Life Sciences Commons^™

Oh Chemistry Of Non-Methane Organic Gases (Nmogs) Emitted From Laboratory And Ambient Biomass Burning Smoke: Evaluating The Influence Of Furans And Oxygenated Aromatics On Ozone And Secondary Nmog Formation, Matthew M. Coggon, Christopher Y. Lim, Abigail R. Koss, Kanako Sekimoto, Bin Yuan, Jessica B. Gilman, David H. Hagan, Vanessa Selimovic, Kyle J. Zarzana, Steven S. Brown, James M Roberts, Markus Müller, Robert Yokelson, Armin Wisthaler, Jordan E. Krechmer, Jose L. Jimenez, Christopher Cappa, Jesse H. Kroll, Joost De Gouw, Carsten Warneke

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Chamber oxidation experiments conducted at the Fire Sciences Laboratory in 2016 are evaluated to identify important chemical processes contributing to the hydroxy radical (OH) chemistry of biomass burning non-methane organic gases (NMOGs). Based on the decay of primary carbon measured by proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS), it is confirmed that furans and oxygenated aromatics are among the NMOGs emitted from western United States fuel types with the highest reactivities towards OH. The oxidation processes and formation of secondary NMOG masses measured by PTR-ToF-MS and iodide-clustering time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometry (I-CIMS) is interpreted using a box model employing …

Isotopic Characterization Of Nitrogen Oxides (NoX), Nitrous Acid (Hono), And Nitrate (PNo3-) From Laboratory Biomass Burning During Firex, Jiajue Chai, David J. Miller, Eric Scheuer, Jack Dibb, Vanessa Selimovic, Robert Yokelson, Kyle K. Zarzana, Steven Brown, Abigail R. Koss, Carsten Warneke, Meredith Hastings

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

New techniques have recently been developed and applied to capture reactive nitrogen species, including nitrogen oxides (NOx D NOCNO2), nitrous acid (HONO), nitric acid (HNO3), and particulate nitrate (pNO3 ), for accurate measurement of their isotopic composition. Here, we report – for the first time – the isotopic composition of HONO from biomass burning (BB) emissions collected during the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments Experiment (FIREX, later evolved into FIREX-AQ) at the Missoula Fire Science Laboratory in the fall of 2016. We used our newly developed annular denuder system (ADS), which was verified to completely capture HONO associated …

Nepal Ambient Monitoring And Source Testing Experiment (Namaste): Emissions Of Particulate Matter And Sulfur Dioxide From Vehicles And Brick Kilns And Their Impacts On Air Quality In The Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, Min Zhong, Eri Saikawa, Alexander Avramov, Chen Chen, Boya Sun, Wenlu Ye, William C. Keene, Robert J. Yokelson, Thilina Jayarathne, Elizabeth A. Stone, Maheswar Rupakheti, Arnico K. Panday

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental issues in the Kathmandu Valley, where the capital city of Nepal is located. We estimated emissions from two of the major source types in the valley (vehicles and brick kilns) and analyzed the corresponding impacts on regional air quality. First, we estimated the on-road vehicle emissions in the valley using the International Vehicle Emissions (IVE) model with local emissions factors and the latest available data for vehicle registration. We also identified the locations of the brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley and developed an emissions inventory for these kilns using emissions …

Production Of Secondary Organic Aerosol During Aging Of Biomass Burning Smoke From Fresh Fuels And Its Relationship To Voc Precursors, A. T. Ahern, E. S. Robinson, D. S. Tkacik, R. Saleh, L. E. Hatch, K. C. Barsanti, C. E. Stockwell, R. J. Yokelson, A. A. Presto, A. L. Robinson, R. C. Sullivan, N. M. Donahue

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

After smoke from burning biomass is emitted into the atmosphere, chemical and physical processes change the composition and amount of organic aerosol present in the aged, diluted plume. During the fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment, we performed smog-chamber experiments to investigate formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and multiphase oxidation of primary organic aerosol (POA). We simulated atmospheric aging of diluted smoke from a variety of biomass fuels while measuring particle composition using high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry. We quantified SOA formation using a tracer ion for low-volatility POA as a reference standard (akin to a naturally occurring internal standard). …

In Situ Measurements Of Trace Gases, Pm, And Aerosol Optical Properties During The 2017 Nw Us Wildfire Smoke Event, Vanessa Selimovic, Robert J. Yokelson, Gavin R. Mcmeeking, Sarah Coefield

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

In mid-August through mid-September of 2017 a major wildfire smoke and haze episode strongly impacted most of the NW US and SW Canada. During this period our ground-based site in Missoula, Montana, experienced heavy smoke impacts for ∼ 500h (up to 471μ-3 hourly average PM2.5). We measured wildfire trace gases, PM2.5 (particulate matter ≤2.5μm in diameter), and black carbon and submicron aerosol scattering and absorption at 870 and 401nm. This may be the most extensive real-time data for these wildfire smoke properties to date. Our range of trace gas ratios for δNH3 δCO and δC2H4 δCO confirmed that the smoke …

Speciated And Total Emission Factors Of Particulate Organics From Burning Western Us Wildland Fuels And Their Dependence On Combustion Efficiency, Coty N. Jen, Lindsay E. Hatch, Vanessa Selimovic, Robert J. Yokelson, Robert Weber, Arantza E. Fernandez, Nathan M. Kreisberg, Kelley C. Barsanti, Allen H. Goldstein

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Western US wildlands experience frequent and large-scale wildfires which are predicted to increase in the future. As a result, wildfire smoke emissions are expected to play an increasing role in atmospheric chemistry while negatively impacting regional air quality and human health. Understanding the impacts of smoke on the environment is informed by identifying and quantifying the chemical compounds that are emitted during wildfires and by providing empirical relationships that describe how the amount and composition of the emissions change based upon different fire conditions and fuels. This study examined particulate organic compounds emitted from burning common western US wildland fuels …

Through The Eyes Of Locals: A Changing Climate In Bolivia, Jacob D. Rex

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Deforestation and Agricultural Land-Use Change in Bolivia as a Function of Socio-Economic Realities.

This research combines semi-structured interviews of key informants and local participants, as well as field observations, which were conducted between January and April of 2019 in the Departments of Santa Cruz & Chuquisaca.

Utilization Of Various Methods And A Landsat Ndvi/Google Earth Engine Product For Classifying Irrigated Land Cover, Andrew Nemecek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Methods for classifying irrigated land cover are often complex and not quickly reproducible. Further, moderate resolution time-series datasets have been consistently utilized to produce irrigated land cover products over the past decade, and the body of irrigation classification literature contains no examples of subclassification of irrigated land cover by irrigation method. Creation of geospatial irrigated land cover products with higher resolution datasets could improve reliability, and subclassification of irrigation by method could provide better information for hydrologists and climatologists attempting to model the role of irrigation in the surface-ground water cycle and the water-energy balance. This study summarizes a simple, …

Avoiding Adverse Effects: New Ideas In Drug Discovery For Targeting Pparγ, Trey M. Patton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has been a drug target to treat type 2 diabetes for the last 20 years when rosiglitazone and pioglitazone were approved by the FDA in 1999. While effective at increasing insulin sensitivity, these drugs cause serious adverse effects due to their full agonist characteristics. For that reason, drug discovery efforts have attempted to reduce or prevent the amount of agonist character of new PPARγ targeting ligands. Unfortunately, there have been no new FDA approved drugs for the receptor. There is a need for new ideas to produce better quality pharmaceuticals that lessen the impact of …

Methods For Estimating Mountain Goat Occupancy And Abundance, Molly Mcdevitt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abundance and occupancy are two parameters of central interest to the field of ecology. Furthermore, accurate (both precise and unbiased) estimates are key pieces to the puzzle of effective wildlife management decision-making. While there exist a variety of sampling techniques and statistical models for effectively estimating population parameters for frequently encountered and large mammals, methods for sampling unmarked and rare species are few and far between. The first step to acquiring usable parameter estimates is through the use of sampling theory and incorporation of probabilistic sampling designs to collect count-data and occurrence-data. Often, it is assumed that probabilistic sampling designs …

Community-Centered Sustainable Conservation And Ecotourism Planning In The Bossou Forest Reserve, Guinea, West Africa, Destina Samani

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ecotourism management has evolved over the years towards responsible conservation of the natural environment, sustaining the well-being of local people, enriching personal experiences and increasing environmental awareness. The development of a forest reserve is characteristic of the management–visitor–host community interface and the attendant competing interests in the face of new challenges, ideas and theories. In particular, host community participation in the conservation of the forest space tends to breakdown under weak ecotourism management, partly evident by the imbalanced exploitation of ecosystem services resulting in wildlife and society’s inability to cope effectively with the changes (Walker et al., 2016).

The Bossou …

Colloidal And Truly Dissolved Metal(Loid)S In Wastewater Lagoons And Their Removal With Floating Treatment Wetlands, Lauren Sullivan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change is predicted to cause continuing declines in late-season streamflow, thus increasing the relative contribution of wastewater effluent to surface water flows. Wastewater effluent represents a critical point source of metal and metalloid contamination to aquatic ecosystems and wastewater lagoons are the most common wastewater treatment system in the rural United States. Although the fraction of total wastewater metals and metalloids in "dissolved" forms (defined here asnm) likely drives the potential for negative effects on receiving waters, this broad operational definition lumps truly dissolved solutes (nm) with small colloids and nanomaterials (1-450 nm; hereafter colloids). This size distinction may …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Nitrogen And Carbon Biogeochemistry In A Wetland-Stream Sequence, Patrick E. Hurley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Studies of aquatic ecosystems often segregate streams from the influential ponds, lakes, and wetland zones that act as important transitions between terrestrial and fluvial systems. Across the aquatic landscape, these zones interact to form linked ecosystems that function as discrete nutrient processing domains, shifting biogeochemical signals due to spatial and temporal variability in hydrologic and biologic controls. Using a mass-balance approach, we profiled nutrient dynamics along a 23-km wetland-stream sequence over three seasons. Hydrologic, morphologic, and biologic conditions, as well as landscape attributes, were quantified to determine potential controls on biogeochemical cycling in a tributary of the Upper Clark Fork …