor Joan Nicole
In this study a group of 9th grade World History students from eastern North Carolina participated in a semester-long virtual exchange program to increase global competency learning. Virtual exchanges are technology-enabled, sustained, people-to-people education programs. Global competency is described as the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development. The students in North Carolina connected with students from a school in Kazakhstan and engaged in three different virtual exchange experiences. These three exchanges focused on introductions, governments and policies, and current issues, respectively. Additionally, students completed guided journal entries after each exchange. Before and after the program students took the survey from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 framework. The data collected comprised of the changes in responses to the PISA survey along with coded language identified in the journal entries.
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A CONFLICT OF INTERESTS: DIVIDED LOYALTY AND MOTIVATION IN CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS FROM HYDE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) Turner, Andrew
The Seventeenth North Carolina State Troops, Company B (Confederate) and the First North Carolina Volunteers, Company H (Union), were raised principally in Hyde County in eastern North Carolina, but fought on opposing sides of the nation's bloodiest conflict. The soldiers of the companies were divided in their loyalty by the Pamlico Sound and the role of slavery within the communities on the mainland and Outer Banks of Hyde County. As a result of these divisions, mainlanders with close ties to slavery filled the ranks of the Confederate company, while Outer Banks men with little connection to slavery enlisted in the Union company. Using quantitative and qualitative methods to examine loyalty in eastern North Carolina's coastal plain and Outer Banks reveals that the soldiers of Hyde County were divided in loyalty by their relationships to slavery and racial hierarchy but motivated throughout the war by additional demographic factors and circumstances. The mainland Confederates and Banker Federals of Hyde County were divided in loyalty by differing connections to slavery, and their military service reflects the stark divide that existed between the mainland and Outer Banks societies of coastal North Carolina during the antebellum period and the Civil War.
Open Access
SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION IN A LOW-VISIBILITY LOW-SALINITY ESTUARY IN NORTH CAROLINA: IDENTIFYING TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS BY SONAR AND LOCAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE
(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) Speight, Hilde
The rapid loss of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) across the globe has prompted state and federal agencies to conduct SAV inventories and develop monitoring programs, which are vital to the conservation and management of ecosystems. Due to advances in optical remote sensing technologies, the distribution and status of SAV in higher salinity, less turbid regions have been better documented than in turbid, low-salinity waters. Hence, much less is known about the status and trends of low-salinity SAV. The objectives of this dissertation were to document SAV abundance, distribution, and temporal variation in Albemarle Sound (AS), so scientists and managers can detect SAV changes through time and develop adequate management strategies. In 2014, I sampled the AS, North Carolina shoreline utilizing a single-beam sonar system. The AS rapid assessment survey (RAS), guided me to identify three large SAV beds (>10 km in length) and smaller intermediate size beds ([greater-than]10 km in length) throughout the Sound, most beds shallower than 2 m. The initial RAS allowed me to establish 10 permanent sentinel sites (SS) in the Sound. The purpose of establishing these sites was to examine SAV's spatial and temporal variation at regional (sound-wide) and local (site) scales at different depths, and to examine intra-annual variation of SAV to determine the optimal SAV sampling time. I sampled the SS for two consecutive years (2015, 2016), in the spring and fall each year. SAV abundance in AS was highly asynchronous sound-wide and by site. The biological surveys were complemented by a social science study that utilized Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) to study SAV stakeholders' perception about SAV and to assess their historical SAV distribution knowledge in western AS. Often, biological surveys do not go far back in time, so historical information (e.g., social surveys, interviews with fishers) can help expand our habitat knowledge beyond data collected during traditional surveys. I carried out open-ended interviews and written surveys with coastal residents, commercial fishers, and fisheries managers. The three groups had unique perspectives about SAV's ecological value and the effect of development on SAV. The LEK historical SAV distribution closely agreed with biological distribution data.
Open Access
Object-based machine learning correction of LiDAR using RTK-GNSS to model the potential effects of sea-level rise in Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina
(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) Schlup, Michelle
Coastal wetland systems are a vital habitat that provide many beneficial services; however, the complexity of these habitats makes it difficult for conservation managers to preserve these environments and predict future changes. Sea-level rise (SLR) is a growing and accelerating threat to coastal wetlands making its predictability essential for conservation planners. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) have become an important component in monitoring coastal wildlife refuges and are implemented into models like Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to produce SLR vulnerability assessments. Although, with dense vegetation in these environments LiDAR penetration is reduced and DEMs in turn are less accurate. This study implemented an Object-Based Machine Learning (OBML) technique to improve DEM accuracy at Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) and was implemented into SLAMM to provide land cover maps of the year 2050 for land cover change analysis. The corrected OBML DEM was compared with the original LiDAR DEM obtained from North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program (NCFMP), which found the OBML DEM to provide a more reliable depiction of the potential impacts of future SLR on the coastal wetlands in North Carolina. Conservation managers may find the OBML approach in this study to be a useful option for SLR analysis.
Open Access
NORTH CAROLINA’S BLACK PATRIOTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) Freeman, W. Trevor
This thesis explores the service of an estimated 468 black men who fought for the American cause during the Revolutionary War. Specifically, it examines those who resided in North Carolina or fought under the forces of this state. While the war largely did not fulfill its egalitarian potential for free and enslaved people of color, the armed service of these men-and their later status as veterans-brought them a mixed array of benefits. This study reveals why these men served, how they affected the war, and how their participation in the military impacted them, their families, and the larger community of people of color within North Carolina. It will show the geographic, economic, and social factors that influenced their enlistment into the Continental and militia forces of the state, as well as the ways their varied service fostered camaraderie and connections with other soldiers. It juxtaposes the ways the war failed veterans "black and white" economically with the tenuous but appreciable social gains made by North Carolina's black veterans: gains that ultimately receded as the living legacy of these soldiers disappeared. Examining these unique soldiers of North Carolina is particularly important as article and even monograph-length treatments of black soldiers in other states exist. This scholarship, specifically focusing on black Patriot soldiers in a Southern state and employing rudimentary quantitative assessments, fills a historiographical void and provides greater understanding of the plight of free people of color within early North Carolina society. Using primarily federal pension applications, troop returns, and rosters of black servicemen in the American Revolution, this thesis attempts to answer these and other questions surrounding North Carolina's black Patriots, and to provide a portrait of their thoughts and actions.
Open Access
SAVE Currituck Sound : Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Evaluation in Currituck Sound, NC
(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) Biarrieta, Natasha G