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Item Open Access Master's Project: TRAWL AND ERROR: DESIGNING A FORAGE FISH BOTTOM TRAWLING SURVEY ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN(2026-04-10)A dynamic equilibrium generally exists between predator and prey fish populations within a system. Fluctuations in predator or prey populations due to changes in predator abundance, or factors that affect reproductive success, can drastically affect the ecosystem as a whole. Long-term monitoring surveys are frequently used to track metrics associated with forage fish communities, resulting in a better understanding of the drivers of predator population changes. Lake Champlain’s offshore fishery is dominated by two coldwater predators, stocked and wild native lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and stocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), while predominant prey species consist of non-native alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), native rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus), and trout-perch (Percopsis omiscomaycus). Significant changes in the coldwater community in the past two decades, including the invasion of alewife and substantial natural recruitment of lake trout, have highlighted the importance of understanding predator-prey dynamics in Lake Champlain through a long-term survey of the coldwater prey community. The primary objectives of this study were to design and implement a comprehensive coldwater forage fish bottom trawling survey throughout Lake Champlain and standardize the analysis of data to produce a potential foundation for a long-term monitoring survey. To achieve these objectives, I developed a standard operating procedure and relevant data analysis scripts and implemented the survey for two years. During these two years, I surveyed and analyzed prey populations in the three basins of Lake Champlain where coldwater predators are common. The data collected through this study is the beginning of a potentially long-term survey dataset that can enable managers and researchers to identify trends in the forage base, better understand the drivers of predator population changes, and make informed stocking decisions to maintain the coldwater fish community and fishery.Item Open Access Assessing Food Systems Resilience in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom(UVM Institute for Agroecology, 2025)Item Open Access Co-creation of knowledge in the research work of the West Africa Community of Practice(UVM Institute for Agroecology., 2025-11)The West Africa Community of Practice (CoP) of the Global Collaboration for Resilient Food Systems (CRFS; McKnight Foundation, 2023) program includes Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, and is a valuable space for co-creating knowledge and critically reflecting on participatory action research approaches. The program focuses on agroecology and places particular emphasis on scientific research that strengthens transdisciplinary collaborations and dialogues as a means of promoting sustainable and equitable transformation of food systems. The research work is mainly carried out in farmer-researcher networks (FRNs; Nelson et al., 2019; Richardson et al., 2022) and is sometimes in synergy among several projects within the program. Participants include actors from farmer organizations, scientific institutions, civil society, and non-governmental organizations. FRNs aim to stimulate the participation of producers in research work and serve as a structure for the co-creation of knowledge with rigorous scientific content relevant to the network's territory. Over time, the CoP's commitment to the principles of agroecology, as defined by the FAO (FAO, 2018), as well as the principles of FRNs (CRFS, 2021; Richardson et al., 2021), has inspired a deeper understanding of their meaning in both agricultural practices and participatory research methodologies.Item Open Access Agroecology and Public Development Banks: Transforming Development Finance for Equity and Resilience(UVM Institute for Agroecology, 2025)In this report, we join a growing international effort to use the United Nations High-Level Panel of Experts’ agroecological framework as a guiding reference for financing agricultural and food-system development. These principles provide an framework to consider how PDBs can advance equitable food systems transformation. Our scoping study combines multiple methods, including 12 expert interviews, three focus groups, and a comprehensive literature review. We present a series of PDB case studies that exemplify different ways these institutions are operationalizing agroecological principles. Readers should note that PDBs differ significantly in their structure and operation. This report is a scoping study intended to open discussion and points to areas where more detailed research is needed to better understand current links between PDBs and agroecology, and to explore new ways PDBs can more effectively support principles- based agroecological development.Item Open Access Structural and Health-Related Factors Associated with Loneliness in Older Vermonters(2026-01-28)Background: Loneliness is associated with increased morbidity and mortality among older adults. National studies identify transportation barriers, functional limitations, and reduced social networks as contributors, but Vermont-specific evidence remains limited. This study examined demographic, structural, health-related, and social factors associated with loneliness. Methods: Adults aged 55 years and older utilizing senior centers or senior housing completed a 32-item self-reported REDCap survey, in person, by mail, or online. Validated instruments included the Transportation Insecurity Index (TSI-6), Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS-6), UCLA 3-Item Loneliness Scale, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS-6) disability measures, and a 1-item self-rated health measure. Descriptive statistics and two independent sample t-tests were used to assess associations with loneliness. Results: Sixty-four participants completed the survey. Greater loneliness was significantly associated with higher age (p=0.027), current employment (p=0.012), transportation insecurity (p<0.001), functional disability (p=0.009), and smaller social networks (p<0.001). Respondents aged 75 years and older reported significantly smaller social networks (p=0.016), as did those reporting a significant cognitive impairment (p=0.036). Participants completing the survey from private residences reported significantly higher loneliness compared with those living in senior housing (p=0.020). Qualitative findings reinforced these associations, highlighting limited and infrequent bus routes, inadequate rural transportation coverage, unreliable transportation services, and barriers to participating in community programs. Conclusion: Loneliness among older Vermonters was strongly associated with transportation insecurity, functional disability, smaller social networks, age, and residential setting. Improving rural transportation infrastructure, increasing the reliability of specialized transit services, and expanding accessible community programming may reduce loneliness and promote healthy aging and social connection across Vermont.
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