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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Environmental Sciences

William & Mary

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

2005

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Predicting Future Shoreline Condition Based On Land Use Trends, Logistic Regression, And Fuzzy Logic, Lynne M. Dingerson Jan 2005

Predicting Future Shoreline Condition Based On Land Use Trends, Logistic Regression, And Fuzzy Logic, Lynne M. Dingerson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The lower Chesapeake Bay and adjacent coastal waters serve as the primary summer nursery areas for juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The large population of juvenile sandbar sharks in this ecosystem benefits from increased food availability that fuels rapid growth and from limited exposure to large shark predators. Juvenile growth and survival is the most critical life history stage for sandbar sharks, and juvenile nursery grounds will continue to play an important role in the slow recovery of this stock from severe population declines due to overfishing. The goal of this study was to assess …


Effects Of Human Disturbance On The Breeding Success Of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis), Caitlin Rebecca Kight Jan 2005

Effects Of Human Disturbance On The Breeding Success Of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis), Caitlin Rebecca Kight

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Tidal Wetland Contributions To Fecal Coliform Loads In Shellfish Growing Waters By Analysis Of Model Prediction Discrepancy, Jie. Huang Jan 2005

Tidal Wetland Contributions To Fecal Coliform Loads In Shellfish Growing Waters By Analysis Of Model Prediction Discrepancy, Jie. Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Fecal contamination in estuaries has become an increasing concern worldwide. The use of wetlands for wastewater treatment has expanded due to their natural ability to improve water quality by removing suspended sediments, nutrients, and fecal bacteria. In general, most of the removal occurs through deposition and accumulation in the wetland substrate. This would suggest that wetlands are effective filters for fecal coliform transported from terrestrial environments to surface waters. It has also been hypothesized, however, that wetlands may be an intermittent source of fecal coliform in tidal systems as a result of wildlife deposition and /or accumulation from terrestrial sources. …


Application Of Survival Analysis Methods To Pulsed Exposures: Exposure Duration, Latent Mortality, Recovery Time, And The Underlying Theory Of Survival Distribution Models, Yuan Zhao Jan 2005

Application Of Survival Analysis Methods To Pulsed Exposures: Exposure Duration, Latent Mortality, Recovery Time, And The Underlying Theory Of Survival Distribution Models, Yuan Zhao

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Ecotoxicologists adopted median lethal concentration (LC50) methods from mammalian toxicology. This conventional LC50 approach has shortcomings. Fixing the exposure duration and selecting the 50% mortality level result in loss of ecologically relevant information generated at all other times. It also ignores latent mortality that can manifest after exposure ends. as a result, it cannot adequately predict pulsed exposure effects in which concentration, duration, and frequency of pulses change through time. The underlying theory of the dose-response models used to calculate LC50 values, stochastic versus individual effective dose (IED) theory, has not been tested rigorously either. In this study, the effects …


Influence Of Environmental Factors On The Seed Ecology Of Vallisneria Americana, Jessie J. Campbell Jan 2005

Influence Of Environmental Factors On The Seed Ecology Of Vallisneria Americana, Jessie J. Campbell

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Environmental conditions may positively or negatively influence production, reproduction, and restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). As SAV populations decline, it is important to understand the potential impacts of the environment on the natural processes of reproduction. The objectives of this study are to provide fundamental information on sexual reproduction in a dominant species of freshwater SAV, Vallisneria americana, in the Chesapeake Bay observe the changes in environmental conditions in an established V. americana bed over an entire growing season (April-October), quantify the effects of similar environmental conditions on V. americana seed germination under controlled laboratory conditions, and finally to …


Meiofauna Abundance And Distribution In Chesapeake Bay: Relationships With Environmental Stressors, Sediment Toxicity And Macrofauna, William J. Metcalfe Jan 2005

Meiofauna Abundance And Distribution In Chesapeake Bay: Relationships With Environmental Stressors, Sediment Toxicity And Macrofauna, William J. Metcalfe

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Macrofauna-based biocriteria to assess impairment in aquatic communities are well-developed and have been widely accepted as useful for coastal monitoring programs worldwide. Meiofauna-based methods are not as well developed, but meiofauna are intimately associated with sediments through their life cycles and are functionally important. Thus, an understanding of meiofauna relationships with environmental quality is also important. Relationships between the abundance and composition of major meiofauna taxa for two shallow water habitat types (protected, with muddy sediment; exposed, with sandy sediment) were investigated along gradients associated with changing land use, sediment contamination and environmental stressors in Chesapeake Bay. Principal component analysis …


Planar Oxides As A Novel Approach To Metal Ion Sorption Studies: From The Lab To The Field, Christine F. Conrad Jan 2005

Planar Oxides As A Novel Approach To Metal Ion Sorption Studies: From The Lab To The Field, Christine F. Conrad

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The purpose of this work is to investigate the use of planar oxides as tools for metal ion sorption studies that can be used in both laboratory and field settings. to do this, a three-step approach was used. In the first step, the reactivities of the planar gamma-Al2O3 surfaces relative to pure phase gamma alumina was investigated through Pb(II) sorption studies. The relative quantitative uptake of Pb(II) on the planar gamma alumina was found to be comparable to that on the bulk. XAS analysis showed that the coordination geometry and local binding environment of the Pb(II) complexes were similar on …