CBU Scholar

CBU Scholar provides access to the publications and contributions of CBU faculty and students.

The database consists of books, book chapters, articles, essays, and other research outputs.
Publications are accepted from all departments and across all languages and subjects as determined by the research activities of CBU Faculty.
If you are interested in depositing your work, log in at the top right using your CBU email.

Communities in CBU Scholar

Select a community to browse its collections.

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Graduate Research 22
Graduate works from CBU students
Research 274
Open Access research publications
Research Chairs, Institutes & Centres 66
Undergraduate Research 77
Undergraduate works from CBU students

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Pollinators and Nutrition: Linking wild bees to the nutritional value of wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) across Unama’ki
(Cape Breton University, 2026-05-12) Sheppard, Gianna; Pindar, Alana
Wild bee pollination plays a critical role in many crops, including lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium). Research from mainland Nova Scotia has shown that effective pollination increases seed set and improves overall fruit quality. Despite their importance, the diversity and functional contributions of native blueberry pollinators in Cape Breton remain poorly understood. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize wild bee community composition across lowbush blueberry fields in Cape Breton and determine how variation in wild bee abundance and species diversity influences both (2) berry fresh weight and (3) nutritional quality, measured as anthocyanin (malvidin-3-glucoside) concentration. Across five study sites, 433 individual bees representing 44 wild bee species were collected, and bee community composition differed among sites. Eskasoni had the lowest bee abundance and the lowest species diversity out of the sites, followed by Lochside. Lake Ainslie had the next highest species diversity, but the highest total bee abundance. St. Columba was the second most diverse site, followed by IPCA house with the highest species diversity. Fresh berry weight varied significantly between sites and was positively correlated with both wild bee abundance and species diversity, demonstrating that more diverse bee communities contribute to increased fruit mass. Nutritional quality, assessed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography, followed a similar pattern: anthocyanin concentrations were lowest at sites with low wild bee abundance and diversity and highest at the site with the greatest bee abundance and diversity. Store-bought (highbush) blueberries exhibited higher anthocyanin concentrations than low-diversity lowbush sites but lower concentrations than the high-diversity lowbush site, further highlighting the nutritional benefits associated with diverse wild bee communities. These results demonstrate that diverse wild bee communities contribute to increased yield and enhanced nutritional quality of lowbush blueberries, underscoring the importance of conserving native pollinators to support sustainable crop production and reduce reliance on managed pollinators.
Access status: Open Access ,
Echoes of Bell: Investigating bumblebee (Bombus spp.) Foraging Acoustics at Beinn Bhreagh Estate
(Cape Breton University, 2026-05-12) Dalton, Lara; Pindar, Alana
Eco-acoustics provides a non-invasive approach to studying pollinator behaviour and plant–pollinator interactions. Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) produce characteristic foraging frequencies that may vary among species and in response to floral identity and environmental conditions. This study examined whether the fundamental and peak frequencies of foraging bumble bees differ among species, flowering plant families Rosaceae and Fabaceae. Field recordings were conducted at Beinn Bhreagh in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, the historic estate of Alexander Graham Bell. The site offers both diverse floral resources and historical significance in acoustic science. Bell’s invention of the telephone, designed to transmit sound, provides a meaningful connection to this research, which uses modern smartphone technology; an evolution of Bell’s work, to record and analyze pollinator acoustics in a natural setting. Recordings were collected from actively foraging bumble bees using an iPhone paired with a RODE Reporter microphone equipped with a wind cover. A total of 149 recordings were analyzed, representing seven Bombus species foraging on seven flowering species (three for one family, four for another). Fundamental and peak frequencies were extracted using Audacity. Linear mixed-effects models were used to compare frequencies among bee species, plant taxa, and environmental variables, including wind speed, temperature, flower colour, and time of day. Both fundamental and peak frequencies varied among Bombus species, with clear differences in median values and distribution ranges observed across species. In contrast, no significant differences were detected between the plant families Rosaceae and Fabaceae, as frequency distributions showed substantial overlap. Environmental variables had weak and inconsistent effects on both peak and fundamental frequencies when included together in the full model. However, more consistent patterns emerged when each variable was examined independently using single-predictor models. Overall, these findings suggest that foraging acoustics are primarily influenced by bee species identity rather than plant family, highlighting the value of eco-acoustic approaches for understanding pollinator-plant interactions.
Access status: Open Access ,
Political Periphery of American Empire: Hawai‘ian Statehood and the Push for Political Agency, 1941-1959
(Cape Breton University, 2026-05-01) Rowe, Quinn; Dye, Sierra
This thesis examines the road to statehood for Hawai‘i in 1959 and the Native Hawai‘ian support for the movement following the colonial annexation of Hawai‘i in 1898. This research reveals that the overwhelming Native Hawai‘ian support for statehood was motivated by a collective desire to secure political agency, as well as growing internal concerns over the rapid expansion of the military and tourism industries and the explicit limitation of voting rights. This thesis scrutinizes the extensive historiography of Hawai‘ian statehood while contextualizing these events with primary sources such as newspaper articles, federal legislation, Congressional hearings, travel brochures, and student advocacy letters. By utilizing postcolonial and systemic race theory, I argue that Native Hawai’ian support for statehood should be viewed as a political moment in time exclusive to the 1940s and 1950s, despite later attempts to expand the movement in future decades.
Access status: Open Access ,
WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU WEARING? HOW BLACK AMERICAN WOMEN ON YOUTUBE INTERPRET THE LOLITA FASHION SUBCULTURE
(Cape Breton University, 2026-04-29) Clover Mulo Farenkia; Shannon Landers
Lolita is a fashion subculture that initially started as a street fashion trend in Japan. In the 1990’s, Japanese alternative fashion magazines such as CUTiE, Olive, and FRUiTs depicted young women wearing Lolita fashion. As these fashion magazines received global distribution, women around the world were introduced to Lolita fashion. As a result, women outside of Japan began to wear Lolita fashion—they created communities to share their passion for Lolita both in-person and online. Although Lolita is a notable fashion subculture amongst women, studies have yet to recognize how Black American women engage with the fashion subculture. This study therefore explores how Black Lolita content creators on YouTube interpret the Lolita fashion subculture, sees to understand Black women's experiences within it. Additionally, this research maps how they experience a sense of belonging within the Lolita fashion subculture. The data was collected from a predominantly Black online Lolita community named “Kawaii Melanin.” By performing a reflexive thematic analysis on seven video interviews from this community, this research offers fresh insights into how Black women experience the Lolita fashion subculture, such as how the sweet Lolita substyle acts as a way for Black women to renegotiate their sense of femininity.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Spectre of the Female Hockey Player: Representations of Gender in the Professional Women Hockey League's Social Medial 2023-2025
(Cape Breton University, 2026-04-24) Williams, Amanda Marie; Hudec, Mariah
This work focuses on identifying the visual themes present in the representations of female hockey players in the Professional Women’s Hockey League in the 2023-2024 season and the 2024-2025 season, with a particular focus on how this thematic representation creates a controlled image avoiding connotations of female masculinity. The Instagram presence of the Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost and the PWHL League are qualitatively examined to better understand the homogenous identity portrayed, as an attempt to avoid a monstrous image of female deviance. In this study 290 photographs were coded. A remarkably lack of diversity was discovered in the variation of appearance in grooming styles between players. I posit that a grooming policy is enforced across the league, highlighting the discomfort with gender non conformity. Examining this phenomenon is part of understanding the role media plays in female athletic achievement by bringing into sharp contrast the conditions under which women are allowed to achieve success, particularly in a society that heavily moderates the viewing of women’s bodies outside of a sexualized role.