STRATA

: CYMK; Artwork by Clayton Brooks from Fall 2012 - Winter 2013 issue of Images.

: Call me Ishmael; Poem by Brian S. Govreau, published in the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 edition of Images.

: Call of Duty Psychological Warfare: The Link Between Video Games and Aggression; There have been many studies that have looked at the relationship between video game play and aggression. There are findings that both support and discredit the notion that video games are linked to aggressive behavior. This presentation will give a brief definition of what is considered a violent video game. Also this presentation reviews and critiques articles that show correlations between video game play and aggression while at the same time reviews articles that support the opposite. Differences between these articles will be discussed along with their implications towards the relationship between video games and aggression.

: Campfire Smell (excerpt); Excerpt from a story by Kale Vilander, published in the Fall 2010-Winter 2011 issue of Images.

: Can Spending Time in the Outdoors Reduce Stress?; The purpose of this study was to investigate if salivary cortisol levels decrease, indicating lower stress levels, when humans are in an outdoor environment compared to an indoor environment. Salivary Cortisol is routinely used as a biomarker of psychological stress and related mental or physical diseases. Most studies consider salivary cortisol levels a reliable measure of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) adaption to stress (Hellhammer, Wust, Kudielka, 2009). To examine the differences in stress levels this study used a Salimetrics expanded range high sensitivity salivary cortisol enzyme immunoassay kit. Participants were from two Fort Lewis college classes, a testing and statistics class for the indoor group and a top rope climbing class for the outdoor group. There were 14 students from each class. The participants were given a cup of water to rinse their mouths out to alleviate any foreign particles in the saliva. Then they tilted their head forward to let the saliva collect and pool in the mouth, and drooled the saliva into a test tube. The collected test tubes were placed in a cooler and then immediately put into a freezer. Each saliva sample was placed into 2 wells on the plate that was part of the Salimetrics expanded range high sensitivity salivary cortisol enzyme immunoassay kit. Getting the average from the two wells validates the cortisol score for each participant. Standards and controls (high and low) provided in the assay kit were put into wells to use as a guide. The wells were incubated then put into a plate reader to get the calculations. Unfortunately the assay kit didn't work, producing all blank results. The saliva samples were re-frozen for future use. The researcher re-thawed the saliva samples and used a new assay kit, following the same steps stated above. The only difference was that the new assay kit had only enough room to put each sample into 1 well, reducing validity. A regression equation was used to find the Optical Density (OD) and cortisol scores for the unknowns, participants' saliva. The results showed that stress levels were significantly lower (p= .008) in the outdoor class. These findings were further supported by the results of a classmate's (Erika Behler) study that used the Perceived Stress Scale to measure stress levels with the same population at the same time (p= .002). In conclusion, the students in the outdoor class had lower cortisol levels (and perceived stress levels in companion study) indicating that they may be less stressed in an outdoor classroom setting in comparison to the traditional inside lecture classroom setting.

: Canyon de Chelle; Photograph from Fall 2010 - Winter 2011 issue of Images.

: Captains of Industry; Poem by Jacob Wilson from Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images.

: Catching Up to the Dawn; I have written a creative thesis project, which is a section of a creative non-fiction memoir. The section includes a prologue and the first two chapters about the relationship with my grandmother. This memoir is an expansion of earlier forms that I have written in other course and is titled, Catching Up to the Dawn. Catching Up to the Dawn is about my earlier childhood to the present and the struggles I had with identity from growing up with an indigenous lifestyle to being exposed to the expanding Western culture. Along with the creative project, I have also written a critical introduction that goes more in depth with my process as a writer and my experiences of being a four-year undergrad college student.

: Changes in Age Class Distribution of Salmo Trutta Due to Disease and Flow Trends in the Dolores River Since the Construction of Mcphee Dam; A 20 year annual age class analysis of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) on the Dolores River was used to analyze the impacts of disease on the brown trout population. The historical data used the Seber and Le Cren 2-pass electro fishing sampling method. River flow values are strongly related to population. The Dolores, being a regulated river, has very predictable seasonality in annual flow cycles. Regional drought between 2001 and 2004 led to peak flows below 200 cfs compared to 1900 cfs average peak during non-drought years. Looking at the size class distributions, age classes where formed accordingly and then compared annually to flow rates. Older longer fish start to decrease in number after the introduction of whirling disease. The 3 to 4 yr old fish were linearly correlated to average flow events (R2=0.4462). The values that were more than 1 standard deviation away from the linear estimation were 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2008. These dates as expected were in some relation to disease events in the river system. Change in flow from the previous year was also linearly related to changes in fish population. The 3 and 4 year old fish had a direct relationship to one another (R2=0.2156). This was opposed to the 0 year fish having an inverse relationship to flow (R2=0.1866). Fish in the outlier years can also be connected to years after the presence of whirling disease. The over welling effect of whirling disease had major effects on the survival of older fish. Over all the data suggests that flow and disease had a major effect on the loss of older age class fish in years after the presence of whirling disease.

: Changes in The Relationship Between Humans and Bees; Bees play important role in many areas within almost all societies. The role of this genus of insect is often overlooked, despite the vital role that it plays in modern subsistence, culture, and other, less well-known areas. This research explores the role of bees through time and across cultures. By using an ecological anthropology approach, the relationship between bees and humans can be seen in a different light. Archaeological, historical and current information are combined to provide new insight into the relationship between people and bees. This understanding can then be used to guide actions that will better utilize bees and help to conserve both bees and other species within the environment that we depend upon. Bees and beekeepers throughout the world face many challenges today. The general public does not generally understand the multiple roles of bees. Creating awareness of the issues surrounding bee health and diversity is critical in maintaining our agriculture system and the broader ecological environment.

: Changes in Vegetation Over Time Below the McPhee Dam, Dolores River, Colorado; The aim of the study was to evaluate changes that occurred over time in the composition of the riparian community at the Lone Dome Recreational Area, below McPhee Dam on the Dolores River, Colorado. This site has been sampled by the Fort Lewis College Field Ecology class starting in 1988 to 2007. Percent cover of woody riparian vegetation (14 species) was measured along a 540 m line-transect. The effects of the dam (built in 1984) were hypothesized: (1) to see a trend in diversity with an initial increase in woody vegetation, but as the switch from moisture dependent species to drier/upland species takes effect, there will be a decrease in species diversity; (2) to see invasive species present; (3) to see changes in the composition of the community. A Bray-Curtis ordination using Pcord5 was used to analyze changes and correlations in vegetation composition relative to time, average percent cover, and peak flow. The two most important variables explaining variation in vegetation are time and the relationships between vegetation cover and peak river flow data. The greatest amount of variation was 2007 and 1989 for Time and 1998 and 1988 for Peak river flow. Populus angustifolia (Narrow-leaf cottonwood), a facultative wetland species, showed an initial increase followed by a decrease in abundance over time, correlating with a decrease in river peak flow over time. Salix exigua (Coyote willow), an obligate wetland species, showed an initial increase and then a decrease in cover over time, correlating with peak river flow data. Acer negundo (Box elder), a facultative wetland species, showed an increase in cover over time. No increase or establishment of invasive species (Russian olive or tamarisk) occurred at the site. Species diversity did slightly increase over time, then peaked, and decreased. Acer negundo, a late successional species, increased over time potentially due to the location of the species growing near the base of a steep canyon wall obtaining moisture form snow melt or drainage. There was no increase in invasive species potentially because the elevation is due too high for the establishment of tamarisk and dispersal issues for Russian olive. A decrease in some riparian species abundance may be attributed to a lowered ground water table. Interactions between dam management and precipitation may explain the water table dynamics. During drought little water is let out of the reservoir; this causes a decline in river peak flow and ground water level. In order to supply adequate amounts of water long term management needs to implemented including flow releases corresponding to seasonal flooding (for cottonwood establishment and clearing of the point bar) and an increase in the magnitude of water flow for longer periods of time (imitating natural flow).

: Characteristics of Cretaceous Tidal Rhythmites in the Menefee Formation, Durango, CO; Late Cretaceous (Campanian) tidal rhythmites are documented in the upper Menefee Formation at the Cliff House Sandstone transition near Durango, Colorado, USA. These tidal rhythmites are records of daily tidal cycles and also indicate the presence of diurnal or mixed diurnal tides in this portion of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. The tidal rhythmites occur within beds at the base of lateral accretion surfaces in a fluvially connected deltaic meandering tidal channel. The occurrence of Skolithos and rare Teredolites confirm a marine influence in this deposit. Tidal channels at the transition of the fluvial Menefee Formation to the overlying marine Cliff House Sandstone are well documented in the region (Olsen et al., 1999). The tidal channel filling deposits have a modern day analogue of the Brahmaputra River Delta. These Cretaceous tidal rhythmite thickness patterns occur in both planar laminations and bidirectional ripples. Alternating sandstone and shale planar lamination are inferred to be deposits from tidal flood and ebb events. Bidirectional ripples with shale "mud drapes" also have thickness patterns consistent with tidal rhythmites. Both types of tidal rhythmites show evidence of a semidiurnal or semidiurnal mixed paleotidal system as they lack a distinct linear trend between flood and ebb lamina (Archer et al., 1995). Fifty four planar laminations are persevered that represent 27 tidal cycles. Thirty six separate ripples with opposing slip face directions represent 36 tidal cycles. The cyclic variation in thickness patterns of both planar laminations and bidirectional ripples are similar to modern asymmetrical tidal patterns (flood dominant or ebb dominant). The thickness patterns are consistent with neap/ spring cycles and may be records of synodic half months, several tropical half months, and one anomalistic month. The thickness and recorded duration of the tidal rhythmite cycles was limited due to truncation of bidirectional ripple deposits by either storm surges or fluvial floods. Migrating channel deposits have been previously documented for having a robust tidal rhythmite record, but with a limited number of preserved cycles (Coueffe et al., 2004).

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