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The State of Florida has served as a tourist destination since the mid-nineteenth century; however, tourism to the state has taken many different forms. Steamboats, railroads, early automobiles, the Interstate, and airlines have transported tourists to Florida for over one hundred years. Roadside attractions dominated the mid-twentieth century, accommodating those traveling by automobile and often focusing on Florida’s natural resources such as the Florida springs. Roadside attractions constantly evolved to continue attracting business, especially to compete with the development of large-scale theme parks such as Disney World. This thesis seeks to answer the following research questions: What is the significance of Florida’s mid-century spring-based roadside attractions, how have they developed over time, and to what extent have these attractions maintained their historic integrity? Issues and patterns identified during the application of the National Register of Historic Places framework to ephemeral historic resources such as spring-based roadside attractions will be discussed.

Alive with the exuberance, contradictions, and variety of the Golden State, this Depression-era guide to California is more than 700 pages of information that is, as David Kipen writes in his spirited introduction, \"anecdotal, opinionated, and altogether habit-forming.\" Describing the history, culture, and roadside attractions of the 1930s, the WPA Guide to California features some of the very best anonymous literature of its era, with writing by luminaries such as San Francisco poet Kenneth Rexroth, composer-writer- hobo Harry Partch, and authors Tillie Olsen and Kenneth Patchen.

The management of roadside habitat may be an important component of the conservation of declining pollinators, but insect mortality along roadsides can be high, creating a potential “ecological trap.” Runoff from winter applications of deicing salt can increase soil salinity along roadsides, and if this results in higher sodium levels in floral nectar, it could increase the attractiveness of roadside plants to pollinators, possibly accentuating the ecological trap effect. We compared the soil salinity in a highway median to soil collected from nearby fields and compared the Na+ concentrations in nectar from common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) from these two habitats. We also manipulated soil salinity in field populations of A. syriaca by adding brine solution to document changes in nectar Na+ and pollinator visitation. We found that soil salinity in the median of a highway in Clarke County, VA was 2.3 times higher than the salinity of field soil, however nectar from A. syriaca in the two habitats did not differ significantly in Na+ concentration. Addition of brine to field soil increased soil salinity 17-fold and significantly increased the level of Na+ in A. syriaca nectar. Pollinators visited A. syriaca umbels that received the brine treatment twice as frequently as controls. Implications for insect conservation: We conclude that elevated soil salinity is capable of increasing nectar Na+ and the attractiveness of A. syriaca flowers to insect pollinators, but roadside soil salinity in our study was not high enough to enhance an ecological trap effect of roadside vegetation.

Night markets are attractive tourist sites in Asian cities. However, the outdoor activities produce different types of pollutants. Air pollution and solid waste in night markets have received much attention, but wastewater pollution from night markets has rarely been examined. The untreated wastewater are discharged into roadside gutters and might contaminate receiving waterbodies. In this study, night markets in Taipei city, Taiwan, were surveyed to clarify the characteristics of wastewater. The sampled wastewater showed high levels of organic substances, oil and grease, and phosphorous but low levels of nitrogen compounds. In addition, the unit pollution loads in night market stalls were obtained. The BOD load of each stall in the night markets was 2,509 g/day, which is higher than the sewage emissions of 50 people. In order to know the impacts of night market wastewater on the receiving waterbody, a water quality model, the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP), was used in the studied river, Keelung River. If night market wastewater could be collected (not discharged), the BOD concentration could be reduced by 9.8%, but the NH3-N and DO concentration could be reduced by less than 1%.

The concept of cluster development has characteristics that are identical to tourism activities. Based on the Master Plan for the KSPN Dieng and its Surroundings, the Dieng Plateau is developed with several development strategies, namely the development and strengthening of local potential-based tourist attractions in a sustainable manner, increasing regional carrying capacity and the participation of local communities to support tourism, as well as developing cross-sectoral and regional policies. Accessibility in the Dieng area and its surroundings is supported by road and the availability of public transport. However, accessibility to the Dieng area, which is in an enclaved area, still faces limitations and causes the time and distance to be quite long. Proposal are taken to develop a rest area with many functions. As in Japan, the concept of “michinoeki” or roadside station was developed to provide comfortable facilities for tourists while resting on their way to main attractions or even making “michinoeki” one of the tourist destinations.

The rural road landscape is crucial in forming rural areas’ landscape character (LC). As a platform for portraying the rural landscape, the rural roads demonstrate the area’s unique natural and cultural characteristics to visitors. However, with the continuous development of rural areas, the rural LC has been severely impacted, thus impacting visitors’ visual experience. In order to preserve and protect the rural landscape, this study aims to assess the visual quality of rural road landscapes based on public preference and heatmap analysis. The results indicated that most of the participants had a higher level of preference for rural landscapes with open horizontal views represented by agricultural areas, such as paddy fields. It was also found that different paddy field characters based on their planting stages can also positively affect the visual quality of rural road landscapes. The study also revealed that rural LCs with roadside settlements, commercial structures, mixed agricultural crops, and vegetation received low preference ratings. These characters negatively impact the visual quality of the rural road landscape. These findings provide significant insight for planners and decision-makers regarding protecting and preserving the essential rural road landscapes for the rural tourism experience.

Illegal wildlife trade, which mostly focuses on high-demand species, constitutes a major threat to biodiversity. However, whether poaching is an opportunistic crime within high-demand taxa such as parrots (i.e., harvesting proportional to species availability in the wild), or is selectively focused on particular, more desirable species, is still under debate. Answering this question has important conservation implications because selective poaching can lead to the extinction of some species through overharvesting. However, the challenges of estimating species abundances in the wild have hampered studies on this subject. We conducted a large-scale survey in Colombia to simultaneously estimate the relative abundance of wild parrots through roadside surveys (recording 10,811 individuals from 25 species across 2221 km surveyed) and as household, illegally trapped pets in 282 sampled villages (1179 individuals from 21 species). We used for the first time a selectivity index to test selection on poaching. Results demonstrated that poaching is not opportunistic, but positively selects species based on their attractiveness, defined as a function of species size, coloration, and ability to talk, which is also reflected in their local prices. Our methodological approach, which shows how selection increases the conservation impacts of poaching for parrots, can be applied to other taxa also impacted by harvesting for trade or other purposes.

Since 1995, foodscaping has been given a variety of definitions, while scientifically accurate ones are still a point of debate. The partial substitution of aesthetic edible crops into green landscapes without compromising their recreational purpose falls as an accurate scientific definition of foodscaping. The recreational urban green places that are aesthetically pleasing and sites of tourism are the potential places in which foodscaping can be integrated, such as public parks, exterior of commercial buildings, roadside belts, farmland oases, and privately managed green spaces. In the Gulf region, foodscaping could enhance conventional landscaping and become a resource‐saving substitute for food production posing multiple benefits for urban dwellers. Based on the theoretical evaluation in the Al Ain city of UAE, the 30% substitution of foodscaping annual crops into functional greenery could increase the edible harvest by more than 50% at the rate of 31.49 t/ha per year of the existing fruits and vegetables requirement of 212,211 t per year of the city. Besides pros, there are cons to every facet, which in this case are the risk assessment and biosafety measures, which might be the critical aspects to be analyzed further. Nevertheless, foodscaping has been proposed to develop community awareness of urban landscaping and foodscaping synergies in arid land ecosystems to overcome the need for food security and scarce water resources. Core Ideas The study introduced the scientifically accurate definition of “foodscaping.” The potential sites of foodscaping in urban infrastructure are highlighted and discussed. Foodscaping provides the partial or complete integration of edible crops into landscapes. The theoratical estimation of edible harvest yield from functional urban greenery of Al Ain city was conducted. A comprehensive insight on biosafety risk assessment of foodscaping was offered.