Life Sciences Commons^™

Flight Of The Freshwater Fish, Michael H. Wilson

Capstones

Michael H. Wilson

Capstone Abstract

December 27, 2016

Flight of the Freshwater Fish

The Hudson River provides for millions of people as a path for commercial and private transportation, a source of food and energy, and perhaps most importantly for many living in the tri-state area as a destination for recreation and relaxation. The most overlooked feature of the river is how the wildlife shows clear signs of a changing climate and rapid environmental response to the impacts of global warming on the river.

Entire populations of fish species in the lower Hudson have been forced to leave the river …

A Study Of Short-Season Winter Cover Crops For Organic High Tunnel Production Systems, Luke Riley Freeman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This two-year study investigated short-season winter cover crops to improve soil quality and growth of subsequent vegetable crops in an organic high tunnel production system. Five winter cover crop treatments including a nontreated control, Austrian winter peas (Pisum arvense), bell beans (Vicia faba), mustard (Brassica juncea cv. Kodiak), and Daikon radish (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus) were grown in a high tunnel in a randomized complete block design from mid-November to mid-March, mowed and incorporated into the soil, and followed by a succession of vegetable crops including tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum, cv. ‘Plum Dandy’) and broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica, cv. ‘Bay …

Modern Fair-Weather And Storm Sediment Transport Around Ship Island, Mississippi: Implications For Coastal Habitats And Restoration Efforts, Eve Rettew Eisemann

Master's Theses

The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain is experiencing accelerated sea level rise, decreased sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. These three factors drive unprecedented rates of morphology change and ecosystem reduction. All islands in the chain have experienced land loss on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s. In 1969, Hurricane Camille impacted as a Category 5, breaching Ship Island, and significantly reduced viable seagrass habitat. Hurricane Katrina impacted as a Category 3 in 2005, further widening Camille Cut. To better understand the sustainability of these important islands and the ecosystems they support, sediment …

How Do Designers Of The Built Environment Attempt To Make Ecological Sustainability Sensory Legible?, Carly L. Bartow

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper attempts to provide a theoretical framework for making ecosystem function and ecologically sustainable design more perceptible or sensible to people through architecture and the built environment. Design features of the Bertschi School Science Wing and the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington are incorporated to illustrate the sensory legibility of ecological sustainability criteria.The criteria are available to designers to help educate a building's occupants on environmentally sustainable design and motivate more sustainable behavior.

Factors Affecting Habitat Quality For Wintering Wood Thrushes In A Coffee Growing Region In Honduras, Brett A. Bailey

Masters Theses

Amongst the diversity of taxa that occur in the Neotropics, 200 migratory bird species that breed in temperate North America can be found. Many of these populations have seen significant declines since the 1960s. The Wood Thrush, Hylocichla mustelina, is one such species. Shade coffee and other agroforestry practices show potential for benefiting migratory species, but the quality of coffee habitat and optimal habitat characteristics for Wood Thrushes remain unknown.

I surveyed a spatially complex, agricultural landscape in Honduras outside the recognized winter range of the Wood Thrush and radio-tagged 46 individuals within rustic coffee farms during the winters …

Social Ecological Food Systems: Sustainability Lessons From Maine Dairy Networks, Julia B. Mcguire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Milk production has played an integral role in the culture, landscape, and economy of Maine’s agriculture. Maine dairy farmers have faced numerous sustainability challenges to economic, environmental, and social aspects of their industry. Like many other complex social ecological systems, the Maine dairy industry faces a gap between scientific knowledge and actionable management or policy. A cultural dichotomy exists between conventional and organic farming. Shifting the focus from this binary, metrics such as social capital may play a key role in solving sustainability issues. Difficulties arise in the governance of complex social ecological systems when the scales of assessment, management, …

Manufacturer Perspectives On Content Transparency And Material Health In The Us Building Products Industry, Alexandra A. Muller

Open Access Theses

Flawed U.S. federal regulation of chemicals has resulted in a materials market that undervalues human and environmental health in favor of the more traditional attributes of price, performance and aesthetics. In the building products industry, global, dynamic supply chains and proprietary information concerns further complicate the task of assessing the material health of products.

Voluntary material health programs in the green building industry are intended to incentivize the manufacture and selection of safer products by getting companies to gather and assess ingredient, hazard and risk information from their supply chain. Building product manufacturers considered early adopters of the main material …

Enhancing Silymarin Fractionation Via Molecular Modeling Using The Conductor-Like Screening Model For Real Solvents, Emma C. Brace

Open Access Theses

The market for bio-based products from plant sources is on the rise. There is a global challenge to implement environmentally clean practices for the production of fuels and pharmaceuticals from sustainable resources. A significant hurdle for discovery of comparable plant-derived products is the extensive volume of trial-and-error experimentation required. To alleviate the experimental burden, a quantum mechanics based molecular modeling approach known as the COnductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) was used to predict the best biphasic solvent system to purify silymarins from an aqueous mixture. Silymarins are a class of flavonolignans present in milk thistle ( Silybum marianum …

Sustainable Agriculture: How France Promotes Sustainability, Jordan Pulling

Honors Theses

High consumption lifestyles led to a rapid decline in natural resources. The daily gestures of the people of the world use a quantity massive resource and energy that cannot be replaced. Decision makers of the world are invited to consider what changes will be needed to focus about sustainable and sustainable practices if we want to continue living in the way which we have become accustomed to. The development of renewable energies was a first step towards total sustainable development. Recently, however, we have seen a new way to reduce negative impacts on the rights of the Earth: changes in …

The Mexican Water Forest: Benefits Of Using Remote Sensing Techniques To Assess Changes In Land Use And Land Cover, Maria F. Lopez Ornelas

Master's Projects and Capstones

In the past 30 years, anthropogenic activities like urbanization, agriculture, road fragmentation and deforestation have resulted in changes in the land use and land cover (LULC) in the Mexican Water Forest. Due to the important ecosystem services, and the natural resources this forest provides, in Mexico, it has become increasingly necessary to use new technologies and tools to support the planning, implementation and integration of forest management and conservation plans, as well as ecological and socioeconomic analysis of this ecosystem. Remote Sensing techniques and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been a true technological and methodological revolution in the acquisition, management …

From Empty Lot To Garden Plot: Urban Agriculture In Chula Vista, Jennifer E. Gutierrez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project is an exploration of how agriculture can be incorporated into the fabric of the city of Chula Vista, which has both uniquely urban and suburban areas. The proposal is to integrate agriculture as a design tool to reconnect to the city’s agricultural past and as a model for cities of the future. First, I discuss Chula Vista’s history and contemporary context, including demographics. I review the existing urban agriculture policies Chula Vista has and compare them to other cities in California. The second part of the project is concerned with how to choose and develop a site for …

Applying The Water Governance Framework On Rural Water Development Projects In Guatemala, Muhanad M. Alkharaz

Theses and Dissertations

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ‘Water crisis is mainly a governance crisis’, (OECD, 2013). Many water experts, as individuals, organizations and even governmental bodies have developed water governance frameworks to overcome water challenges on local, national, and international levels such as Integrated Water Resource Management. In rural areas, especially in developing countries, access to safe drinking water is a daily challenge due to a variety of political, economic, and social constraints. For in-stance, some developing countries have a strong centralized governance system. Due to lack of capacity and resources, central governments are incapable of providing …

Development Of A Decision Support System For Post Mining Land Use On Abandoned Surface Coal Mines In Appalachia, Matthew Zimmerman

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Decision support systems are diverse and have been used to solve multiple problems ranging from the complex to the simple. With the complexity of environmental decisions today, these systems provide a logic based approach to evaluating and choosing environmental solutions. Abandoned mining lands (AML) are an issue for the environment in the Appalachian region. Given this a decision support system was designed using previously created frameworks and indices from other systems created. The system is comprised of two main sections, selecting the ideal post-mining land-use (PMLU), and maximizing the potential of land to be reclaimed under budgetary constraints. This system …

Opportunities In Sustainability: Maize Seeders For The Developing World And Alternative Fertilizers In The United States, Rebecca Mattingly Harman

Masters Theses

Sustainable agricultural systems are needed for both large and small-scale farmers the world over. Central to the sustainability of these systems is the availability of cheap and effective seeders for smallholder farmers and effective utilization of less energy intensive nitrogen sources. In the first two chapters, this thesis considers maize seeders for smallholder use in a Conservation Agriculture system. To sustain the smallholder sector, soil fertility and soil erosion must be addressed and a Conservation Agriculture model seeks to improve soil conditions in agriculture. The technologies available to smallholder farmers, though, need to be tested in a no-till system before …

Impacts Of Biofumigation And Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation On Strawberry Production, Jennifer Renee’ Wheeler

Masters Theses

Due to the phase-out of methyl bromide, there is a need for alternative, nonchemical fumigation treatments in strawberry production. Anaerobic soil disinfestation and biofumigation are two non-chemical methods for controlling soilborne plant pathogens of strawberry. This study was designed to observe strawberry fruit nutrition and soil volatiles of a strawberry field being treated with biofumigation treatments, anaerobic soil disinfestation treatments, and a combination of the two alternative methods. A trial was conducted with 11 pre-plant soil-incorporated treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with 6 rows (blocks). Biofumigation treatments consisted of deactivated mustard meal, deoiled mustard meal, mustard pellets, …

Effects Of Epichloë Coenophiala−Tall Fescue Symbiosis On Plant-Microbe-Soil Interactions In A Temperate Pasture, Lindsey C. Slaughter

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Plants interact in myriad ways with microorganisms to influence ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, which can regulate ecosystem response to global change. One important plant-microbe symbiosis occurs between cool-season grasses and asexual fungal Epichloë endophytes, such as tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) and Epichloë coenophiala. Because the common toxic strain of the endophyte (CTE) harms grazing livestock, non-livestock toxic endophyte (NTE) strains have been developed and are increasingly deployed in pastures. Little is known about how these symbioses impact other plant-microbe interactions and microbe-mediated soil processes in grassland ecosystems. I conducted three studies to determine how E. …

Exploration And Implementation Of Innovative Efficiencies/Devices In Beet Processing For Energy Production, Patrick Mcinerney

Theses

The imminent depletion of fossil fuels, as well as concerns for energy security and the obligation to respond to climate change has led to expanding worldwide popularity of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of energy crops. Sugar beet is a popular AD feedstock due to its favourable characteristics; however it can be quite labour intensive requiring a range of specialist equipment to process the crop prior to undergoing AD. A crucial stage of this process involves the size reduction of beet by a mechanical chopper unit; this pretreatment breaks open the cellulose structure of the crop and increases the surface area available …

Juvenile Survival And Adult Return As A Function Of Freshwater Rearing Life History For Coho Salmon In The Klamath River Basin, Molly Gorman

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The Scott and Shasta rivers, Klamath River tributaries, experience spatial disparity in habitat quality in spring and summer as a result of historical and current land-use. Juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) born in the upper tributary reaches often rear in natal streams before migrating to sea. However, those born in the lower reaches often encounter unsuitable habitat and emigrate during their first spring to seek non-natal rearing habitats. It is assumed that these early outmigrants are population losses. This study evaluated first-summer survival, and contribution to the adult population, of non-natal rearing juveniles in the Klamath River Basin. …

Assessing The Use Of Food Waste Biochar As A Biodynamic Plant Fertilizer, Rachel Mazac

Departmental Honors Projects

Biochar is a charcoal-like substance produced from plant material such as food waste. Converting food waste into a useful product would mitigate environmental damage through reduced landfill inputs, reduced greenhouse gas production, and increased benefits to soils. I asked (1) if biochar improved plant growth and (2) if the effects of biochar varied among different samples of mixed food waste (batches) and between different biochar preparation times (treatments). Four independent batches of biochar were prepared with assorted, uncooked food waste collected from a university dining facility. Each batch was dried then placed in a covered ceramic pot at 260℃ for …

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (Mcda) For Agricultural Sustainability Assessment, Byomkesh Talukder

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT), Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) and Elimination methods of Multi-Criteria Decision analysis (MCDA) are tested to assess and compare the sustainability of different agricultural systems. Indicators and composite indicators are derived from data gathered using the agricultural sustainability categories of Productivity, Stability, Efficiency, Durability, Compatibility and Equity (PSEDCE).

Agricultural systems around the world face challenges from current agricultural practices, over-exploitation of natural resources, population growth and climate change. As a result, understanding agricultural sustainability has become a global issue. Assessment is a first step in benchmarking and tracking agricultural sustainability and …