Life Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Sub-Lethal Predation On The Reproductive Output Of Acanthaster Planci (Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish), Emily Mucha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Wide-scale declines in live coral cover have been observed throughout history. Modern day coral populations face a multitude of environmental disturbances, however one of the most devastating to the reefs in the Indo-Pacific is the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), which feeds on the tissues of live corals. The rate at which these individuals feed combined with the explosion of populations in times of outbreak have been seen to exert some of the biggest pressures on coral reefs to date. Following recent episodes of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks, research on the organism has become increasingly prevalent on the scientific …

Fish Diversity And Coral Health Of Tanzania's Reefs: A Comparative Study Between The Ushongo Village Reef And The Fungu Zinga Reef Over Time, Della Turque, Corinne Casper

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The world’s oceans are becoming increasing acidic due to global climate change, posing a threat to marine ecosystems, including coral carbonate systems. Environmental threats are exacerbated by human development stressors as well: growing populations, dependency on marine resources, and unsustainable practices invaluable marine ecosystems at risk. Tanzania’s coral reef system extends for 3580 km2 (Muhando et al. 2008) near the Tanga region, serving over half a million people who are highly dependent on fishing and other marine resources as their livelihoods (Samoilys et. al. 2008). With Tanzania’s population rapidly growing, the unsustainable pressure on coral reefs for sustenance and livelihood …

Coral Disease In Chumbe Island Coral Park: A Baseline Survey Of The Prevalence Of Coral Disease And Other Afflictions Within Chumbe Marine Protected Area, Hannah Turley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral mortality from disease and other afflictions is a rising concern for reefs around the world. The aim of this study was to provide to a baseline for the prevalence of coral disease and other afflictions, which indicate compromised coral health, in Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Chumbe's reef experienced a widespread bleaching event earlier this year and this baseline study will provide a starting point to see how the bleaching event affected the prevalence of disease and other afflictions within the reef. A baseline study will also allow the park to investigate if their current monitoring procedures are …

A Novel Qtl Associated With Dwarf Bunt Resistance In Idaho 444 Winter Wheat, Jianli Chen, Mary J. Guttieri, Junli Zhang, David Hole, Edward Souza, Blair Goates

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

Dwarf bunt [Tilletia controversa J.G. Kühn [as ‘contraversa’], in Rabenhorst, Hedwigia 13: 188 (1874)] is a destructive disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that reduces grain yield and quality. A number of distinct genes conferring resistance to dwarf bunt have been used by breeding programs for nearly 100 years. However, few markers were identified that can be used in selection of dwarf bunt resistance. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the bunt-resistant germplasm, Idaho 444 (IDO444), and the susceptible cultivar, Rio Blanco, was evaluated for phenotypic reaction to dwarf bunt inoculation in four trials in …

U.S. Drought Monitor, September 27, 2016, Chris Fenimore

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for September 27, 2016 (9/27/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, September 20, 2016, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for September 20, 2016 (9/20/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, September 13, 2016, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for September 13, 2016 (9/13/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Failure To Communicate: Inefficiencies In Voluntary Incentive Programs For Private Forest Owners In Michigan, Mark. D. Rouleau, Jennifer F. Lind-Riehl, Miranda N. Smith, Audrey L. Mayer

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Coordinating forest management across thousands of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owners is a difficult yet necessary task for state land management agencies. Voluntary Incentive Programs (VIPs) can coordinate the decentralized activities of these owners in return for services or financial incentives. However, many VIPs typically have low enrollment. Our study investigates the implementation of VIPs to increase forest management coordination among NIPFs in Michigan. We present findings from 20 semi-structured interviews with leaders of state and local land management organizations, and government officials at state natural resource agencies, and contrast their answers with those recorded from 37 interviews of NIPF …

Influence Of Source Credibility On Consumer Acceptance Of Genetically Modified Foods In China, Mingyang Zhang, Chao Chen, Wuyang Hu, Lijun Chen, Jintao Zhan

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper examines the reasoning mechanism behind the consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods (GMFs) in China, and investigates influence of source credibility on consumer acceptance of GMFs. Based on the original Persuasion Model—which was developed by Carl Hovland, an American psychologist and pioneer in the study of communication and its effect on attitudes and beliefs—we conducted a survey using multistage sampling from 1167 urban residents, which were proportionally selected from six cities in three economic regions (south, central, and north) in the Jiangsu province through face to face interviews. Mixed-process regression that could correct endogeneity and ordered probit model …

Rickettsiologist Pavel F. Zdrodovskii: Larger Than Life, And Not Just For His Famous Book, Marina E. Eremeeva, S. N. Shpynov, I. V. Tarasevich

Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

This article highlights the biography and scientific accomplishments of Pavel F. Zdrodovskii and his contributions to understanding the biology, pathogenesis, treatment, prevention and epidemiology of brucellosis, rickettsioses and many other infectious diseases.

Multiple Post-Domestication Origins Of Kabuli Chickpea Through Allelic Variation In A Diversification-Associated Transcription Factor, R. Varma Penmetsa, Noelia Carrasquilla-Garcia, Emily M. Bergmann, Lisa Vance, Brenna Castro, Mulualem T. Kassa, Birinchi K. Sarma, Subhojit Datta, Andrew D. Farmer, Jong Min Baek, Clarice J. Coyne, Rajeev K. Varshney, Eric J.B. Von Wettberg, Douglas R. Cook

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is among the founder crops domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. One of two major forms of chickpea, the so-called kabuli type, has white flowers and light-colored seed coats, properties not known to exist in the wild progenitor. The origin of the kabuli form has been enigmatic. We genotyped a collection of wild and cultivated chickpea genotypes with 538 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and examined patterns of molecular diversity relative to geographical sources and market types. In addition, we examined sequence and expression variation in candidate anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway genes. A reduction in genetic diversity and extensive genetic …

The Late Quaternary Rio Grande Delta—A Distinctive, Underappreciated Geologic System, Thomas E. Ewing, Juan L. Gonzalez

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The delta of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo in southernmost Texas and northern Tamaulipas is one of the major deltas of North America. Over 600,000 people live on the Holocene delta and river plain, and a million more on its Pleistocene ancestors, yet geo-logic knowledge is limited. Combining available geologic information with global satellite photography gives a balanced view of an important delta. The Holocene delta begins at a point west of San Benito, Texas, forming a classic eastward-opening delta. Over half of the delta lies south of the present Rio Grande drainage. The delta passes westward into a floodplain that …

Reproductive Output Of Mosses Under Experimental Warming On Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Maritime Antarctica, Angélica Casanova-Katny, G. A. Torres-Mellado, Sarah M. Eppley

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Mosses dominate much of the vegetation in the Antarctic, but the effect of climatic change on moss growth and sexual reproduction has scarcely been studied. In Antarctica, mosses infrequently produce sporophytes; whether this is due to physiological limitation or an adaptive response is unknown. We studied the effect of experimental warming (with Open Top Chambers, OTCs) on sporophyte production on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island for four moss species (Bartramia patens, Hennediella antarctica, Polytrichastrum alpinum, and Sanionia georgicouncinata). To determine whether reducing cold stress increases sexual reproduction as would be predicted if sex is …

The International Whaling Commission—Beyond Whaling, Andrew J. Wright, Mark P. Simmonds, Barbara Galletti Vernazzani

Environment and Nature Conservation Collection

Since its establishment in 1946 as the international body intended to manage whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has expanded its areas of interest to ensure the wider conservation of whales. Several key conservation topics have been taken forward under its auspices including climate change, chemical and noise pollution, marine debris and whale watching. Work on each of these topics at the IWC has grown substantially since the 1990s and remains ongoing. Important developments were the establishment of the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns in 1996 and the IWC’s Conservation Committee in 2003. Trying to address this diverse set …

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 30, 2016, Chris Fenimore

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 30, 2016 (8/30/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 23, 2016, Brad Rippey

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 23, 2016 (8/23/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 16, 2016, David Miskus

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 16, 2016 (8/16/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 9, 2016, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 9, 2016 (8/9/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 2, 2016, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 2, 2016 (8/2/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Panarchy Use In Environmental Science For Risk And Resilience Planning, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson, Igor Linkov

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Environmental sciences have an important role in informing sustainable management of built environments by providing insights about the drivers and potentially negative impacts of global environmental change. Here, we discuss panarchy theory, a multi-scale hierarchical concept that accounts for the dynamism of complex socio-ecological systems, especially for those systems with strong cross-scale feedbacks. The idea of panarchy underlies much of system resilience, focusing on how systems respond to known and unknown threats. Panarchy theory can provide a framework for qualitative and quantitative research and application in the environmental sciences, which can in turn inform the ongoing efforts in sociotechnical resilience …

The Feasibility Of Using Drones To Count Songbirds, Andrew M. Wilson, Janine M. Barr, Megan E. Zagorski

Environmental Studies Student Conference Presentations

Point and transect counts are the most common bird survey methods, but are subject to biases and accessibility issues. To eliminate some of these biases, we propose attaching a recorder to a consumer-grade quadcopter (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAV) to estimate songbird populations from audio recordings. We conducted a blind experiment using broadcast recordings to estimate the detection radius of a compact recorder attached to a UAV, and found that the detection radius did not vary significantly when the UAV was flown at elevations of 20, 40 and 60m. We field tested our system by comparing UAV-based bird counts with …

Bulletin No. 42: The Mamacoke Conservation Area, Glenn Dreyer, Robert Askins, Scott Peterson

Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Land Cover Data For The Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, 2010-2011 Arcgis V10.3 Geodatabase, Gregory A. Carter, Carlton P. Anderson, Kelly L. Lucas, Nathan L. Hopper

Land Cover Data for the Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, 2010-2011

Land cover on the Mississippi-Alabama barrier islands was surveyed in 2010-2011 as part of continuing research on island geomorphic and vegetation dynamics following the 2005 impact of Hurricane Katrina. Results of the survey include sub-meter GPS location, a listing of dominant vegetation species and field photographs recorded at 375 sampling locations distributed among Cat, West Ship, East Ship, Horn, Sand, Petit Bois and West Dauphin Islands. The survey was conducted in a period of intensive remote sensing data acquisition over the northern Gulf of Mexico by federal, state and commercial organizations in response to the 2010 Macondo Well (Deepwater Horizon) …

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 26, 2016, Brad Rippey

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 26, 2016 (7/26/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 19, 2016, Chris Fenimore

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 19, 2016 (7/19/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Conjoint Analysis Of Farmers' Response To Conservation Incentives, David Conner, Jennifer Miller, Asim Zia, Qingbin Wang, Heather Darby

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Environmental degradation threatens the long term resiliency of the US food and farming system. While USDA has provided conservation incentives for the adoption of best management practices (BMPs), only a small percentage of farms have participated in such conservation programs. This study uses conjoint analysis to examine Vermont farmers' underlying preferences and willingness-to-accept (WTA) incentives for three common BMPs. Based on the results of this survey, we hypothesize that federal cost share programs' payments are below preferred incentive levels and that less familiar and more complex BMPs require a higher payment. Our implications focus on strategies to test these hypotheses …

Reducing Pollen Dispersal Using Forest Windbreaks, Carol Auer, Thomas Meyer, Vernie Sagun

Plant Science Articles

The adoption of genetically engineered (GE) crops has created a demand for practical methods to mitigate pollen dispersal and gene flow. The goal of this project was to measure the ability of a narrow forest windbreak to reduce downwind pollen fluxes from switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a North American grass and model biofuels feedstock. Switchgrass fields were established in two identical plots where one had a forest windbreak and the other was in an open (control) site. Switchgrass reproduction, pollen dispersal, wind speed, and wind direction were measured over two years. Daily release of switchgrass pollen peaked at 11:00-13:30 …

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 12, 2016, David Miskus

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 12, 2016 (7/12/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Dna Aptamer Confirmation And Utilization For The Cyanotoxin, Cylindrospermopsin, Diane M. Catlin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cyanotoxins are posing an increasing threat to the health of humans and wildlife. Cylindrospermopsin is a cyanotoxin that occurs in warm climates and is harmful when ingested. The toxic effects of CYN can affect multiple organ systems. The effects, coupled with the evidence of a mass contamination of a water supply in Australia, prove that CYN needs to be investigated further.

Aptamers have become a desirable method for detection of CYN as a result of an aptamer’s high specificity and the ability to scale up experiments. Aptamers have been designed to bind with a variety of targets, including cyanotoxins. An …

Community-Governed Multifunctional Landscapes And Forest Conservation In The Sierra Norte Of Oaxaca, Mexico, Barbara Pazos Almada

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Community forestry is an evolving approach to forest management, shown to maintain forest cover, while generating income for local communities. In Sierra Norte (SN), a region with no public protected areas, indigenous communities have been actively conserving their forests for decades, through conservation zoning and careful management of their logging areas. This study found that across 22 communities in SN, an estimated 2,949,116.50 m³ of timber were produced from 1993 to 2013, while the region maintains 78% forest cover. About 75% of the forest is under some form of community conservation. Community governance plays a major role, as rules …