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Life Sciences Commons

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Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

2020

Environmental Sciences

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Reducing Avian Collisions With Human-Made Structures: A Sensory Ecology Approach To Open-Air Settings, Timothy James Boycott Jan 2020

Reducing Avian Collisions With Human-Made Structures: A Sensory Ecology Approach To Open-Air Settings, Timothy James Boycott

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Billions of birds fatally collide with human-made structures each year. These mortalities have impacts on species of conservation concern and potentially on avian populations as a whole. This source of human-wildlife conflict also places economic and operational constraints on various human industries. Furthermore, with continued increases in urbanization, the rate and extent of collisions continues to increase. Efforts to reduce collisions have largely centered on making structures more visible to birds but have been met with limited success. Currently, there is a call for solutions to be tailored to both the environmental context of hazardous structures and to the sensory …


Investigating Economic Costs Of Derelict Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus Pots And Preferred Mitigation Solutions In The Chesapeake Bay, James Delbene Jan 2020

Investigating Economic Costs Of Derelict Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus Pots And Preferred Mitigation Solutions In The Chesapeake Bay, James Delbene

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Derelict fishing gear, particularly pots or traps, occupy waters worldwide and cause negative ecological and economic impacts. Derelict pots persist throughout Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S., that supports a valuable commercial fishery for the blue crab Callinectes sapidus. Chesapeake Bay is responsible for 30-40% of U.S. commercial blue crab harvests. Yet, few studies have quantified the impacts of derelict pots on harvest or the perceptions of commercial fishers on derelict pot mitigation activities in this predominantly pot fishery. This thesis examined the impacts of derelict pots on harvest in a field experiment and worked with commercial fishers …


Composition And Bioavailability Of Effluent Dissolved Organic Nitrogen, Quinn Nicole Roberts Jan 2020

Composition And Bioavailability Of Effluent Dissolved Organic Nitrogen, Quinn Nicole Roberts

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Cultural eutrophication, the overproduction of phytoplankton biomass in response to increased nutrient inputs directly associated with human activities, is a major threat to the health of Chesapeake Bay. Strict regulations, which require a reduction in nutrient loading from all sources, have been a key component to restoration efforts. Water reclamation facilities (WRFs), which discharge effluent containing nitrogen (N) and other nutrients into receiving waters, have implemented upgrades in an effort to comply with regulations. These improvements have decreased the concentration of highly labile dissolved inorganic N (DIN), leaving behind significant concentrations of dissolved organic N (DON) whose bioavailability, and therefore …