Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Maurer Environmental Law Expert Is Lead Author On Science Insights Policy Forum Article, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Environmental champions and conservationists will mark the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act later this month. That is the law requiring federal agencies to use all methods necessary to prevent extinctions and ensure that federal actions not jeopardize the continued existence of species on the brink of disappearing from the face of the Earth.

In the leadup to the December 27th anniversary, several publications have begun examining the Act’s history and impact over five decades.

Science, the world’s third-most influential scholarly journal based on Google Scholar citations, invited experts from around the country to look ahead as well …

Analysis Of Community-Based Pattern Of Water Demand And Supply, Ishaku Dibal Joshua, Abdullahi Chado Salihu, Ayuba Musa Mshelia, Nchedo Nnedinma Ubachukwu

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Gombi rural community of Adamawa state, Nigeria, has witnessed significant growth in human population, which has contributed to an increase in water demand. Thus, the study analyzed water demand and supply patterns in Gombi communities of Adamawa State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics such as mean and percentages and inferential statistics like Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), chi-square, and linear regression were adopted for the analysis. The results on socioeconomic characteristics showed that the majority were females, with low household income levels, large household sizes, and in their active ages. Hand-dug well water was the …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Innovation And Practice On Biodiversity Conservation In Sanjiangyuan National Park, Xinquan Zhao, Shixiao Xu, Liang Zhao, Tongzuo Zhang, Linyong Hu, Qi Li, Tongqing Guo

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Sanjiangyuan National Park, is one of the first batch of national parks in China, and serves as the largest national park in China. As an important ecological security barrier and a alpine biological germplasm resource base, it has significant conservation value in China and even in the world. Lots of protocols have been taken aiming at ecological tacking protection issues including loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitats, degradation of alpine grassland and overgrazing in Sanjiangyuan National Park. It promotes the implementation of major ecological restoration projects, and has formed the Sanjiangyuan National Park Biodiversity Conservation and Ecological Protection Program with …

Synergism Utilization Of Urban Multi-Source Solid Waste And District Green Recycling Development—Taking Dongguan Haixinsha National Resource Recycling Demonstration Base As An Example, Yao Shi, Huiquan Li, Shaohua Chen, Weiqiang Chen, Caihong Xiong, Songgeng Li, Yin Wang, Peng Qian, Shuangde Li, Chao Hua, Ping Lu, Yupeng Liu, Chenmu Zhang, Jianwen Chu, Xin Lu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The long-term storage and extensive disposal of solid waste have caused serious water soil air composite pollution. It is necessary to strengthen the scientific and effective utilization of solid waste, which is not only conducive to solving the major pollution problem of solid waste, but also alleviates the shortage of resources and energy in China. This study summarizes three typical types of urban solid waste comprehensive treatment experience models, and points out that the solid waste circular economy model characterized by centralization, resource utilization, and greening is the main way to solve the complex problem of solid waste. Therefore, it …

Editorial

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

No abstract provided.

Develop Sciences And Technologies To Support The Building Of A Beautiful China In All Respects—Preface On Special Issue “Efforts From Science And Technology To Promote The Building Of A Beautiful China In All Respects”, Quansheng Ge

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

No abstract provided.

Scenario Simulation Of “35 Goals” And “50 Vision” For Beautiful China Initiative, Huiyi Zhu, Linsheng Yang, Wei Qi, Erqi Xu, Jiewei Chen, Quansheng Ge

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Realizing the Beautiful China Initiative is the general goal of China’s ecological civilization construction in the next 30 years. The overall goal includes two phased goals: “35 goals” and “50 vision”. This study first expounds the understanding of the goal from the aspects of ecosystem elements, structure, process, and function, and then constructs an index system to describe the goal and simulates the “35 goals” and “50 vision” under the trend of climate change, population decline and economic growth. The results show that, by 2035, China will have a population of 1.44 billion (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) and …

Ecological Operation In Yangtze River Basin With Yangtze River Simulator, Jun Xia, Zhonghui Lin, Chesheng Zhan, Wenjuan Gao, Yunliang Li, Jing Yao, Sidong Zeng, Renyong Huang, Hongzhu Wang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Ecological protection and green development in the Yangtze River basin are critical to the ecological construction of a Beautiful China. This study analyzes the current situation and main problems of the water ecology in the Yangtze River basin, and introduces the development of the Yangtze River Simulator, and the design for the ecological operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the main river, and the lakes connected to the river. Through the simulation of the main stream water ecology and lake water ecology by the Yangtze River Simulator, the optimization plan for the ecological regulation of the Three Gorges Reservoir was …

Opportunities And Challenges In Monitoring Cultivated Land Red Line In Big Data Era, Jinwei Dong, Yifeng Cui, Yuanyuan Di, Xuan Gao, Xi Chen, Linsheng Yang, Yumei Cai, Jia Ning, Jiyuan Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The demographic reality of a large population and limited land resources in China necessitates the implementation of the world’s most stringent cultivated land protection system. Effective, timely, and accurate monitoring of the status of cultivated land protection red line is essential to ensuring cultivated land protection and food security. The development of cutting-edge technologies such as remote sensing big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has provided new opportunities for cultivated land control and monitoring. This article systematically elaborates on the current research status and challenges in the field of cultivated land protection redline control and monitoring, including the establishment …

Progress And Prospects On Institutional System Construction Of Ecological Civilization In China, Linsheng Yang, Yanan Guo, Huiyi Zhu, Gaodi Xie, Xiaoyong Liao, Quansheng Ge

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the construction of Ecological Civilization (EC) in China has undergone historic, transitional, and comprehensive changes from theory to practice. The construction of system is the core content and the basic guarantee for the success of EC construction. Based on the government documents of EC construction and related research literatures, this study analyzes the formation and evolution characteristics of China’s EC construction system, parses the development process of representative innovation policies, and then predicts the trend of the further deepening reform of EC system. The results show that the relevant …

Synthetical Solution Of Disaster Risk Reduction And Green Development: A Novel Mode Promoting High-Quality Development In Mountain Areas Of China, Ming Li, Qin Liu, Yukuan Wang, Peng Cui, Xing Gao, Baofeng Di, Jinfeng Liu, Shengwen Qi, Rong Chen, Chunping Tan, Mengzhen Xu, Hao Sun, Jianqiang Zhang, Jiangang Chen, Qiang Zou

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

China is a mountainous country, with hills, mountains, and plateaus cover about two-thirds of its total land area. The vast area, huge population, rich natural resources, and great potential of development in mountain areas make them the most important “rear garden” supporting the sustainable development of the whole country. Nevertheless, China’s mountain areas are also prone to various kinds of natural disasters, and thus formed a scenario of high overlap between the high-risk zone of natural disasters and the lagging zone of social and economic development. And such scenario has caused significant waste of various related inputs, and becoming a …

Conception On Asian Elephant Ecological Corridor Planning With Implications For Conservation, Xueyou Li, Qiupeng Yu, Zhechang Hu, Xuelong Jiang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

In order to practice the concept of coordinated development of “Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets” and “mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts are part of the community of life”, this study takes “pursuing green development and promoting harmony between humanity and nature” proposed in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China as the theoretical guidance. With the goal of enhancing ecosystem integrity and connectivity, enhancing population communication, enhancing population viability, and providing a model for the construction of ecological corridors for flagship species, based on the current distribution and …

Developing Characteristic Resource Plants To Build A Beautiful China, Lei Shi, Zheng'an Liu, Lijun Wang, Qingyan Shu, Meiyu Sun, Wei Duan, Hui Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

It is an important way to solve the contradiction among ecology, production and life in natural protected areas and ecologically fragile region by constructing the three-production integration mode of characteristic resource plants. In order to fully tap and make use of the outstanding characteristics of oil tree peony, wine grape and aromatic plants, this study carried out technology integration of variety screening, planting, harvesting, processing, product research and development, and industrialization demonstration in and around natural protected areas and ecologically fragile region. Through the economic benefits generated, the life of the people in the natural protected areas and ecologically fragile …

Effectiveness And Challenges Of Aquatic Ecological Restoration Of Chishui River In Upper Yangtze River, Fei Liu, Huanzhang Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

“To set an example of green development and strength ecological environmental protection in the Chishui River basin” is an important proposal listed in the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021--2025) for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035 of the People’s Republic of China. Strengthening eco-environmental protection in the Chishui River will play an exemplary and leading role in maintaining fish diversity of the upper Yangtze River, promoting regional high-quality development, and creating a new situation of ecological civilization and Beautiful China. This study interprets the ecological functions of the Chishui River in the upper Yangtze River, expounds …

Impacts, Contributing Factors And Countermeasures Of Extreme Droughts In Poyang Lake, Qi Zhang, Chenyang Xue, Jun Xia

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

In the past 20 years, the hydrological regime of Poyang Lake changed significantly. The lake water level has been continuously decreasing, resulting in severe droughts. In particular, an extreme drought occurred in 2022, when the lake area shrank to less than 300 km2. The 2022 extreme drought in Poyang Lake had great impacts on economy, society and ecological environment, which aroused great attentions and wide concerns. Based on long-term data series of meteorological and hydrological data and the existing research outcomes and with the aid of hydrological modeling, this study analyzed the impacts and contributing factors of the 2022 drought …

Ten Problems And Solutions For Restoration Of Karst Ecosystem In Southwest China, Xiaoyong Bai, Sirui Zhang, Chen Ran, Luhua Wu, Chaochao Du, Lei Dai, Xingyi Yang, Zilin Li, Yingying Xue, Mingkang Long, Minghui Li, Shu Yang, Qing Luo, Xiaoyun Zhang, Xiaoqian Shen, Fei Chen, Qin Li, Yuanhong Deng, Zeyin Hu, Chaojun Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The karst areas in southwest China are one of the key but difficult areas targeted in the “Beautiful China” construction initiative, which focuses on soil erosion, proportion of farmland, water pollution, karst drought, ecological restoration, carbon sink, ecological effects of urbanization, rocky desertification management indicators, and biodiversity and sustainability assessment. The study synthesizes the knowledge accumulated during ecological restoration practice in karst areas into 10 problems and solutions that are strong, universal and empirically supported. These problems and solutions help to explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in karst ecology restoration and thus point to solutions. They constitute a core …

An Innovative Restoration Mode “Macrophytes–Fishes–Benthons–Birds” Implemented In Aesthetic Plateau Wetlands, Junxing Yang, Xiaoai Wang, Xiaofu Pan, Yuanwe Zhang, Heqi Wu, Anli Wu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Affected by both increasing human activities and climate change, Yunnan Plateau lakes were faced with threats such as water level decreasing, water-body reducing, and severe pollution. Many indigenous species were endangered or even disappeared. The ecological restorations implemented since 1980s almost all used alien species. As an inevitable result, severe negative impacts from alien species were observed on the Plateau wetland ecosystem and indigenous species. To solve these problems, with the support of relevant projects, an innovative restoration mode mainly with indigenous flag-species “macrophytes – fishes – benthons – birds” was proposed. This innovative mode was implemented respectively in Dianchi …

Control Of Invasive Plant Spartina Alterniflora: Concept, Technology And Practice, Baohua Xie, Guangxuan Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Alien Species Spartina alterniflora occupy the living space of native animals and plants, and lead to the reduction of biodiversity in the intertidal zone and wetland ecological service functions. Therefore, it is urgent to curb the rapid expansion of S. alterniflora in China’s coastal areas. This paper introduced the invasion situation and main ecological hazards of S. alterniflora in China, as well as put forward the concept of S. alterniflora control of “hazard assessment – zoning control – monitoring and early warning”. We summarized the control technologies of S. alterniflora at home and abroad and the current situation of S. …

Five Issues And Countermeasures Of China Cropland Resource Use, Sijing Ye, Changqing Song, Changxiu Cheng, Peichao Gao, Shi Shen, Wangshu Mu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Understand the cropland use situation, analyze management countermeasures, and explore the regional suitable cropland use mode are important prerequisites for the implementation of the strictest protection of cultivated land strategy with Chinese characteristics. At present, the cropland resource utilization in China is facing the five issues of non-agricultural, non-grain, fragmentation, marginalization, and ecological degradation. This study estimates the spatial-temporal changes of these cropland use issues in China, analyzes the challenges of cropland use governance from the aspects of complex driving factors, phase characteristics, cognitive differences of responsible subjects, and dynamic changes of external factors. On this basis, the countermeasures of …

Research On Geographical Landscape Design Of Ecological Civilization Construction In China, Wenzhong Zhang, Jianhui Yu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

As the fundamental goal of ecological civilization construction in the new era of China, the building of a Beautiful China is an important measure to promote the study of Chinese man-land relationships to a higher level and a new stage of development. This study takes the construction of ecological civilization of Beautiful China as the orientation, and carries on the frame design to the geographical landscape. The geographical landscape takes the elements of geoscience as the research object and makes a series of reasonable outlook about man-land system according to the interaction mechanism of human-land relationship and the influence of …

Evolution Of Urbanized Area’S Entities And Flow Space Towards High-Quality Development Path In China, Mingxing Chen, Liangkan Chen, Yue Xian, Jiafan Cheng, Longwu Liang, Jing Ma

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The eco-environmental conservation and Beautiful China have entered the critical phase. Urbanized areas serve as important spatial carriers in the Beautiful China initiative scenarios, but the most prominent challenges in human-environment relationship and difficult points in building Beautiful China. This study focuses on the physical urban area, and utilizing big data technology to reexamine the spatiotemporal distribution and grouped evolution characteristics of impervious surface in cities, as well as the structural features of urban flow networks from space of flows. Moreover, preliminary thoughts and policy recommendations are provided for promoting high-quality development in urbanized areas of the new era. More …

Environmental Fate Of Sulfur In Sulphur Creek, Valles Caldera, Nm: Implications For Metal Transport And Water Quality, Daniel Lavery

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The 1.2 Ma Valles Caldera in north-central New Mexico hosts a young igneous volcanic hydrothermal system after the model proposed in Goff and Janik (2000). The Sulphur Springs area within Valles Caldera is an acid-sulfate area typical of this model, discharging acidic waters (pH 1.5-3) formed by oxidation of magmatic H₂S at the surface. We report on samples obtained from springs and streams collected between October 2021 and May 2023 in the Sulphur Creek and Alamo watersheds. Sulphur Creek receives input from Sulphur Springs and exhibits low pH (2-4) and high concentrations of Al (≤110 mg/L), Fe (≤60 …

Targeting Macrophytes: Increased Water Quality Through Optimized Vegetation Considerations For Constructed Wetlands, Austin Mcbrady

Masters Theses

This study of constructed wetland design investigated relationships between macrophyte species selection and planting density for water quality improvement. A lab-scale wetland was compared against a pilot-scale wetland in San Antonio, Texas at Mitchell Lake to measure differences in effluent water quality improvement using three native macrophyte species. Using a novel, two-phase method, a targeting macrophyte was identified from among other species based on its marked capability for improving water quality factors, then was planted in varied majority densities to compare differences in treatment effectiveness. The results of this study showed that this complimentary approach to wetland design displayed significant …

The Impact Of Conservation Land On Property Taxes And Municipal Budgets In Maine: A Mixed-Methods Study, Abigail Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an interdisciplinary project done in collaboration with the Municipal Budget and Conservation Working group, a group of stakeholders that formed in 2018 to study conservation and town budgets. We use mixed methods to explore the impacts of conservation and municipal budgets in Maine. We use regression analysis on 21 years of panel data to identify causal relationships between conservation and mill rates, controlling for economic and town budget factors. We found statistically significant but small effects on average, with a 1% increase in conserved acres in a town associated with average tax bill increases of $1 or …

The Perception Of Natural Resource Management In Nebraska: Efforts For Cross-Boundary Collaborative Management, Daniel Morales

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nebraska’s agricultural landscapes are rapidly changing, affecting natural resources and their successful management. I utilized two surveys and scenario planning (Chapters 1: statewide survey, 2: local survey, and 3: scenario-planning workshop) to investigate attitudes and perceptions of natural resource management and cross-boundary collaboration. My first objective focused on determining what prevents Nebraskans from addressing natural resources challenges, considering demographics amongst generations and the type of areas they live in (rural versus urban). The second objective focused on whether landowners engaged with their community in managing natural resources. The third objective was to develop alternative future scenarios for the Denton Hills …

The Influence Of Invasive Species On Fishers’ Satisfactions, Caroline M. Laplante

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Invasives species are prevalent and widespread in North America. Outdoor recreational activities, such as fishing, introduce a point in which humans may interact with invasive species and have to adapt their own behaviors. Bigheaded carp in the Missouri River below Gavin’s Point Dam are a group of invasive fish species that were thought to be negatively relating to recreational fishers’ satisfactions. Using a content analysis and an importance-grid, we conclude that invasive species do not strongly relate to recreational paddlefish fishers’ satisfactions. Paddlefish fishers represent a small sub-set of recreational fishers in Nebraska and South Dakota. The content analysis revealed …

Understanding Avidities Of Recreational Activities For People Possessing Fishing Licenses And Residing In Urban Environments, Kyle F. Hansen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recreational fishing is one of the world's most popular pastimes, wherein participation is associated with sociodemographic factors. Even so, fishing license sales are declining in the USA in conjunction with a reduction in rural populations as people move to urban areas. Thus, urban areas are constantly growing in population size, population diversity, and geographic size suggesting a need to understand fishing participation in these growing areas. Natural resource managers often use participation to understand recreationists, yet avidity could provide a new way to understand recreationists. The goal of our study is to understand what sociodemographic factors influence the fishing avidity …

Population Demography Of A Glacial-Relict Stream Fish Mediated Via Anthropogenic Alteration, Joseph M. Spooner

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Northern Pearl Dace Margariscus nachtriebi are a small-bodied glacial-relict fish species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) found throughout Canada and the northern United Sates. Their distribution within the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion is isolated from the northern core distribution of the species following the last glaciation period approximately 18,000 years ago. Headwater streams within the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion are predominately groundwater fed and provide the cool water temperatures needed to support Northern Pearl Dace and other glacial-relict SGCN. Headwater streams within the Nebraska Sandhills Ecoregion have been geomorphically altered through anthropogenic processes such as channelization whereby habitat homogenization has occurred. Evidence …

Habitat Heterogeneity In Nebraska Streams And Distribution Prediction For Tier-1 Cyprinids Using Multi-Scale Modeling Of Fluvial And Landscape Features, Connor P. Hart

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Multiscale environmental processes determine in-stream habitat conditions which drive species distributions. Habitat constitutes the physical template upon which ecological processes occur and species conduct life stage activities. Habitat heterogeneity promotes biodiversity of aquatic systems. Stream classification informs freshwater conservation by providing a useful framework to account for habitat heterogeneity, often based on landscape regions of similar environmental processes. A greater understanding of landscape-based classification frameworks as means to classify stream systems may improve understanding of drivers of biodiversity. Using Nebraska as a case study, on a statewide scale, objectives were 1) to characterize habitat availability for several at-risk fish species, …