William & Mary ScholarWorks

Welcome! William & Mary ScholarWorks preserves and provides access to the research and creative output of William & Mary's faculty, staff, and students.

W&M Faculty and Researchers are encouraged to submit their content for inclusion in ScholarWorks.

Recent Submissions

Embargo
Evaluating Recruitment of American Eel, Anguilla rostrata, in the Potomac River: Spring 2026
(Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Science, 2026) Dowiarz, Samantha A.; Tuckey, Troy; Fabrizio, Mary; VIMS
American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a valuable commercial species along the Atlantic coast of North America from New Brunswick to Florida. Landings from Chesapeake Bay typically represent about 65% of the annual United States commercial harvest (ASMFC 2023). American Eel is also important to the recreational fishery as this species is often used as live bait for Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) and Cobia (Rachycentron canadum). In 2021, Chesapeake Bay commercial landings of American Eel (284,297 lbs) represented 87% of the U.S. landings of yellow eel (personal communication from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division). Since the 1980s, harvest along the U.S. Atlantic Coast has declined, with similar patterns occurring in the Canadian Maritime Provinces (Meister and Flagg 1997). The American Eel Benchmark Stock Assessment report (ASMFC 2012) established that the American Eel is depleted in U.S. waters. The most recent American Eel Benchmark Stock Assessment confirmed the stock remains depleted and abundance is lower than what was reported in the 2017 stock assessment update (ASMFC 2017; ASMFC 2023).
Open Access
Are Redistricting No-Split Rules Neutral? Post-2020 Ohio as a Case Study
(SAGE, 2026-08-03) Wise, Geoffrey M.; Rossiter, Kalyn; Arts & Sciences
The enforcement of city- and county-preserving “no-split” rules in redistricting can complicate estimations of the expected partisan seat splits and responsiveness of neutral map drawing, even creating the impression that these nominally partisan-blind rules favor one party. This work presents a case study of Ohio’s post-2020 Congressional and legislative redistricting to illustrate how a new spatial analysis technique can quantify the (surprisingly small) statewide and localized impacts of these map-drawing constraints on expected outcomes of neutrally drawn maps, consistent with results from a recently published parametric study of seven populous states. The conversion of votes to seats also appears minimally shifted when building districts out of communities of interest rather than administrative boundaries. The lack of a significant no-split effect is attributed to the low fraction of seats that are in the competitive range and thus possibly impacted by applying no-split rules.
Open Access
Common Plankton of Seaside ESVA
(Virginia Institute of Marine Science Eastern Shore Laboratory, 2025) Snyder, Richard A.; VIMS
Plankton were collected near Wachapreague Inlet with a 10 micron plankton net. Samples were fixed and preserved in Lugol’s Iodine, which accounts for the reddish-brown hue of the specimens, proteins are stained heavily. Nucleii tend to be prominent. All photos were taken with a Nikon Optiphot microscope with DIC optics. Images were acquired with a 40 x objective unless noted otherwise. Images were imported without size adjustments, so relative sizes are accurate, except where the 20x objective was used for larger specimens. An extended depth focus (EDF) function of Image Pro software was used to integrate focal planes for these images. All images were taken by the author, who accepts responsibility for identification errors. All identifications are tentative, some more reliable than others. This document is not to be considered a comprehensive guide, but it is hoped that it will assist you in your exploration of the microscopic plankton of the region, and gateway to more detailed information in other guide books in the library.
Open Access
Development dreams and riparian realities in Nepal: hydropower expansion, local lifeways, and the politics of river futures
(Institute of Physics Publishing, 2026-06-26) Burchett, Patton; Sritharan, Narayani; Lohani, Sapana; Arts & Sciences
Hydropower is widely framed as a clean pathway to energy security, economic growth, and climate adaptation. Yet its governance remains dominated by technical and economic approaches that prioritize measurable outputs and market-oriented outcomes while marginalizing local communities’ needs, concerns, and ways of knowing and relating to rivers. Nepal offers a particularly revealing case for examining these dynamics. Drawing on interviews with policy and sectoral elites alongside ethnographic fieldwork with Indigenous and other riparian communities, this paper juxtaposes top–down governance framings of hydropower development with lived experiences of livelihood disruption, cultural loss, and ecological displacement. We argue that hydropower development in Nepal operates through an ‘epistemic regime’ that shapes what counts as valid knowledge and how rivers are perceived and managed. This regime renders rivers, risks, and impacts legible in technical and financial terms while marginalizing relational and place-based understandings of river systems, livelihoods, and stewardship. Across policy and planning discourse, we identify four recurring themes: treatment of water as a strategic techno-economic asset; technocratic governance and hollowing of participation; unequal distributions of benefits and burdens; and compensation regimes that normalize loss. Our findings show that local perspectives are excluded not simply because of consultation or implementation failures, but because the institutions governing hydropower systematically limit whose knowledge and experiences count in decision-making. The infrastructure that follows (dams, diversions, tunnels, roads, etc) reshapes river ecosystems while reducing socio-ecological impacts to measurable forms of loss. These changes undermine subsistence livelihoods and long-standing river-care practices, pushing households toward precarious wage labor and migration. We conceptualize these processes as a structural ‘triple bind’ for riparian communities: normalization of dispossession, constrained livelihood recovery, and weakening of cultural-ecological stewardship. The paper concludes that just and resilient energy futures require reworking the epistemic foundations of hydropower development under climate change.
Open Access
Maasai Women's Perspectives on Equitable Ranger Programs in Kenya
(Institute for Integrative Conservation, 2025-01-06) Boyd, Corinne; Perry-Smith, Jana; Kileken, Ketito (Cynthia); Dicenta, Mara; Garroutte, Erica; Kayiaa, Hellen; Meneto, Pheona; Arts & Sciences
Women play a disproportionately important role in conservation and community well-being but often face barriers to engagement and empowerment in the conservation field. Women ranger programs have become a popular strategy for engaging women and the unique role they play in their societies, in the protection of wildlife and ecosystem services. Despite their popularity, there lacks an understanding from women rangers about how to best structure programs to promote the conservation and well-being goals for women rangers. The primary objective of the research was to document the perspectives of the South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO) women rangers on how to best structure the women's ranger program, aiming to understand the role of women in Maasai culture, investigate lessons from other programs, explore SORALO's goals, and examine perspectives on multi-gender initiatives. Using interviews and observational data, the study revealed key findings about the program in southern Kenya. Women rangers balance multiple identities as Maasai women and conservation professionals, navigating evolving societal roles and gender-specific challenges while having significant community impacts. The research highlights the importance of mutual support between men and women rangers and the need for programs to adapt to changing roles. These insights can inform the design of more inclusive and effective conservation initiatives that leverage the unique strengths and perspectives of women rangers, benefiting organizations like SORALO and others seeking to develop or enhance women ranger programs.