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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Influence Of Environmental Conditions And Inundation History On Bacterial Diversity Of Salt Marsh Soils In Southern Louisiana, Brandon M. Bagley May 2017

Influence Of Environmental Conditions And Inundation History On Bacterial Diversity Of Salt Marsh Soils In Southern Louisiana, Brandon M. Bagley

Masters Theses

Diversity patterns and controls on bacterial community composition were investigated from coastal salt marsh soils in southern Louisiana (USA) from 2012 – 2014. These salt marshes are part of an extensive coastal landscape that is experiencing land loss due to subsidence, sea-level rise, and anthropogenic activities, including from the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Prior to the oil spill, microbiology research focused predominately on biogeochemical roles and not on taxonomic representation in the soils or on understanding the significance of taxonomic diversity at the microbial level to marsh food webs or ecosystem dynamics. The purpose of …


Influence Of Algae On Soil Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: An In Situ Treatment Option For Reducing Infiltration Beneath Unlined Algae Cultivation Ponds, Molly Brianne Pattullo May 2017

Influence Of Algae On Soil Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: An In Situ Treatment Option For Reducing Infiltration Beneath Unlined Algae Cultivation Ponds, Molly Brianne Pattullo

Masters Theses

Commercial production of algal biofuels is currently limited by high capital costs, including the cost of installation and maintenance of plastic pond liners, which mitigate seepage of cultivation fluids and control the release of salts and nutrients into the subsurface beneath outdoor algae cultivation ponds. However, studies of animal waste settling lagoons show that underlying soils ranging from sands to clay loams can exhibit reduced hydraulic conductivity within days to weeks after construction, reducing the need for plastic liners. The mechanisms of the hydraulic conductivity reductions, or “soil sealing”, are physical rearrangement of soil particles, buildup of fines, and the …


Determining Sources Of Nitrate In The Semi-Arid Rio Grande Using Nitrogen And Oxygen Isotopes, Diego Alberto Sanchez Hernandez May 2017

Determining Sources Of Nitrate In The Semi-Arid Rio Grande Using Nitrogen And Oxygen Isotopes, Diego Alberto Sanchez Hernandez

Masters Theses

The Rio Grande, a semi-arid river in the American Southwest, is a major source of surface water for agriculture and drinking supplies in New Mexico and Texas. In addition to increasing salinity, considerable increases of NO3- [nitrate] have been observed in the semi-arid portion of the Rio Grande. It is possible that elevated water salinity inhibits denitrification on irrigated fields and, thus, fails to mediate excess nutrient load from anthropogenic activities. Therefore, two major goals of this project were to 1) characterize and quantify major NO3- sources, and 2) assess whether elevated water salinity affects microbial …