Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Slides: Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project, Kathryn Mutz

Opportunities and Obstacles to Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Natural Gas Development in Uintah Basin (October 14)

Presenter: Kathryn Mutz, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado at Boulder

21 slides

Characterization Of Soil Water Content Variability And Soil Texture Using Gpr Groundwave Techniques, Katherine R. Grote, Cale T. Anger, Bridget Kelly, Susan Sharpless Hubbard, Yoram N. Rubin

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Accurate characterization of near-surface soil water content is vital for guiding agricultural management decisions and for reducing the potential negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Characterizing the near-surface soil water content can be difficult, as this parameter is often both spatially and temporally variable, and obtaining sufficient measurements to describe the heterogeneity can be prohibitively expensive. Understanding the spatial correlation of near-surface soil water content can help optimize data acquisition and improve understanding of the processes controlling soil water content at the field scale. In this study, ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods were used to characterize the spatial correlation of water …

Slides: Livestock Grazing On The Public Lands, Joe Feller

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

Presenter: Joe Feller, Professor of Law, Arizona State University Law School; Visiting Professor, University of Colorado Law School

33 slides

Vegetation Trends On A Waste Rock Repository Cap In The Northern Black Hills, Andrew C. Korth, Gary E. Larson, Lan Xu, Thomas E. Schumacher

The Prairie Naturalist

We assessed successional trends, long-term vegetation sustainability, and soil surface protection during the 2005-2007 growing seasons on the 32-ha Ruby Gulch Waste Rock Repository cap. The cap consisted of 150 cm of rock and soil covering a polyethylene membrane which in turn covered mining waste rock in order to prevent leaching of heavy metals and acidic water into streams. Following construction in 2003, a contractor applied a grass-forb seed mixture to provide soil-surface protection especially for steeply sloped portions of the cap. In 2005, we established 56, 1-m² plots, and 20, 20-m transects to annually measure canopy cover, basal …

Albedo Estimates For Land Surface Models And Support For A New Paradigm Based On Foliage Nitrogen Concentration, David Y. Hollinger, S. V. Ollinger, A. D. Richardson, T. P. Meyers, D. B. Dail, M. E. Martin, N. A. Scott, T. J. Arkebauer, D. D. Baldocchi, K. L. Clark, P. S. Curtis, K. J. Davis, A. R. Desai, D. Dragoni, M. L. Goulden, L. Gu, G. G. Katul, S. G. Pallardy, K. T. Pawu, H. P. Schmid, P. C. Stoy, Andrew E. Suyker, Shashi Verma

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Vegetation albedo is a critical component of the Earth’s climate system, yet efforts to evaluate and improve albedo parameterizations in climate models have lagged relative to other aspects of model development. Here, we calculated growing season albedos for deciduous and evergreen forests, crops, and grasslands based on over 40 site-years of data from the AmeriFlux network and compared them with estimates presently used in the land surface formulations of a variety of climate models. Generally, the albedo estimates used in land surface models agreed well with this data compilation. However, a variety of models using fixed seasonal estimates of albedo …

Functional Relationships Between Vegetation, Channel Morphology, And Flow Efficiency In An Alluvial (Anabranching) River, John D. Jansen, Gerald C. Nanson

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Water and sediment flux interactions are examined in Magela Creek, an alluvial (anabranching) sand bed river in the northern Australian tropics. Dense riparian vegetation stabilizes the channels and floodplains thereby preventing erosional instability at flow depths up to 6.2 times bankfull and discharges up to 15 times bankfull. Narrow anabranching channels characterize > 92% of the alluvial reach and transport bed load more efficiently than short reaches of wide single-channels, yet overall 29 +/- 12% of the bed load is sequestered and the average vertical accretion rate is 0.41 +/- 0.17 mm yr (1) along the 12 km study reach. The …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Western Australian Part Of The Nullarbor Region, P A. Waddell, A K. Gardner, P Hennig

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Western Australian part of the Nullarbor region, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 2005 and 2007, describes and maps the natural resources of the region. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the area's natural resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The Nullarbor region has …

Edaphic And Vegetative Controls On Mercury Cycling In Oligohaline Wetlands, Jonathan M. Willis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the expansion of the human population and associated industries there is a concomitant increase in both resource utilization and the production of waste and deleterious by-products. Mercury is a naturally-occurring toxic metal with a complicated and unique biogeochemical cycle, and is often a contaminant of ecotoxicological concern in unindustrialized aquatic habitats. The research described herein was designed to elucidate multiple aspects regarding the behavior of mercury in oligohaline wetland habitats, particularly with respect to edaphic and vegetative effects, through a monitoring and characterization study as well as a series of manipulative experiments. The observational study, conducted in the wetlands …

Developing Tools To Identify Factors That Limit Production In Coastal Marshes, Vanessa Danielle Tobias

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Marsh loss is a problem in many areas around the world. In Louisiana’s coastal marshes, where Spartina patens is the most common plant, restoration and management seek to slow wetland loss rates that average approximately 77.4 km2/year. To combat the problem, scientists and managers require tools to determine local causes and evaluate the effectiveness of management techniques. Current methods for identifying factors that limit productivity in marshes are too time-consuming or expensive for wide-spread, regular use. Critical values of elemental concentrations in plant tissue are widely used to diagnose mineral deficiencies and toxicities in agricultural crops, however. I used the …