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Determining The Impact Of Post-Harvest Water Management On Chironomid Abundance, Agrochemical Biomass And Potential Trophic Biomagnification, Mason Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Agriculture has diminished shorebirds’ natural habitat in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Remaining natural stopover sites are supplemented with agricultural fields during the fall and winter. This study evaluates the impact of 4 different post-harvest water management strategies on shorebird food abundance and potential agrochemical biomagnification. Chironomid samples estimated abundance, biomass, and chironomid agrochemical concentration in each field. A risk assessment of agrochemical biomagnification to shorebirds was made across all treatments. Of treatments represented on all study sites, winter treatment had greatest chironomid abundance and biomass. Models indicated that days since flood initiation, start date, and temperature are significant predictors of …

Projected Impacts Of Climate Change On Risk Of Spring Frost And Fire Blight For Malus Domestica, Paul J. Racco

Theses and Dissertations

The impact of climate change is projected for apple phenology, frost attrition, and fire blight risk under the highest emissions scenario through the 21st century.

Viability Of Wetland Crops For Use In Treatment Wetlands: Nitrogen Removal From Water And Production Of Food, Andrew Denson Corder

Theses and Dissertations

Treatment wetlands are used to treat wastewater from a variety of sources, but their functionality depends on the macrophytes present therein. To better understand the viability of wetland macrophytes both as sources of food and as agents of nitrogen removal from wastewater, this study quantified plant growth, food production, and nitrogen removal capacity of three common wetland crops as well as three locally dominant graminoid species in a variety of relevant ecological contexts. All six plant species and a control were grown over a ten-week period in three related experiments: (1) under three moisture regimes, (2) with or without competition …

Overcoming Disruptions Of Human Adjustment Processes To Ecological Shifts In Revolutionary Burkina Faso 1983-1987: The Inter-Relationship Between Externally Imposed Migration, Coordination Of Ngo Activities, And The Process Of Ecological Renewal Through Land Reform, Robert William Penner

Theses and Dissertations

This paper will explore the Burkinabé revolution and the governmental structure which formed out if it, as an ideological entity with some governing capabilities but not simply a political body as it did not possess the capacities at any time to fully govern the country in terms of the implementation of intended social and economic programs. However, these programs were extremely widespread encompassed swaths of rural society in ways that it had not since the Mossi Empire became centralized and rose to regional prominence in the 18th century. The ideological identity of the revolution in Burkina Faso was not a …

Fielding Sustainability: The Potential For Compost Extract As An Amendment On Athletic Turfgrass, Lacy M. Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability and green initiatives are being pushed across the country and the globe, but athletics are not seeing the same pressures as intensely. Golf courses are largely the only athletic arena that have received pressure and are beginning to implement more sustainable management practices. Agriculture is also making strides to use less chemicals through organic farming and improve soil health with cover crops. Meanwhile, the rest of the athletic world continues to contribute to soil compaction, chemical maintenance, and runoff all of which affect the quality of the local environment. The strides to improve athletics’ sustainability record can be seen …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Landscape Ecological Analysis Of Patterns Influencing Bat Activity In Southeast Glacial Plains Of Wisconsin, Angela Leckie Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Nearly half of the world's bat species are threatened by anthropogenic land use. To contribute to the conservation of these cryptic mammals, it is imperative to understand bat habitat selection in human-dominated landscapes. Bat activity was calculated using active acoustic surveys conducted June and July for three years along river and lake transects in an agricultural matrix. Using multiple logistic regression and ANOVA regression tree analyses, I examined the relationship between bat activity of four species and habitat structure at multiple scales.

Aquatic features were determined to be the greatest predictor of bat activity with rivers supporting greater amount of …

The Mormon Role In Irrigation Beginnings And Diffusions In The Western States: An Historical Geography, Kelly C. Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Irrigation has played an important part in the development of the Western States. Its beginnings have often been associated with the Mormon settlement in Utah. However, irrigation had its inception in the West long before the Mormons came to the Great Basin in 1847. The spatial extent of irrigation before this date included limited acreage in nearly every Western State.

Before their arrival in the Great Basin the Mormons had become acquainted with irrigation methods. Knowledge of irrigation had diffused to them primarily from the Spanish in the Southwest. Thus, they were well prepared to begin their irrigation enterprises in …