Life Sciences Commons^™

Transport Mechanisms For Human Fecal Indicator Bacteria In An Urban Stormwater Basin In Southeastern Wisconsin, Chelsea M. Corson

Theses and Dissertations

Discharge of stormwater runoff to receiving waters is a known source of human pathogens; however the primary mechanisms by which these pathogens enter the stormwater system have yet to be quantified. This study builds upon and utilizes prior research findings in an attempt to explain the influence of the age of the pipes within stormwater and sanitary conveyance systems, rainfall and hydrogeological characteristics, and select infrastructure variables that contribute to the observed contamination of an urban stormwater basin in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Over the course of approximately two years from 2012 to 2014, a total of 260 samples from 22 stormwater …

The Mixing Of A River Into Coastal Waters At Two Beaches: Environmental Factors, E. Coli Contributions And Applications For Predictive Models, Adrian Jordan Koski

Theses and Dissertations

Beach closures and public health protection are confounded by analytical procedures that result in delays in notification of adverse water quality conditions and the lack of affordable analytical methods to identify pollutant sources. Attempts have been made to develop predictive frameworks using ancillary hydrometeorological data to statistically anticipate deteriorated water quality. Many urban coastal beaches are impacted by river runoff. In Kenosha Wisconsin, beach sanitary survey data from two beaches adjacent to the mouth of the Pike River were examined to ascertain whether simple river-lake mixing models identified river influence on coastal water quality and improved predictions of beach advisories. …

Iodine-131: Measurement And Application Of A Novel Tracer In Lake Michigan, Michael Patrick Montenero

Theses and Dissertations

Iodine-131 is a short-lived (half-life=8.0233 days), gamma emitting, radiopharmaceutical that, when excreted by patients, enters aquatic systems via sewage effluent discharged from water reclamation facilities (WRFs). Here, I report on 131I activities in the nearshore of southwest Lake Michigan in the vicinity of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This is the first report on 131I activity in any of the Great Lakes of North America.

The flux of 131I from Milwaukee’s two WRFs was monitored from July 2013 to December 2014. Mean discharge of 131I from the Jones Island WRF was (0.664 ± 0.012)×108 Bq d-1 (mean effluent 131I activity: ~0.25 Bq L-1; …

The Identification And Quantification Of Sewage Contamination In The Milwaukee Estuary, Hayley Templar

Theses and Dissertations

Sewage contamination from failing infrastructure and sewer overflows is a major environmental and human health concern in waterways, especially in urban communities bordering the Great Lakes such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Culture-based fecal indicator bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, enterococci, and fecal coliforms are traditionally used to indicate the presence of a human health risk due to fecal contamination. These indicators, however, fail to distinguish between sources of fecal contamination (human vs. non-human). Two human-specific fecal indicators, human Bacteroides and human Lachnospiraceae, were used to identify and quantify sewage contamination in the Milwaukee estuary, which discharges to Lake Michigan, as well …

Neurobehavioral And Gene Expression Effects Of Early Embryonic Methylmercury Exposure In Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens) And Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Larvae, Francisco Xavier Mora Zamorano

Theses and Dissertations

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a pervasive and persistent neurotoxic environmental pollutant known to affect the behavior of fish, birds and mammals. The present study addresses the neurobehavioral and gene expression effects of MeHg in yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. The rationale for this study originated from an interest to understand the behavioral and molecular phenotypes of environmental MeHg exposure in the yellow perch, an ecologically and economically relevant species of the North American Great Lakes region. Both MeHg and the yellow perch coexist in a common ecosystem: the North American Great Lakes. However, the effects of this …

Female Reproductive Impacts Of Dietary Methylmercury In Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens) And Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Abigail Rachael Debofsky

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to evaluate the effects of dietary MeHg exposure on female teleost reproduction and phenotypically-anchor gene dysregulation in adult yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) in order to establish relevant biomarkers relating exposure and subsequent reproductive effects. Yellow perch were used in the study for their socioeconomic importance within the Great Lakes basin, and their significance to the food web. Utilization of zebrafish allowed for a detailed analysis of the molecular effects of MeHg and established its relevance as a model for other fish species. MeHg exposures at environmentally relevant levels were done in zebrafish for …

A Soil Parameters Geodatabase For The Modeling Assessment Of Agricultural Conservation Practices Effects In The United States, Mauro Di Luzio, Martin L. Norfleet, Jeffrey G. Arnold, Jimmy R. Williams, James R. Kiniry

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Soil parameters for hydrology modeling in cropland dominated areas, from the regional to local scale, are part of critical biophysical information whose deficiency may increase the uncertainty of simulated conservation effects and predicting potential. Despite this importance, soil physical and hydraulic parameters lack common, wide-coverage repositories combined to digital maps as required by various hydrology-based agricultural water quality models.

This paper describes the construction of a geoprocessing workflow and the resultant hydrology-structured soil hydraulic, physical, and chemical parameters geographic database for the entire United States, named US-SOILM-CEAP. This database is designed to store a-priori values for a suit of models, …