Life Sciences Commons^™

Post-Wildfire Recovery Of An Upland Oak-Pine Forest On The Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky, Usa, Devin E. Black, Zachary W. Poynter, Claudia A. Cotton, Suraj Upadhaya, David D. Taylor, Wendy Leuenberger, Beth A. Blankenship, Mary A. Arthur

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Background: Many forests within the southern Appalachian region, USA, have experienced decades of fire exclusion, contributing to regeneration challenges for species such as oaks (Quercus spp. L.) and pines (Pinus spp. L.), and threatening the maintenance of oak-dominated forests in the future. While the use of prescribed fire as a forest management tool is increasing within this region, there remains a lack of information on the potential role of wildfire. A wildfire within the Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, USA, provided an opportunity to investigate how wildfire affected forest vegetation response.

Results: We examined the effects of fire …

Spoil Type Influences Soil Genesis And Forest Development On An Appalachian Surface Coal Mine Ten Years After Placement, Kenton L. Sena, Carmen T. Agouridis, Jarrod Miller, Christopher D. Barton

Lewis Honors College Faculty Publications

Surface mining for coal (or other mineral resources) is a major driver of land-use change around the world and especially in the Appalachian region of the United States. Intentional and well-informed reclamation of surface-mined land is critical for the restoration of healthy ecosystems on these disturbed sites. In Appalachia, the pre-mining land cover is predominately mixed hardwood forest, with rich species diversity. In recent years, Appalachian mine reforestation has become an issue of concern, prompting the development of the Forestry Reclamation Approach, a series of mine reforestation recommendations. One of these recommendations is to use the best available soil substitute; …

Prokaryotic Diversity And Aqueous Geochemistry Of Subsurface Environments Of The Death Valley Regional Flow System, Joshua David Sackett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation summarizes over four years of effort towards the completion of a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences. The work presented in this document covers a broad range of topics, but a central unifying theme is prokaryotic life in the continental subsurface. The work presented in each chapter relied heavily on cultivation-independent methods for assessing prokaryotic communities, including prokaryotic community structure reconstruction from high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries and single-cell genome analysis of novel uncultivated bacteria.

Chapter 2 examines the aqueous geochemistry and prokaryotic diversity of Devils Hole, a cavernous limnocrene and sole natural habitat for the critically endangered …

Climatic Range Filling Of North American Trees, Benjamin Seliger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the degree to which species distributions are controlled by climate is crucial for forecasting biodiversity responses to climate change. Climatic equilibrium, when species are found in all places which are climatically suitable, is a fundamental assumption of species distribution models, but there is evidence in support of climate disequilibria in species ranges. Long-lived, sessile organisms such as trees may be especially vulnerable to being outpaced by climate change, and thus prone to disequilibrium. In this dissertation, I tested the degree to which North American trees are in equilibrium with their potential climatic ranges using the ‘range filling’ metric, which …

Assessment Of The Effects Of Climate Change On Evapotranspiration With An Improved Elasticity Method In A Nonhumid Area, Lei Tian, Jiming Jin, Pute Wu, Guo-Yue Niu

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Climatic elasticity is a crucial metric to assess the hydrological influence of climate change. Based on the Budyko equation, this study performed an analytical derivation of the climatic elasticity of evapotranspiration (ET). With this derived elasticity, it is possible to quantitatively separate the impacts of precipitation, air temperature, net radiation, relative humidity, and wind speed on ET in a watershed. This method was applied in the Wuding River Watershed (WRW), located in the center of the Yellow River Watershed of China. The estimated rate of change in ET caused by climatic variables is −10.69 mm/decade, which is close to the …

Quantifying The Impact Of Climate Change And Human Activities On Streamflow In A Semi-Arid Watershed With The Budyko Equation Incorporating Dynamic Vegetation Information, Lei Tian, Jiming Jin, Pute Wu, Guo-Yue Niu

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding hydrological responses to climate change and land use and land cover change (LULCC) is important for water resource planning and management, especially for water-limited areas. The annual streamflow of the Wuding River Watershed (WRW), the largest sediment source of the Yellow River in China, has decreased significantly over the past 50 years at a rate of 5.2 mm/decade. Using the Budyko equation, this study investigated this decrease with the contributions from climate change and LULCC caused by human activities, which have intensified since 1999 due to China’s Grain for Green Project (GFGP). The Budyko parameter that represents watershed characteristics …

Predicting Combined Effects Of Land Use And Climate Change On River And Stream Salinity, John Olson

John Olson

The Biological Significance And Utility Of Feeding By Dermestes Maculatus, Braymond Adams

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With their efficient feeding habits and tolerance to very low moisture and humidity, beetles in the Family Dermestidae are especially adapted to variable environments and habitats. Dermestid cultures have been in use since 1922 in cleaning tissue and flesh from bones, and proven benefit in multiple fields, including zoology, ornithology, and forensics. Dermestid feeding behaviors when coupled with known life stage and insect succession information aids in providing significant entomological evidence. However, the feeding activities of insects, like those of vertebrate scavengers and predators, change remains and may leave artifacts that can be sometimes be difficult to assign to a …

Breeding For Resilience To Increasing Temperatures: A Field Trial Assessing Genetic Variation In Soft Red Winter Wheat, Kathleen Russell, David Van Sanford

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Breeding for resilience to climate change is a daunting prospect. Crop and climate models tell us that global wheat yields are likely to decline as the climate warms, causing a significant risk to global food security. High temperatures are known to affect crop development yet breeding for tolerance to heat stress is difficult to achieve in field environments. We conducted an active warming study over two years to quantify the effects of heat stress on genetic variation of soft red winter (SRW) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Forty SRW cultivars and breeding lines were chosen based on marker genotypes at …

River Bank Inducement Influence On A Shallow Groundwater Microbial Community And Its Effects On Aquifer Reactivity, Natalie June Gayner

Theses and Dissertations

Placing groundwater wells next to riverbanks to draw in surface water, known as riverbank inducement (RBI), is common and proposed as a promising and sustainable practice for municipal and public water production across the globe. However, these systems require further investigation to determine risks associated with river infiltration especially with rivers containing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent. Since microbes drive biogeochemical transformations in groundwater and largely affect water quality, it is important to understand how the microbial communities in drinking water wells are affected by river infiltration. This study investigated if, and to what extent, the microbial community in a …

Measuring Connective Capacity Throughout The Gulf Of Mexico Fishery Management Network, Anthony Rocha Lima

Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Mexico provides substantial resources along its 1,680-mile coastline, spanning 5 U.S. states and providing millions of pounds of seafood and hundreds of millions in revenue annually. Continued success of the fishery relies on the ability of a large, complex, multiagency network to find the best solutions to balance the needs of humans, as well as ensure long-term sustainability. Organizations with varying objectives require effective communication when addressing intricate ecosystem-based management topics such as endangered species and regional economies.

To better understand the connectivity within the Gulf fishery management network, an IRB reviewed survey was dispersed to the …

Impacts Of Habitat Attributes And Community Gardens On Urban Bird Communities, Samuel Glenn Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations

The Rio Grande Valley of Southern Texas is a major agricultural region yet has some of the highest hunger rates in the USA. Urbanization and agriculture affect biodiversity, which is well studied, but little is known about how agriculture affects biodiversity in urban areas. We investigated how different urban attributes, including those related to urban farming, impact bird communities in Brownsville and Harlingen, TX, and compared sites that have community gardens to those that do not. To study three key urban habitat characteristics, we identified sites that exhibited all possible combinations of these factors, quantified land cover classes related to …

The Effects Of Seasonal Variations In Chemistry And Hydrology On The Microbial Community And Its Sulfide Oxidation Potential In A Naturally Acidic Maine Stream, Raymond C. Kahler Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sulfide minerals oxidize through interaction with water and oxygen, releasing hydrogen ions. The process often occurs naturally near metal sulfide deposits, and can be accelerated through mining. Microorganisms accelerate the rate of sulfide oxidation. Acidified streams typically contain high metal concentrations (e.g. aluminum) and microbes in these systems may develop resistances to metal toxicity. Stream flow can affect sulfide oxidation and microbial community structure. Baseflow can influence stream chemistry from interactions with the surrounding bedrock, while stormflow affects stream chemistry and the local microbial community through dilution and addition of microbes transported by runoff. Microbial community composition is affected by …

Evaluation Of Soybean Maturity Group And Planting Date In A Soybean-Rice Rotation On Overall Crop Productivity, Carrie Ortel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the effects of soybean (Glycine max L.) management techniques on soil-nitrogen (N) credit development and its impact on the subsequent rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop’s success. This study was conducted to determine how soybean maturity group (MG) and planting date effect overall soybean productivity and its influence on the following rice crop. Various soybean planting dates (optimum and late) and MGs (3.5, 4.7, 5.4, and 5.6) were grown and followed in rotation with a rice crop. Six rates of pre-flood fertilizer-N (0, 44, 89, 134, 179, 224 kg N ha-1) were applied to the rice crop. …

Methanogens, Plausible Extraterrestrial Life Forms On Mars, And Their Tolerance To Increasing Concentrations Of Illite Clay, Chandler Kern

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Methanogens, some of Earth’s most primitive prokaryotic organisms, are candidates for possible life forms capable of inhabiting Mars. Specifically, four different species (Methanobacterium formicicum, Methanococcus maripaludis, Methanosarcina barkeri, Methanothermobacter wolfeii) were analyzed for their tolerance to the presence of illite clay. Illite is a crystalline mineral that has been identified from regions of Mars’s surface. Results indicated that all four species grew with some success in the illite at different concentrations. This experimentation with methanogens’ abilities to survive and reproduce in the presence of illite allows for a more accurate understanding of the potential capability of microbial …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The goals of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Molecular Fossils From Phytoplankton Reveal Secular Pco2 Trend Over The Phanerozoic, Caitlyn R. Witkowski, Johan W. H. Weijers, Brian S. Blais, Stefan Schouten, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Past changes in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (PCO2) have had a major impact on earth system dynamics; yet, reconstructing secular trends of past PCO2 remains a prevalent challenge in paleoclimate studies. The current long-term PCO2reconstructions rely largely on the compilation of many different proxies, often with discrepancies among proxies, particularly for periods older than 100 million years (Ma). Here, we reconstructed Phanerozoic PCO2 from a single proxy: the stable carbon isotopic fractionation associated with photosynthesis (Ɛp) that increases as PCO2 increases. This concept has been widely applied to alkenones, but here, we …

Proceedings Of The First Annual Symposium On The Wright State Woods, College Of Science And Mathematics, College Of Liberal Arts

1st Annual Wright State Woods Symposium

The proceeding of the Woods Symposium held at Wright State University and sponsored by the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts.

Assessing The Cooling Effects Of Urban Vegetation On Urban Heat Mitigation In Selected U.S. Cities, Qiuyan Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a growing problem worldwide. Mitigation of UHI is necessary for cities to adapt to climate change and enhance sustainable development at a city scale. Cooling cities with urban vegetation management is a sustainable solution for urban heat mitigation. Urban vegetation influences urban microclimate through the shading effect, surface roughness, and evapotranspiration. The differences in horizontal and vertical structures of urban vegetation determine the shading effect, surface roughness, and evapotranspiration. Enhancing the cooling effect of urban vegetation requires a comprehensive understanding of how vegetation structure affects UHI. The effects of horizontal structure on land surface temperature …

Modulation Of Auxin And Cytokinin Responses By Early Steps Of The Phenylpropanoid Pathway, Jasmina Kurepa, Timothy E. Shull, Sumudu S. Karunadasa, Jan A. Smalle

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: The phenylpropanoid pathway is responsible for the synthesis of numerous compounds important for plant growth and responses to the environment. In the first committed step of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, the enzyme phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) deaminates L-phenylalanine into trans-cinnamic acid that is then converted into p-coumaric acid by cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H). Recent studies showed that the Kelch repeat F-box (KFB) protein family of ubiquitin ligases control phenylpropanoid biosynthesis by promoting the proteolysis of PAL. However, this ubiquitin ligase family, alternatively named Kiss Me Deadly (KMD), was also implicated in cytokinin signaling as it was shown to promote the degradation of …

Assessing Water Policy Implications Of The Changing Agriculture In New Mexico, Trevor A. Birt

Shared Knowledge Conference

Agriculture is the dominant water sector in New Mexico, responsible for more than 80% of water withdrawals in 2015 (USGS 2018). Water policy needs to be extremely adaptive and informed to meet the needs of not only farmers, but cities, industry and riparian uses. Since 1840, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has conducted census surveys assessing all levels of agriculture. These data are physically published at the county, state, and national level on a 5-year cycle, detailing various material counts such as acreage, yields, and water usage, as well as socioeconomic estimates of farm costs, revenues, and hired workers. …

Microbial Diversity In Urban Environments: Concern For Antibiotic Resistance, Ality Aghedo, Mangala Tawde, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

We are almost oblivious to the presence of microorganisms in our daily lives, but they exist and come into contact with us all the time. While some bacteria are harmless, and even beneficial, other bacteria can cause infections. A common treatment to bacterial infections is antibiotics and the success of an antibiotic depends on the resistance of the bacteria to the antibiotic. We conducted experiments to identify the types of bacteria that can be found on surfaces or within soil environments that come into contact with a vast number of people on a daily basis and how this can affect …

Examining Patterns In Nest Predation Using Artificial Nests, Victoria L. Simonsen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The use of artificial nests to study the predation of avian nests has faced disregard by ecologists due to inconsistencies found between the survival rates of real and artificial nests across studies and reviews. The negative perception of artificial nests providing an inconsistent assessment of survival has thus fostered the perception that artificial nests are a secondary option to be used to overcome logistical hurdles associated with achieving sufficient sample sizes in systems where study species are rare or elusive, or as merely a preliminary method to study predation across gradients. We argue that the greatest mistake ecologists have made …

Hydrological Hazard Assessment For Irrigated Agriculture In The Irwin Focus Area, Russell J. Speed, Adele L. Killen

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment project aimed to identify 2000–3000 hectare precincts suitable to develop intensive irrigated horticulture. The primary focus area was at Irwin, where the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation investigated groundwater resources and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development undertook a multi-faceted site assessment. This report describes the hydrological hazards assessment for the Irwin focus area.

The Irwin focus area is located on fertile loam and clay flats associated with the Irwin River. In the east, it encompasses the Irwin River valley floor and the western boundary loops to the south of the …

Shay Gap Soil Survey: Investigating The Suitability Of Soils And Landforms For Irrigated Agriculture In The Western West Canning Basin, Paul Galloway, Dennis Van Gool, Justin Laycock, Karen Holmes, David Rowe

Resource management technical reports

This report describes the soil and land resources of the Shay Gap study area (SA), which is south of Wallal Downs Station, in unallocated Crown land in the Shire of East Pilbara. It assesses the study area’s capability for three types of irrigated agriculture and examines land resources to ensure any future irrigation developments are sustainable and do not degrade the environment.

The Shay Gap SA lies within the West Canning Basin, an area of about 3500 square kilometres at the western margin of the onshore Canning Basin. The West Canning Basin has a substantial groundwater resource that provides fresh …

Mesobot : An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle For Tracking And Sampling Midwater Targets, Dana R. Yoerger, Molly Curran, Justin Fujii, Christopher R. German, Daniel Gomez-Ibanez, Annette F. Govindarajan, Jonathan C. Howland, Joel K. Llopiz, Peter H. Wiebe, Brett W. Hobson, Kakani Katija, Michael Risi, Bruce H. Robison, Cailean J. Wilkinson, Stephen M. Rock, John A. Breier

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mesobot, a new class of autonomous underwater vehicle, will address specific unmet needs for observing slow-moving targets in the midwater ocean. Mesobot will track targets such as zooplankton, fish, and descending particle aggregates using a control system based on stereo cameras and a combination of thrusters and a variable buoyancy system. The vehicle will also be able to collect biogeochemical and environmental DNA (eDNA) samples using a pumped filter sampler.

Hot Water Treatment As A Kill-Step To Inactivate Escherichia Coli O157:H7, Salmonella Enterica, Listeria Monocytogenes And Enterococcus Faecium On In-Shell Pecans, Karuna Kharel, Veerachandra K. Yemmireddy, Charles J. Graham, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Achyut Adhikari

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

In-shell pecans are susceptible to microbial contamination. This study was performed to investigate feasibility of using hot water treatment as a kill-step for food-borne pathogens during pecan shelling. In-shell pecans were subjected to hot water at 70, 80 or 90 °C for 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 min. The time-temperature treatments to achieve a 5-log reduction of Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and non-pathogenic Enterococcus faecium were determined. Thermal death values were determined for each tested condition. L. monocytogenes was most susceptible to heat treatment and were reduced by 4.6 ± 0.35 log CFU/g at 70 …

Managing Risk In Grazing Operations, Christopher D. Teutsch, Kenneth H. Burdine

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Risk is an inherent part of agricultural production systems. Crane and coworkers (2013) identified five primary areas of risk in grazing operations: 1) MARKETING risk, 2) PRODUCTION risk, 3) LEGAL risk, 4) HUMAN risk, and FINANCIAL risk. These types of risk are described in the accompanying publication entitled “Controlling Risk in Grazing-Based Production Systems” by J. Parsons. This article will discuss the risk associated with “production” in grazing systems, focusing specifically on managing drought in grass based production operations.

Keys To Optimizing Profitability In Cow-Calf Production -- Rooster's Beef, 3 Generations Of Farming & Beef, William Slaton, Becky Slaton

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Rooster's Beef ultimately began with our family farm -Rocky Bluff Farm - now owned by William and Becky Slaton. It is the cattle producer for our beef sold. The farm is named after two Natural Rock Formations on our property. We have several acres of pasture and including some wooded acres. With rotational grazing and intense management, we are able to have 65 cows in a spring calving group, 15 cows in a fall calving group, 3 bulls, 13 replacement heifers, unweaned calves and 12 calves on finisher feed. We also rent ground to raise and put up our own …

Grass Finished Beef: Melding Production And Marketing [2], Todd Clark

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.