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Nitrate Transport In The Unsaturated Zone, Patience Bosompemaa
Nitrate Transport In The Unsaturated Zone, Patience Bosompemaa
Theses and Dissertations
Abundance of nitrate in the soil is a basic issue in agricultural land-use regions, causing eutrophication and pollution of water bodies. The study focuses on the role of a saturated buffer zone (SBZ) to remove nitrate from the groundwater resulting from agricultural activities. The study area is herbaceous SBZ located in central Illinois (40.614382ºN, -89.023542ºW), which lies between a stream and a farm located upgradient. The SBZ has been outfitted with an agricultural runoff treatment system that diverts tile drainage into the subsurface of the SBZ rather than discharging into the stream. Within the SBZ three experimental areas composed of …
Nature, Identity, And Pastoralism: Changing Landscapes And Shifting Paradigms In The Mongolian Taiga, Jessica Vinson
Nature, Identity, And Pastoralism: Changing Landscapes And Shifting Paradigms In The Mongolian Taiga, Jessica Vinson
Theses and Dissertations
The traditional environment of pastoralism is under assault from land degradation, rangeland conservation, and development paradigms that alter the everyday lives of Tsataan Dukha reindeer herders in the Mongolian taiga. This paper seeks to analyze the ways in which identity is shaped through experiences of or relationships with particular nonhuman places and beings, and how the Tsataan Dukha renegotiate their individual and collective identities with changing local landscapes that exert considerable pressures upon the social, political, and economic organization of Dukha life. Senses of place and of space are intimately tied to a sense of self, so disruption in environmental …
Nitrate Concentrations In Streams As A Function Of Crop Cover In Midwestern Agricultural Watersheds: Assessing The Role Of Corn And Soybeans, Jacob Tyler Piske
Nitrate Concentrations In Streams As A Function Of Crop Cover In Midwestern Agricultural Watersheds: Assessing The Role Of Corn And Soybeans, Jacob Tyler Piske
Theses and Dissertations
Increased availability and reduced cost of synthetic-nitrogen fertilizers have led to excess nitrogen being deposited in reservoirs. The accumulation of nitrogen (N) in reservoirs has negative effects, generating algal blooms, hypoxic zones, and poor drinking water quality. Corn and soybean utilize nitrogen at different rates, resulting in higher nitrogen fertilizer application to fields for corn than for soybean. This work examines whether the nitrate concentration in a stream may be correlated to the percentage of land devoted to growing corn or soybeans in the watershed. To investigate potential relationships, discharge (Q) and nitrate concentration data from ten USGS gauging stations …
Constructing A Data-Based Mortality Profile For Avian Tower Kills At Telecommunication Towers In Illinois, Rachel Dipietro
Constructing A Data-Based Mortality Profile For Avian Tower Kills At Telecommunication Towers In Illinois, Rachel Dipietro
Theses and Dissertations
During spring and fall seasons, Neotropical migratory passerines travel nocturnally across the Western Hemisphere between their wintering and breeding grounds, often encountering man-made threats. One hazard that has gained considerable publicity in recent decades is the communication tower. While there have been many tower kill studies recorded, there has been no attempt at predicting the risk of towers based on their different attributes (e.g., height, type of light, landscape placement) spatially on a regional scale. The objective of this study was to create seasonal mortality profile maps in GIS for Illinois, based on tower attributes combined with key factors such …
Future Melting Away: Water Stress As A Threat To Human Security In Bangladesh And The Role Of International Community, Farzana Afroz Chowdhury
Future Melting Away: Water Stress As A Threat To Human Security In Bangladesh And The Role Of International Community, Farzana Afroz Chowdhury
Theses and Dissertations
Bangladesh is considered as one of the frontline states in the global climate change; its policy agendas attempt to respond to the perceived security threats emanating from such changes. Water stress is one of the key problems the country is facing. Yet, links between glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Bangladesh’s climate, growing water stress, and its implications for human security have seldom been studied. Drawing on the concepts of climate change, human security and water stress, the thesis examines the causes of Bangladesh’s freshwater crisis and its contribution to the human insecurity. Here in this study, the influence of …
Creating A Scaling Relationship Between Peak Discharge And Drainage Area To Identify Tile Drainage Inputs Into An Agricultural Stream, Ryan Plath
Theses and Dissertations
Tile drains have been shown to contribute to high levels of nitrate in agricultural streams. Locations of tile drains on a watershed scale, however, are often unknown due to tile drains being located on many separate parcels of private property. This study evaluates the ability of a methodology, using scaling relationships between discharge and drainage area, for locating areas of large tile drainage contribution to Money Creek, in McLean County, Illinois. Additionally, this study examines the difference in scaling relationships and physical stream hydrology between tileflow and no-tileflow conditions. Eight stream sites were created in the watershed, that recorded stage …
Dynamics Of Nitrate, Phosphorus, And Suspended Sediment Transport In Two Agricultural Streams In Central Illinois, Luke W. Lampo
Dynamics Of Nitrate, Phosphorus, And Suspended Sediment Transport In Two Agricultural Streams In Central Illinois, Luke W. Lampo
Theses and Dissertations
Nutrients such as nitrate and phosphorus are necessary for life, but excessive amounts can be detrimental. Large amounts of nutrients entering bodies of water can lead to hypoxic zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico. Nutrients are also problematic in drinking water reservoirs, as high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water can cause health conditions such as blue baby syndrome and high phosphorus concentrations can lead to algal blooms. Suspended sediment leads to reservoir sedimentation, habitat degradation, and is able to transport particulate nutrients. High nutrient and sediment concentrations are a recurring problem in the drinking water …
Death And Destruction: Insight Into The Rhino Poaching Epidemic In South Africa, Richard Wayne Charlton
Death And Destruction: Insight Into The Rhino Poaching Epidemic In South Africa, Richard Wayne Charlton
Theses and Dissertations
The poaching of wildlife has been a concern to many involved in the protection of wildlife. Poaching is found throughout the world and has been around for thousands of years. In the past century, poaching has reached new heights and the concern of an extinction of a species has bought the topic of poaching to new light. Whilst poaching has been seen as a biological or conservation topic in the past, criminologists around the world have now started to delve into the topic. The poaching of wildlife and more so in recent years, rhino poaching, has been a concern in …
Simulation Of Value Stream Mapping And Discrete Optimization Of Energy Consumption In Modular Construction, Md Mukul Chowdhury
Simulation Of Value Stream Mapping And Discrete Optimization Of Energy Consumption In Modular Construction, Md Mukul Chowdhury
Theses and Dissertations
With the increased practice of modularization and prefabrication, the construction industry gained the benefits of quality management, improved completion time, reduced site disruption and vehicular traffic, and improved overall safety and security. Whereas industrialized construction methods, such as modular and manufactured buildings, have evolved over decades, core techniques used in prefabrication plants vary only slightly from those employed in traditional site-built construction. With a focus on energy and cost efficient modular construction, this research presents the development of a simulation, measurement and optimization system for energy consumption in the manufacturing process of modular construction. The system is based on Lean …
Takeover On The Tallgrass Prairie: How Lespedeza Cuneata Establishes Dominance, Morgan Rae Walder
Takeover On The Tallgrass Prairie: How Lespedeza Cuneata Establishes Dominance, Morgan Rae Walder
Theses and Dissertations
Invasion ecology aims to study mechanisms by which invasive species are able to enter, establish, and spread within an ecosystem. This study analyzed Darwin’s naturalization and the biotic resistance hypotheses as the most likely explanations for invasion by an exotic legume, Lespedeza cuneata, into a tallgrass prairie. Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis posits that exotic species are less able to establish in communities that have related species, because similarity in morphology and function promotes intense competition for resources. The biotic resistance hypothesis states that competitors, herbivores, and pathogens already present in the community limit the colonization, naturalization, and persistence of invaders, therefore …
A Gis Analysis Of Land Cover Effects On Water Systems: Nutrients And Algae In Stormwater Ponds, Nicole Lee Kappel
A Gis Analysis Of Land Cover Effects On Water Systems: Nutrients And Algae In Stormwater Ponds, Nicole Lee Kappel
Theses and Dissertations
Anthropogenic land conversion is occurring rapidly and has the potential to impact our water quality. This study aims to explore the effect of watershed land characteristics on water quality within stormwater ponds (SWPs). Rapid land conversion is known to affect water quality of receiving water bodies, however not much is known about the effect of urbanization on SWPs. Geographic informational systems (GIS) was used to determine areas of land that drain into ponds. Water samples were collected and analyzed for total phosphorous, dissolved reactive phosphorous, nitrate, and ammonia. Algal pigment and percent cover measurements were taken in the field and …
Model Of Residence Time And Analysis Of Nitrogen Removal For Two Constructed Wetlands At The Franklin Demonstration Farm In Lexington, Illinois, Emma Singh Baghel
Model Of Residence Time And Analysis Of Nitrogen Removal For Two Constructed Wetlands At The Franklin Demonstration Farm In Lexington, Illinois, Emma Singh Baghel
Theses and Dissertations
Pollution from nonpoint agricultural runoff has become a major problem facing our streams and rivers today. Not only are fish and aquatic life affected, but so is the quality of our drinking and recreational water resources. Studies have shown that wetlands have proven to be the most cost-effective and low maintenance method of removing nonpoint or diffused contaminate inputs. The biological processes and removal of nutrients in wetlands depend on the total surface area available for microbial activity in the soil and a certain period of water retention time. Since chemical processes take time, the measure of residence time is …
Utilizing Illinois State University's Environmental Legacy And Historical Collections To Sustain A Global Future, Melissa Nergard
Utilizing Illinois State University's Environmental Legacy And Historical Collections To Sustain A Global Future, Melissa Nergard
Theses and Dissertations
The scholarly capital of materials at Illinois State University includes numerous natural history collections from the mid-nineteenth century that hold significant research and historical value. Changes in pedagogical methods and academic leadership, however, created confusion and territorial competition in who would preserve and manage the collections. Consequently some specimens from those early collections have been both lost and forgotten. This thesis used a systems approach to track the material losses incurred when institutional support shifted in the 1870s, and the original collectors and curators left Central Illinois for national interests in Washington, D.C. Yet, historical environmental collections have become increasingly …
Investigating Seed Dispersal Distances And Long Distance Dispersal Mechanisms Of The Invasive Plant, Alliaria Petiolata, Christopher Loebach
Investigating Seed Dispersal Distances And Long Distance Dispersal Mechanisms Of The Invasive Plant, Alliaria Petiolata, Christopher Loebach
Theses and Dissertations
Alliaria petiolata, an herbaceous plant, has aggressively invaded North American woodlands. It has been extensively studied to understand why it is a successful invader, but certain aspects of its biology have been understudied such as seed dispersal distances and long distance dispersal mechanisms (LDDM). My thesis experimentally measured A. petiolata seed dispersal distances and determined if epizoochory (external animal transport) is a LDDM. To measure dispersal distances, seed traps were placed around three A. petiolata seed point sources to capture dispersed seeds at increasing distances away from the point sources. Eight mathematical functions that describe dispersal distances were fitted to …
Using Deuterium And Garp To Estimate Geographic Extents Of Source Populations Of Hoary ( Lasiurus Cinereus ) And Eastern Red ( Lasiurus Borealis ) Bats Killed At A Central Illinois Wind Facility, Rachael Anne Van Essen
Using Deuterium And Garp To Estimate Geographic Extents Of Source Populations Of Hoary ( Lasiurus Cinereus ) And Eastern Red ( Lasiurus Borealis ) Bats Killed At A Central Illinois Wind Facility, Rachael Anne Van Essen
Theses and Dissertations
High bat mortality at wind energy facilities is a widely cited conservation issue, but the population-level impacts are not understood. In Illinois, the main species affected are migratory tree bats like the Hoary (Lasiurus cinereus) and Eastern Red (Lasiurus borealis).This research used deuterium isotope analysis of hair combined with ecological niche modeling (GARP: Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction) in a novel way to map the geographic extents of Hoary and Eastern Red bat specimens salvaged at a single central Illinois wind facility from 2008-2010. Hair was chosen after determining that the claw is currently a problematic tissue due to a …
Further Development Of A Model Of Environmental Commitment, Shane Boyd
Further Development Of A Model Of Environmental Commitment, Shane Boyd
Theses and Dissertations
Environmental commitment is a concept based on the investment model and interdependence theory literature. Interdependence theory and the investment model were originally geared towards the study of relationship commitment as function of relationship satisfaction and alternatives to being in that relationship. It has since been applied to areas outside of relationship commitment such as environmental commitment. Previous research has demonstrated that environmental commitment can be predictive of environmental behavior, above and beyond several different control variables that captured different aspects of the person-environment relationship (Davis, Le, & Coy, 2011; Davis, Green, & Reed, 2009). This project will strengthen the existing …