Life Sciences Commons^™

Vegetation Dieback In The Mississippi River Delta Triggered By Acute Drought And Chronic Relative Sea-Level Rise, Tracy Elsey-Quirk, Austin Lynn, Michael Derek Jacobs, Rodrigo Diaz, James T Cronin, Lixia Wang, Haosheng Huang, Dubravko Justic

Journal Articles

Vegetation dieback and recovery may be dependent on the interplay between infrequent acute disturbances and underlying chronic stresses. Coastal wetlands are vulnerable to the chronic stress of sea-level rise, which may affect their susceptibility to acute disturbance events. Here, we show that a large-scale vegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta was precipitated by salt-water incursion during an extreme drought in the summer of 2012 and was most severe in areas exposed to greater flooding. Using 16 years of data (2007-2022) from a coastwide network of monitoring stations, we show that the impacts of the dieback lasted five years and …

Urban Nature Indexes Tool Offers Comprehensive And Flexible Approach To Monitoring Urban Ecological Performance, Jennifer Rae Pierce, Laura Costadone, Lelani Mannetti, Joeri Morpurgo, Charlyn Elaine Green, Michael D. Halder, Pablo Arturo Lopez Guijosa, Abner L. Bogan, Russell Galt, Jonathan Hughes

ODU Articles

We present the Urban Nature Indexes (UNI), a comprehensive tool that measures urban ecological performance under one standard framework linked to global commitments. The UNI was developed by interdisciplinary experts and evaluated by practitioners from diverse cities to capture each city’s ecological footprint from local to global scale. The UNI comprises six themes (consumption drivers, human pressures, habitat status, species status, nature’s contributions to people, and governance responses) that encompass measurable impacts on climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystem services, pollution, consumption, water management, and equity within one comprehensive system. Cities then adapt the UNI to their context and capacity by …

When John Locke Meets Lao Tzu: The Relationship Between Intellectual Property, Biodiversity And Indigenous Knowledge And The Implications For Food Security, Paolo Davide Farah, Marek Prityi

Articles

This article aims to examine the relationship between the concepts of intellectual property, biodiversity, and indigenous knowledge from the perspective of food security and farmers’ rights. Even though these concepts are interdependent and interrelated, they are in a state of conflict due to their inherently enshrined differences. Intellectual property is based on the need of protecting individual property rights in the context of creations of their minds. On the other hand, the concepts of biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and farmers’ rights accentuate the aspects of equity and community. This article aims to analyse and critically assess the respective legal framework and …

Flujos De Servicios Ecosistémicos En Un Área Marina Protegida Del Atlántico Sur: Perspectivas Desde El Análisis De La Teoría De Redes, Mitch Porter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En cuestiones de gestión de áreas protegidas, los servicios ecosistémicos se tienen cada vez más en cuenta junto con la conservación de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, las decisiones que se toman sobre la conservación de los servicios ecosistémicos no suelen incluir los posibles efectos en cascada de la pérdida de biodiversidad sobre la provisión de servicios. Los conocimientos de la teoría de redes y los estudios de robustez pueden proporcionar una metodología para evaluar la vulnerabilidad de estos servicios frente la estructura trófica de los ecosistemas que los proveen. A través de una serie de simulaciones de extinción para la …

Hydropower To The People: Implications Of A Comparative Macroinvertebrate Study On Either Side Of The Central Hidroeléctrica Topo In Tungurahua, Ecuador, Grace Mazur

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study uses macroinvertebrates as bioindicators to assess the water quality upstream and downstream of a hydroelectric project in Ecuador’s eastern cloud forest. Ecuador has increasingly turned to hydropower to supply its energy needs as pressure mounts to turn away from fossil fuels. This transition has been realized on the Río Topo, located in the province of Tungurahua. This study aims to determine how the Central Hidroeléctrica Topo (CHT), a diversion hydroelectric project (HEP) constructed on the Río Topo in the 2010s, has affected the water quality of the river. Samples were taken of benthic (bottom-dwelling) macroinvertebrates in the Río …

Unveiling The Nexus: The Interdependence Of Animal Welfare, Environment & Sustainable Development, World Federation For Animals (Wfa)

Nexus – UNEP – Animal Welfare, Environment, Sustainable Development

On 2 March 2022, the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted the Animal Welfare - Environment - Sustainable Development Nexus Resolution. In this resolution, UNEA acknowledged that "animal welfare can contribute to addressing environmental challenges". UNEA further acknowledged animal welfare's contribution to "promoting the One Health approach and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals." To understand these links, UNEA requested the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to analyse and produce a report for the next convening of UNEA on the nexus between animal welfare, the environment, and sustainable development. "Unveiling the Nexus: The interdependence of animal welfare, environment & sustainable development" illuminates the …

Biodiversity Of Philippine Marine Fishes: A Dna Barcode Reference Library Based On Voucher Specimens, Katherine E. Bemis, Matthew G. Girard, Mudjekeewis D. Santos, Kent E. Carpenter, Jonathan R. Deeds, Diane E. Pitassy, Nicko Amor L. Flores, Elizabeth S. Hunter, Amy C. Driskell, Kenneth S. Macdonald Iii, Lee A. Weigt, Jeffrey T. Williams

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Accurate identification of fishes is essential for understanding their biology and to ensure food safety for consumers. DNA barcoding is an important tool because it can verify identifications of both whole and processed fishes that have had key morphological characters removed (e.g., filets, fish meal); however, DNA reference libraries are incomplete, and public repositories for sequence data contain incorrectly identified sequences. During a nine-year sampling program in the Philippines, a global biodiversity hotspot for marine fishes, we developed a verified reference library of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences for 2,525 specimens representing 984 species. Specimens were primarily purchased …

It Turned Into A Bioblitz: Urban Data Collection For Building Scientific Literacy And Environmental Connection, Kelly O'Donnell, Lisa Brundage

Publications and Research

In 2013, Macaulay Honors College redesigned its required science curriculum to focus on scientific literacy skills rather than content. Central to this shift was inclusion of a data collection event, a BioBlitz, to provide students with the basis for their own semester-long research projects. Students are teamed with naturalists in an urban green space to find as many species as they can in 24 h and to contribute to a global biodiversity database via the app iNaturalist. We have learned two important lessons: (1) developing an interdisciplinary curriculum with a high degree of experiential learning is more successful when both …

Bibliography, Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Charles H. Smith.

Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, And Sustainable Development: Resource Document, Wellbeing International

Nexus – UNEP – Animal Welfare, Environment, Sustainable Development

This Resource Document has been developed to explore the Nexus (links) between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. The document includes relevant citations and reports addressing the topics encompassed by the Nexus. It will be maintained as a “living document” (subject to revision) in the WellBeing International Studies Repository. The original document and subsequent revisions will be kept in the Repository to provide a record of the changes.

Regenerative Agriculture Framework For Island Ecosystems Using São Miguel As A Case Study, Mya Hunter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Context: Regenerative agriculture is a farming approach that uses soil health as the entry point to contribute to multiple objectives, such as improved nutrient cycling and climate regulation. Farmers can apply different practices to reach these objectives. The objectives and practices, however, are not equally relevant or applicable for farming systems on island ecosystems and the local context.

Objectives: The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to find out how solutions towards regenerative agriculture can be identified and evaluated as such that they result in meaningful advice for farmers on island ecosystems in order to mitigate the …

Conservation And Variation In Agricultural Landscapes: A Survey Of Insect Populations Across Naranjilla Cultivation Methods In The Eastern Andean Cloud Forest, Ian Zakelj

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study compared insect biodiversity among five sites in agricultural landscapes and natural forest in the El Placer community in the valley of the Rio Pastaza in the eastern Andean cloud forest. The area is of vital importance to conservation, as it falls in the ecological corridor between the Sangay and Llanganates national parks. The primary crop produced by the residents of El Placer is naranjilla, and it is cultivated in a variety of manners, mostly with intensive chemical use. The goal of the study was to find out which types of practices were the least harmful to the insect …

Fact Sheet - Human Settlements: Climate Change Impacts And Risks, Winston T. L. Chow, Richard Dawson, Bruce Glavovic, Marjolijn Haasnoot, Mark Pelling, William Solecki

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This regional factsheet on cities and human settlements gives a snapshot of the key findings of the Sixth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2022 - Impacts. Adaptation and Vulnerability, distilled from the relevant Chapters and Cross-Chapter Papers, the Technical Summary and the Global to Regional Atlas.

Exploring Community Initiatives That Produce High Quality Volunteers: Citizen Science And Master Naturalist Programs In The United States, Travis Robbins, Alie Mayes, Julie Thomas

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Citizen science, which has contributed greatly to scientific understanding, works through partnerships between non-governmental and governmental organizations, academia, and most importantly, volunteers. In the United States, Master Naturalist training programs prepare adults as knowledgeable environmental stewards. Once certified, Master Naturalists are encouraged to log annual volunteer activity hours involving scientific research and education. Compared to untrained volunteers, individuals who have completed Master Naturalist training (or similar programs) exhibit greater project involvement and efficiency at collecting data. These traits align well with the goals of citizen science and point to a symbiotic relationship between citizen science and Master Naturalist programs. Here, …

Birds And Bioenergy Within The Americas: A Cross‐National, Social–Ecological Study Of Ecosystem Service Tradeoffs, Jessie L. Knowlton, Kathleen E. Halvorsen, David J. Flaspohler, Christopher R. Webster, Jesse Abrams, Sara M. Almeida, Stefan L. Arriaga‐Weiss, Brad Barnett, Maíra R. Cardoso, Pablo V. Cerqueira, Diana Córdoba, Marcos Persio Dantas‐Santos, Jennifer L. Dunn, Amarella Eastmond, Gina M. Jarvi, Julian A. Licata, Ena Mata‐Zayas, Rodrigo Medeiros, M. Azahara Mesa‐Jurado, Lízbeth Yamily Moo‐Culebro, Cassandra Moseley, Erik Nielsen, Colin Phifer, Erin Pischke, Chelsea Schelly, Theresa Selfa, Chelsea A. Silva, Tatiana Souza, Sam R. Sweitz

Michigan Tech Publications

Although renewable energy holds great promise in mitigating climate change, there are socioeconomic and ecological tradeoffs related to each form of renewable energy. Forest‐related bioenergy is especially controversial, because tree plantations often replace land that could be used to grow food crops and can have negative impacts on biodiversity. In this study, we examined public perceptions and ecosystem service tradeoffs between the provisioning services associated with cover types associated with bioenergy crop (feedstock) production and forest habitat‐related supporting services for birds, which themselves provide cultural and regulating services. We combined a social survey‐based assessment of local values and perceptions with …

Implications Of Covid-19 On Progress In The Un Conventions On Biodiversity And Climate Change, Andrea Monica D. Ortiz, Alaya M. De Leon, Justine Nicole V. Torres, Cecilia Therese T. Guiao, Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

2020 was to be a landmark year for setting targets to stop biodiversity loss and prevent dangerous climate change. However, COVID-19 has caused delays to the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the 26th COP of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Negotiations on the Global Biodiversity Framework and the second submission of Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement were due to take place at these COPs. There is uncertainty as to how the COVID-19 disruption will affect the negotiations, whether parties will pursue more ambitious actions or take a …

Ensuring A Post-Covid Economic Agenda Tackles Global Biodiversity Loss, Pamela Mcelwee, Esther Turnout, Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, Jennifer Clapp, Cindy Isenhour, Tim Jackson, Eszter Kelemen, Daniel C. Miller, Graciela Rusch, Joachim H. Spangenberg, Anthony Waldron, Rupert J. Baumgartner, Brent Bleys, Michael W. Howard, Eric Mungatana, Hien Ngo, Irene Ring, Rui Santos

Teaching, Learning & Research Documents

Report that explores how governments can help mitigate ecosystem and species loss through their COVID-19 stimulus and recovery plans.

Vermont Seed Saver And Producer Survey: 2020 Summary Report, Susanna Baxley, Carina Viola Isbell, Daniel Tobin

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This report summarizes findings from a 2020 survey of seed producers in the state of Vermont. This survey, which was part of a larger research project aimed to characterize Vermont seed systems, aimed to identify areas of opportunity and concern for seed producers across the state. Data collected include types and valued characteristics of planting material produced from food crops in the state, information on motivations, challenges, and preferences that non-commercial and commercial seed producers perceive in their production of planting material, sourcing and distribution of planting material, forms of exchange that exist between seed producers and the community, and …

A Moral Panic Over Cats, William S. Lynn, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, Joann Lindenmayer, John Hadidian, Arian D. Wallach, Barbara J. King

Stray and Feral Animal Populations Collection

Some conservationists believe that free-ranging cats pose an enormous risk to biodiversity and public health and therefore should be eliminated from the landscape by any means necessary. They further claim that those who question the science or ethics behind their arguments are science deniers (merchants of doubt) seeking to mislead the public. As much as we share a commitment to conservation of biodiversity and wild nature, we believe these ideas are wrong and fuel an unwarranted moral panic over cats. Those who question the ecological or epidemiological status of cats are not science deniers, and it is a false analogy …

How Behavior Of Nontarget Species Affects Perceived Accuracy Of Scat Detection Dog Surveys, Karen E. Dematteo, Linsey W. Blake, Julie K. Young, Barbara Davenport

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Detection dogs, specially trained domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), have become a valuable, noninvasive, conservation tool because they remove the dependence of attracting species to a particular location. Further, detection dogs locate samples independent of appearance, composition, or visibility allowing researchers to collect large sets of unbiased samples that can be used in complex ecological queries. One question not fully addressed is why samples from nontarget species are inadvertently collected during detection dog surveys. While a common explanation has been incomplete handler or dog training, our study aimed to explore alternative explanations. Our trials demonstrate that a scat’s genetic …

Science At Engineer Cantonment, Hugh H. Genoways, Brett C. Ratcliffe, Carl R. Falk, Thomas E. Labedz, Paul R. Picha, John R. Bozell

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Conclusions

It is our contention that Thomas Say, Titian Peale, Edwin James, and their colleagues of the Stephen Long Expedition of 1819–1820 were heavily engaged in scientific research, which took the form of the first biodiversity inventory undertaken in the United States. This accomplishment has been overlooked both by biologists and historians, but it should rank among the most significant accomplishments of the expedition. The results of this inventory continue to inform us today about environmental, faunal, and floral changes along the Missouri River in an area that is known to be an ecotone between the deciduous forests of the …

An Engineer Cantonment Bestiary: The Art Of Titian Ramsay Peale, Hugh H. Genoways, Thomas E. Labedz

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Includes an overview of the work of American nature artist Titian Ramsay Peale as part of the Stephen H. Long Expedition, 1819-1820, at Engineer Cantonment in eastern Nebraska, USA.

Includes textual descriptions and/or reproductions of watercolors and lined drawings by Peale of banded killifish (Fundulus diaphanous), American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrothynchos), Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus/Falco lagopus), Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis tabida), Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea), Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus …

Historical Observations And Identifications Of Plants And Animals In The Vicinity Of Engineer Cantonment In 1819-1820, Hugh H. Genoways, Brett C. Ratcliffe, Carl R. Falk, John R. Bozell

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Historical observations and identifications of plants and animals in the vicinity of Engineer Cantonment in 1819–1820 (James 1822) are shown below in Roman and Roman italic print. Specimens identified through phytoarcheological and zooarcheological analysis of materials and believed to be reasonably associated or contemporaneous with the Long Expedition use of the site (AU4) are shown in boldface. Species present in both the historical and archeological data are marked by an asterisk (*). References used in this compilation include Benedict (1996), Brewer (1970 [1840]), Conant and Collins (1991), Ducey (2000), Evans (1997), Falk et al. (this volume), Genoways et al. (2008), …

Evaluating Wildlife Vulnerability To Mercury Pollution From Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining In Madre De Dios, Peru, K. E. Markham, Florencia Sangermano

Geography

Illegal, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) often occurs in remote highly biodiverse areas, such as the Madre de Dios region of Peru. Mercury used in gold mining bioaccumulates in the environment and poses developmental, hormonal, and neurological threats to wildlife. The impact of ASGM on biodiversity remains largely unknown. We used geographic information science to create a spatial model of pollution risk from mining sites, in order to predict locations and species assemblages at risk. Multicriteria evaluation was used to determine how flow accumulation, distance from mining areas, total suspended sediment load, and soil porosity influenced the vulnerability of …

The Impact Of Organic Farms: Biodiversity And Climate Change Resilience In The Southeast, Josie Newton

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

Resilience to climate change serves as an indicator of the effectiveness of organic farming practices. Resilience means that an area is able to return to a stable state after a disturbance. In this context, it means that the area is able to function regularly even in the face of climate change, an instance that affects species health and biodiversity. By mapping the locations of organic farms across the southeastern United States along with the resilience scores of areas as evaluated by The Nature Conservancy and comparing this map to farm locations and biodiversity measures, we are able to determine the …

An Ecological Study Of The Anurans In Tea Plantations In A Biodiversity Hotspot, Lilly M. Eluvathingal

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing human population size is increasing the demand for resources like timber, oil, tea, coffee, and other crops. Plantation crops mimic some aspects of native habitats, and there are studies that report the presence of some native anuran biodiversity in plantations. I focused on tea plantations in the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot and studied the diversity and health of anurans in different habitats found within a tea cultivation area, near Munnar region in the Western Ghats, India. The landscape includes tea bushes, native evergreen shola forest patches, and eucalyptus forest stands. I reviewed 40 studies comparing amphibian species richness …

Slides: Rivers And People In The Neotropics: Social And Ecological Science For Environmental Flows, Elizabeth P. Anderson

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Elizabeth P. Anderson, Florida International University

38 slides

Slides: Food For Thought: Water Requirements For Social-Ecological Systems, Michael Douglas, Sue Jackson

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenters:

Michael Douglas, University of Western Australia, Charles Darwin University

Sue Jackson, Griffith University

35 slides

Identification Of Taenia Metacestodes From Mongolian Mammals Using Multivariate Morphometrics Of The Rostellar Hooks, Danielle M. Tufts, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Michael Pitner, Gábor R. Rácz, Altangerel Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan, Scott Lyell Gardner

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Parasite diversity in and among various species of mammals within Mongolia is still poorly understood. The current paper focusses on a small part of the results of the Mongolian Vertebrate Parasite Project (MVPP), which entailed a broad-scale biodiversity survey of the vertebrates and their parasites of the Gobi and Altai regions of Mongolia. We report on the prevalence and morphological variation of larval cestodes of the family Taeniidae that occurred in small mammals that were collected from 2009-2012 from various locations in southern Mongolia. From these metacestodes, we studied both large and small rostellar hooks and analyzed both size and …

Branching Out: How Virginia Can Strategically Use Trees To Combat Biodiversity Loss, Taylor Pfeiffer

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Biodiversity loss is a particularly concerning effect of climate change because as greenhouse gas emissions increase global temperatures, decreases in the abundance and diversity of species has reduced ecosystem resiliency to these changes (Verchot et al. 2007). Weakened ecosystems and threatened species decrease the environment’s capacity to provide humans with services like safe drinking water, fuel, and protection from natural disasters, just to name a few (US EPA 2013). The agricultural industry plays a unique role in this environmental conversation, as farmland both contributes to climate change and is jeopardized by the negative effects created by the issue in a …