Darla Munroe | Ohio State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Darla Munroe

Land Use Policy, 2007

Land-use/cover change (LUCC) results from the complex interaction of social, ecological and geoph... more Land-use/cover change (LUCC) results from the complex interaction of social, ecological and geophysical processes. Land users make decisions about their environment that are governed and influenced by political and institutional constraints at local, regional, national and international levels. Statistical analysis of LUCC phenomena is one powerful tool due to its ability to test theoretical assumptions, rank relative factors, and yield rigorous hypotheses test. However, due to the complex nature of coupled human-environment systems, LUCC statistical modeling presents conceptual as well as technical challenges. Careful consideration of these challenges, as well as implementing approaches to deal with them, is necessary in order for such models to inform policy and practice. As examples, we present illustrations of two statistical models of land use in the mountains of western Honduras and the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Journal of Land Use Science, 2014

Beginning in January 2014, we took over the editorial leadership of the Journal of Land Use Scien... more Beginning in January 2014, we took over the editorial leadership of the Journal of Land Use Science (JLUS). Our primary objective is to develop the journal further into the leading journal for land-use science. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Richard Aspinall for the service he provided to the land-use science community in launching this journal in 2006, and for his commitment in managing it for the last 8 years. We would also like to reaffirm the goals and editorial vision he set (Aspinall, 2006), as well as highlight a selected array of new research directions and priorities. In this editorial, we will briefly review some important articles that have demonstrated the stated goals of the journal to date. Then, we discuss new areas for publication by highlighting key contemporary research questions in land-use science with scientific and policy relevance.

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2008

Postsocialist transitions in eastern Europe have focused on the establishment of private property... more Postsocialist transitions in eastern Europe have focused on the establishment of private property rights, often to the exclusion of other aspects of rural land-use systems. After the demise of socialism in 1991, Albania privatized virtually all agricultural land by redistributing formerly ...

... GIS) and remote sensing techniques, we examine landscape patterns at and around the (resident... more ... GIS) and remote sensing techniques, we examine landscape patterns at and around the (residential) parcel level in Monroe County, Indiana ... a general decline in the spatiai extent and connectivity of wetlands, wildlife habitat, and agricultural lands (Buchanan and Acevedo, 1997 ...

This paper presents hedonic analyses designed to estimate the real estate premium from improved a... more This paper presents hedonic analyses designed to estimate the real estate premium from improved access to a regional greenway system in three distinct counties. The hypothesis is tested that unobservable factors relating to the overall economic structure of each county influence how and to what extent access to open space is effectively capitalized into residential sales prices.

The aim of this research was to prepare and characterize alginate-chitosan mucoadhesive micropart... more The aim of this research was to prepare and characterize alginate-chitosan mucoadhesive microparticles containing puerarin. The microparticles were prepared by an emulsification-internal gelatin method using a combination of chitosan and Ca 2+ as cationic components and alginate as anions. Surface morphology, particle size, drug loading, encapsulation efficiency and swelling ratio, in vitro drug released, in vitro evaluation of mucoadhesiveness and Fluorescence imaging of the gastrointestinal tract were determined. After optimization of the formulation, the encapsulation efficiency was dramatically increased from 70.3% to 99.2%, and a highly swelling ratio was achieved with a change in particle size from 50.3 ± 11.2 μm to 124.7 ± 25.6 μm. In ethanol induced gastric ulcers, administration of puerarin mucoadhesive microparticles at doses of 150 mg/kg, 300 mg/kg, 450 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg body weight prior to ethanol ingestion significantly protected the stomach ulceration. Consequently, significant changes were observed in inflammatory cytokines, such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interleukin1β (IL-1β), in stomach tissues compared with the ethanol control group. In conclusion, core-shell type pH-sensitive mucoadhesive microparticles loaded with OPEN ACCESS Mar. Drugs 2014, 12 5765 puerarin could enhance puerarin bioavailability and have the potential to alleviate ethanol-mediated gastric ulcers.

Journal of Land Use Science, 2021

Journal of Land Use Science, 2020

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2019

Science should provide solutions for societal transformations towards sustainability in the face ... more Science should provide solutions for societal transformations towards sustainability in the face of global environmental change. Land system science, as a systemic science focused on complex socioecological interactions around land use and associated trade-offs and synergies, is well placed to contribute to this agenda. This goal requires a stronger engagement with the normative implications of scientific practice, research topics, questions and results. We identify concerns as well as three concrete steps for land system science to more deeply contribute in normative issues. In particular, we encourage land system scientists to discuss explicitly the normative questions, values, perspectives and assumptions already present in our research, as well as to identify key normative research questions to contribute to societal transformations. Highlights  Normative positions are increasingly required of sustainability science  Land system science is well placed to engage in normative discussions being a systemic science focusing on trade-off and synergies  Three specific steps towards a more normative land system science are suggested

Applied Geography, 2018

There is a growing literature on tropical forests that demonstrates ways in which rural-to-urban ... more There is a growing literature on tropical forests that demonstrates ways in which rural-to-urban migration establishes dynamic connections between forest landscapes and urban areas. In the United States, context, however, studies of the geography of absentee ownership of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) lands focus on urban-to-rural migration for retirement or amenity purposes. Using parcel data sourced from local governments in an 11-county study area in central and southeastern Ohio, along with a range of openly available data, we analyze patterns of absentee ownership of NIPF parcels to determine the characteristics of areas where absentee owners reside. We hypothesize the rural-to-urban migration patterns, particularly of youth, will help explain where absentee NIPF owners of parcels in our study reside. We estimate models for all census tracts in the United States, finding that indicators of migration, creative class employment opportunities, and affluence are strongly associated with finding at least one absentee owner of an NIPF parcel in our study area. Considering these complex connections affecting NIPF parcels in a North American context could support improved forest management education, outreach, and planning efforts.

Land Economics, 2005

Alleviating rural poverty remains an important objective of development policy in many areas of t... more Alleviating rural poverty remains an important objective of development policy in many areas of the world. However, traditional means of increasing rural livelihoods such as increased investments in agricultural intensification measures can have disastrous impacts on natural resources such as forests by greatly increasing incentives for clearing. This paper contains a spatially-explicit model of land use in the Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Land use is modeled using a reduced-form multinomial logit model, and policy simulations are conducted. These simulations demonstrate that the adoption of yield-increasing inputs requires concomitant forest protection policies, both in terms of forest area and spatial configuration.

Annals of GIS, 2016

This study explores the effects of different environmental variables on the accuracy of species d... more This study explores the effects of different environmental variables on the accuracy of species distribution models. Forest inventory and analysis data sets were used to generate absence and pseudo-absence points of chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) in the central and southern Appalachian mountain region of the US. We simulate chestnut oak distribution using different criteria for selecting environmental variables: (1) the selection of sensitive variables using factor analysis and the calculation of a sensitivity index, (2) principal components analysis. Factor analysis to environmental variables at both occurrence and pseudo-absence points was conducted to calculate the sensitivity index for each environmental variable. The identification of sensitive variables may use the factor loadings of first one or two factors of environmental variables. Modelling with sensitive variables (mean Kappa > 0.60; mean true skill statistic (TSS) > 0.60) can enhance model accuracy more than using PCA variables or all available environmental variables (mean Kappa ranges from 0.45 to 0.65; mean TSS ranges from 0.40 to 0.70). Modelling with leading principal components (larger than 90% variations) can achieve similar or higher accuracy than modelling with all variables. The influence of redundant information on species modelling varies with the model used. Our results suggest that selecting environmental variables using a sensitivity index defined by factor analysis may improve model accuracy and reduce redundant information in species modelling. The proposed method for selecting sensitive variables is easy to implement and has strong ecological interpretability.

Journal of Hydrometeorology, 2015

Soil moisture shortages adversely affecting agriculture are significantly associated with meteoro... more Soil moisture shortages adversely affecting agriculture are significantly associated with meteorological drought. Because of limited soil moisture observations with which to monitor agricultural drought, characterizing soil moisture using drought indices is of great significance. The relationship between commonly used drought indices and soil moisture is examined here using Chinese surface weather data and calculated station-based drought indices. Outside of northeastern China, surface soil moisture is more affected by drought indices having shorter time scales while deep-layer soil moisture is more related on longer index time scales. Multiscalar drought indices work better than drought indices from two-layer bucket models. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) works similarly or better than the standardized precipitation index (SPI) in characterizing soil moisture at different soil layers. In most stations in China, the Z index has a higher correlation wit...