Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Vegetation Surveys In Southern Minnesota Prairies: Management, Invasive Species And Future Directions, Ainsley Peterson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This paper is formatted into two chapters: a general introduction on prairies, management, and this study (Chapter 1), and the study formatted for submission to a journal for publication (Chapter 2). To manage habitat loss in Southern Minnesota prairies, and subsequent ecological damage, private and public individuals have responded with restoration. This study investigated the use of an accepted vegetation monitoring tool to survey prairies (N=31) in Southern Minnesota during June/July (2019), targeting peak growing season to see whether restored prairies had lower invasive species richness, and relatively greater native richness. We hypothesized that restored prairies would have higher species …

Annual And Seasonal Measurements Of Home Ranges And Habitat Use By Female Elk (Cervus Elaphus) In Northwestern Minnesota, Alicia E. Freeman

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Elk were present historically in Minnesota’s prairies and forest transition zone up until their extirpation from the state in the late 1800s (Hazard 1982, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources [MNDNR] 2017). Settlers moving into the region converted much of the land for agricultural purposes, significantly reducing the amount of habitat available for elk, and ultimately leading to their extirpation in the early 1900s. Elk returned to the state in the 1930s through a reintroduction effort, as well as through natural dispersal from North Dakota USA, and Manitoba Canada in the 1980s (MNDNR 2017). In 2016, the Minnesota Department of Natural …

The Efficacy Of Best Management Practices On Peak Discharge And Contaminant Loads In Agricultural Drainage Systems, Blue Earth River Watershed, South-Central Minnesota, Usa, Zach Hilgendorf

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Conversion of native land cover to row crop agriculture and anthropogenically modified hydrology, correlates with increases in peak discharge, annual discharge, sediment and nutrient loads in agricultural land-use dominated watersheds within the Mississippi River basin. This results in environmental issues related to turbidity, eutrophication-hypoxia, loss of biodiversity, natural resource degradation, reduction in tourism, and more. In no place is this more obvious than the ever-growing "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. The Minnesota River basin, the largest tributary to the Mississippi River in Minnesota, is a disproportionately large contributor of sediment (~80-90%), nitrogen (~56%), and phosphorus (~45%) to the …

Agricultural Land Use, Watershed Characteristics, And Hydrological Forces Contributing To The Impairment Of A Shallow Lake In The Western Corn Belt Ecoregion, Lynn Schultz

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Lake Titlow watershed (approximately 35,000 acres) in south-central Minnesota is part of the Minnesota River Basin. The lake is listed in the draft 2010 Clean Water Act Section 303d for nutrient pollution, eutrophication, and biological indicators for impairment of aquatic life and recreational use. Over 90 percent of pre-settlement wetlands are currently drained for agricultural land use. The Lake Titlow watershed is over 80 percent row crops and land use is implicated as a primary cause of impairment in the lake.

Water samples were collected from the Lake Titlow tributaries McLeod-Sibley Judicial Ditch Number 18 (JD18), Sibley County Ditch …

Effects Of Hydrology On The Growth And Recruitment Of Stream Fish In The Eastern Broadleaf Province Of Minnesota, Eric J. Krumm

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Agricultural practices and urban development have altered streamflows within the Eastern Broadleaf Province of Minnesota. Stream-flow alteration can produce significant changes in native freshwater communities. Therefore, knowledge of streamflow effects on representative freshwater populations and communities within the province are needed to maintain ecological integrity. Fish community and population dynamics often display predictable responses to flow regimes, which can make fishes model organisms for examining flow-ecology relationships.

In lotic systems, annual variation in streamflow can influence the annual growth and recruitment of fishes. Understanding the growth and recruitment of fish populations is essential for management and conservation efforts. Growth can …

Cleaning Up Minnesota's Archeological Record With Maid: The Minnesota Archeological Integrated Database, Andrew Allen Brown

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Minnesota archeologists face many difficulties in conducting archeological research and managing the state's cultural resources such as a lack of standardized data formats and field/lab procedures, a lack of a centralized data repository, and insufficient existing databases. The purpose of this thesis is to build the foundation for a database system that addresses these difficulties along with being efficient and effective for entering, managing, and analyzing archeological data produced in the field and in the lab. The Minnesota Archeological Integrated Database is being built to be a long-lasting, constantly evolving system to be used by archeologists and cultural resource managers …

Hydrologic And Temperature Regime Influence On Growth And Recruitment Of Fishes In An Upper Midwest Riverine Ecosystem, Brett Donald Nelson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The natural flow regime is often identified as the primary driver of ecological integrity in rivers. The Minnesota River basin is characterized by a row-crop agricultural landscape with an extensive network of drainage tiles and ditches to improve land productivity. Intensive surface and subsurface drainage alters flow regimes, increasing the magnitude and frequency of high flows. Changes in river hydrology lead to alterations in geomorphology, including increased bank erosion, channel widening, and downward incision that can lead to floodplain disconnection. Disruption of historical hydrology can alter energy flow and connection to specialized habitats subsequently affecting important aquatic communities and populations …

Zebra Mussel (Dreissena Polymorpha) Habitat Associations In Four West-Central Minnesota Lakes, April Rose Londo

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In 1989, zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) were first documented in the land of ten thousand lakes in the Lake Superior Basin at Duluth. Zebra mussels are successful invaders because the species attaches to substrates with byssal threads, can adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions, and has a free-swimming veligers that are easily transported. Although invasive mollusks pose a range of economic and ecological threats to inland waters, our understanding of zebra mussels in Minnesota lakes remains limited. To gain additional information regarding zebra mussel ecology in lake systems, I conducted research in four west-central Minnesota lakes that were …

The Belizean Environment, Lauren Marie Bach

Service-Learning

Lauren Bach's 2014 service-learning presentation on the environment in Belize.

Communication Effectiveness And The Emerald Ash Borer Mitigation Campaign, Jonathon Heide

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Environmental risk communication is scrutinized by several research fields including, as Herndl and Brown (1996) show, technical communications. This technical communications thesis rhetorically analyses how large and small government agencies in the State of Minnesota communicate a specific environmental risk: emerald ash borer (EAB). EAB is an insect native to Asia and arrived in Detroit on a cargo ship sometime in the 1990s (Cappaert 2005, 153; Poland 2011, 46). By 2012, it spread to the 15 states and two Canadian provinces (USDA--APHIS 2012). EAB's life cycle will causes tree decline in Minnesota, the state with the most ash (MNDNR 2012). …