Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Juvenile River Herring In Freshwater Lakes: Sampling Approaches For Evaluating Growth And Survival, Matthew T. Devine

Masters Theses

River herring, collectively alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (A. aestivalis), have experienced substantial population declines over the past five decades due in large part to overfishing, combined with other sources of mortality, and disrupted access to critical freshwater spawning habitats. Anadromous river herring populations are currently assessed by counting adults in rivers during upstream spawning migrations, but no field-based assessment methods exist for estimating juvenile densities in freshwater nursery habitats. Counts of 4-year-old migrating adults are variable and prevent understanding about how mortality acts on different life stages prior to returning to spawn (e.g., juveniles …

Modelling Bird Migration With Motus Data And Bayesian State-Space Models, Justin Baldwin

Masters Theses

Bird migration is a poorly-known yet important phenomenon, as understanding movement patterns of birds can inform conservation strategies and public health policy for animal-borne diseases. Recent advances in wildlife tracking technology, in particular the Motus system, have allowed researchers to track even small flying birds and insects with radio transmitters that weigh fractions of a gram. This system relies on a community-based distributed sensor network that detects tagged animals as they move through the detection nodes on journeys that range from small local movements to intercontinental migrations. The quantity of data generated by the Motus system is unprecedented, is on …

Towards Osgeo Best Practices For Scientific Software Citation: Integration Options For Persistent Identifiers Fn Osgeo Project Repositories, Peter Löwe, Markus Neteler, Jan Goebel, Marco Tullney

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

As a contribution to the currently ongoing larger effort to establish Open Science as best practices in academia, this article focuses on the Open Source and Open Access tiers of the Open Science triad and community software projects. The current situation of research software development and the need to recognize it as a significant contribution to science is introduced in relation to Open Science. The adoption of the Open Science paradigms occurs at different speeds and on different levels within the various fields of science and crosscutting software communities. This is paralleled by the emerging of an underlying futuresafe technical …

Processing Conservation Indicators With Open Source Tools: Lessons Learned From The Digital Observatory For Protected Areas, Lucy Bastin, Andrea Mandrici, Luca Battistella, Grégoire Dubois

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The European Commission has a commitment to open data and the support of open source software and standards. We present lessons learnt while populating and supporting the web and map services that underly the Joint Research Centre's Digital Observatory for Protected Areas. Challenges include: large datasets with highly complex geometries; topological inconsistencies, compounded by reprojection for equal-area calculations; multiple different representations of the same geographical entities, for example coastlines; licensing requirement to continuously update indicators to respond to monthly changes in the authoritative data. In order to compute and publish an array of indicators, we used a range of open …

Modeling Effective Albedo As A Function Of Land Cover Type And Snow Type, Martin Ytre-Eide, Terje Christensen, Tore Sivert Johnsen Istad, Lill Tove Nilsen, Bjørn Johnsen

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The Center for Environmental Radioactivity (CERAD) project "UV-maps" aims to obtain geographically distributed time-series of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in Norway. Since UV-measurements are limited to a few monitoring stations, a full representation of the spatial and temporal distribution needs to be based on a ra-diative transfer model (RTM). A key parameter is the regional albedo distribution. The albedo model developed here apply a gridded set of local albedo values to derive the regional, effective albedo at any given point. In Norway there is a UV-monitoring network that has been operating since 1996, delivering almost continual 20-years time series of …

Facilitate Visualization And Distribution Of Nasa's Environmental Science Data Through Open Standards And Open Source Software For Geospatial, Yaxing Wei, Zhaoying (Angie) Wei, Suresh Santhanavannan

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

This paper introduces the utilization of open standards and open source software for visualization and distribution of geospatial environmental science data at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC). The ORNL DAAC is one of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data centers. A big challenge for the ORNL DAAC (https://daac.ornl.gov) is to efficiently manage over a thousand heterogeneous environmental data, collected through field campaigns, aircraft/satellite observations, and model simulations. ORNL DAAC also has to provide tools to easily find, visualize, and access the heterogeneous data. To address this challenge, the ORNL …

Exploring The Relationship Between Climate And Forest Conditions In Forest Classee De La Mondah (Gabon) Using Remote Sensing Data, Mariano Mboumba

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

This study aims to examine the relationship between temperature and precipitation as climatic factors and the vegetation characteristics in Forêt Classée de la Mondah (Gabon). A pixel based spatial analysis procedure with QGIS was used to extract vegetation characteristics from MODIS on Terra, NDVI band, data from February 2000 to December 2015, while temperature and precipitation were monitored from January 1980 to December 2015 to highlight climate fluctuations in the study area. Two regression analyses were conducted : one between temperature and NDVI and the other one between precipitation and NDVI. Results showed that temperature and precipitation did not vary …

Botswana’S Elephant-Back Safari Industry – Stress-Response In Working African Elephants And Analysis Of Their Post-Release Movements, Tanya Lama

Masters Theses

Understanding how African elephants (Loxodonta africana) respond to human interactions in ecotourism operations is critical to safeguarding animal and human welfare and sustaining wildlife ecotourism activities. We investigated the stress response of elephants to a variety of tourist activities over a 15-month period at Abu Camp in northern Botswana. We compared fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations across three elephant groups, including: eight elephants in an elephant-tourism operation (Abu herd), three elephants previously reintroduced back into the wild from the Abu herd, and wild elephants. There were no differences in FGM concentrations between the three groups of elephants. The highest observed …

Modeling The Economic And Environmental Performance Of Offshore Wind Energy, Alexana Cranmer

Doctoral Dissertations

Offshore wind is a growing source of energy globally. Like any energy technology, it has impacts on the environment. In the case of renewable energy, we need a way to consider the environmental benefits as well as the environmental costs. This dissertation develops a set of models to examine the economic and environmental costs and benefits and the trade-offs between them. We ask how much offshore wind energy should be sited, and where should that offshore wind energy be located? The first model estimates the economic impact of wake interactions between wind farms. Wind farm sites are chosen through a …

Sustainability Integration Project, Ezra Small

Sustainability Reports & Plans

In 2017 UMass Amherst Chancellor's Sustainability Advisory Committee (CSAC) identified 6 top strategic priorities for advancing sustainability through a planning process called the Sustainability Integration Project (SIP). The outcome of this plan has laid the foundation for strategic sustainability projects and planning initiatives at UMass Amherst over the last 3 years and will continue to do so beyond 2020.

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Dslland And Subsysland, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

DSLland is the land cover map used as an organizational framework in the Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) project (McGarigal et al 2017). It is derived primarily from The Nature Conservancy's Northeast Habitat Classification

map (Ferree and Anderson 2013; Anderson et al. 2013; Olivero and Anderson 2013; Olivero-Sheldon et al 2014). To meet the needs of the DSL project, we substantially modified the TNC map. The TNC map is a hierarchical classification. For our purposes, we adopted the 'habitat' level of the hierarchy, which we refer to as "ecosystems", as our finest scale, as it is the most appropriate classification for …

River And Stream Power Assessment Report Including Culvert And Bridge Vulnerability Analysis: Deerfield River Basin, Massachusetts And Vermont, James G. Macbroom, Roy Schiff, Jessica Louisos

Water Reports

This geomorphic assessment of Deerfield River in western Massachusetts and southern Vermont has been prepared by Milone & MacBroom, Inc. (MMI) on behalf of the University of Massachusetts as part of its "Farms, Floods, and FGM" project, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture National Integrated Water Quality Program(USDA – NIFA NIWQP) program. This project is a broad-based geomorphic assessment of the Deerfield River and its adjacent riparian corridor to define its characteristics, processes, and management issues. The river channel is used extensively for hydroelectric power generation and recreation, with agricultural …

Umass Amherst Energy Consumption, Ghg Emissions, Energy Intensity From 2002-2016, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Data spreadsheet of GHG emissions, fuel consumption, and energy intensity for UMass Amherst between Fiscal Years 2002 to 2016.

Fy 2017 Umass Amherst Waste Management Report, John Pepi

Campus Data

Each year the Office of Waste Management publishes this report which totals recycling and refuse data for the campus.

Fy 2017 Umass Amherst Electricity Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building energy consumption of each metered building on campus. Cost data and production vs. purchased electricity data are also provided.

Northeast Invasive Plants Data, Tyler Cross, John T. Finn, Bethany Bradley

Environmental Conservation Datasets

The data are distribution and ranked abundance data for thirteen invasive plants in the Northeast US compiled from various spatial repositories for invasive species. iMAP invasives data are not included in this dataset because they are not publicly available. iMAP data can be requested from individual states.

These data form the basis of analyses presented in Cross et al. 2017. "Frequency of invasive plant occurrence is not a suitable proxy for abundance in the Northeast US Ecosphere".

Fy 2017 Umass Amherst Water & Steam Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building water and steam consumption of each metered building on campus.

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Potential Dominant Life Form Settings Variable, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

Potential dominant life form is one of several ecological settings variables that collectively characterize the biophysical setting of each 30 m cell at a given point in time (McGarigal et al 2017). Potential dominant life form (unvegetated, herbaceous, shrubland, woodland, forest) represents the structure of vegetative community at a site and is used, for example, to distinguish early successional forest from permanent grassland or shrubland. Potential dominant life form is assigned by landcover class, derived from expert opinion. This settings variable is dynamic, changing with urban growth.

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Sea Level Rise Metric, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

The sea level rise metric estimates the probability of the focal cell being unable to adapt to predicted inundation by sea level rise (SLR). Whether a site gets inundated by salt water permanently due to sea level rise or intermittently via storm surges associated with sea level rise determines whether an ecosystem can persist at a site and thus its ability to support a characteristic plant and animal community. Based on a sea level rise inundation model developed by USGS Woods Hole (Lentz et al. 2015). The sea level rise metric is an element of the ecological integrity analysis of …

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: All Ecological Settings, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

The ecological settings products include a broad suite of static as well as dynamic abiotic and biotic variables representing the natural and anthropogenic environment at each location (cell). Static variables are those that do not change over time (e.g., elevation, incident solar radiation). Dynamic settings are available for 2010 and 2080; static settings are available for 2010. Dynamic variables are those that change over time in response to succession and the drivers (e.g., growing season degree days, traffic rate). Most of the settings variables are continuous and thus represent landscape heterogeneity as continuous (e.g., slope, biomass), although some are categorical …

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Imperviousness Settings Variable, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

Imperviousness is one of several ecological settings variables that collectively characterize the biophysical setting of each 30 m cell at a given point in time (McGarigal et al 2017). Imperviousness measures the percentage of the ground surface area that is impervious to water infiltration, which is an indicator of intensive development and thus an important determinant of ecological communities. This is a dynamic settings variable, increasing with future urban growth.

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: The Index Of Ecological Impact, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

Includes five landscape change scenarios: 1) baseline 70-year (2010-2080) climate change and urban growth scenario without additional land protection; 2) same as #1 but with 25% more demand for new development; 3) same as #1 but with increased sprawl to the pattern of development; 4) same as #1 but with both 25% more demand for new development and increased sprawl; and 5) same as #1 but with additional terrestrial reserve areas (core areas) protected from development as established for Nature's Network landscape design (www.naturesnetwork.org).

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Traffic Settings Variable, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

Traffic is one of several ecological settings variables that collectively characterize the biophysical setting of each 30 m cell at a given point in time (McGarigal et al 2017). Traffic measures the estimated probability of an animal crossing the road being hit by a vehicle given the mean traffic rate, an important determinant of landscape connectivity for mobile terrestrial organisms. It is based on an empirical model of mean vehicles per day, using point counts of traffic, and a transformation to estimate the mortality rate for road crossings. Traffic is a dynamic settings variable, increasing in future timesteps with urban …

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Mean Annual Temperature, Growing Season Degree Days, Heat Index, Minimum Winter Temperature, And Maximum Summer Temperature Settings Variables, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

These five temperture variables are among several ecological settings variables that collectively characterize the biophysical setting of each 30 m cell at a given point in time (McGarigal et al 2017). The temperature regime strongly affects species composition, as well as rates of ecological processes such as nutrient cycling. We’ve chosen five variables to represent different aspects of temperature. All five variables have future versions that incorporate climate change via General Circulation Models (GCMs) (as described in the technical document on climate, McGarigal et al 2017).

Near-Real-Time Monitoring Of Insect Defoliation Using Landsat Time Series, Valerie J. Pasquarella, Bethany A. Bradley, Curtis E. Woodcock

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Introduced insects and pathogens impact millions of acres of forested land in the United States each year, and large-scale monitoring efforts are essential for tracking the spread of outbreaks and quantifying the extent of damage. However, monitoring the impacts of defoliating insects presents a significant challenge due to the ephemeral nature of defoliation events. Using the 2016 gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) outbreak in Southern New England as a case study, we present a new approach for near-real-time defoliation monitoring using synthetic images produced from Landsat time series. By comparing predicted and observed images, we assessed changes in vegetation …

Frequency Of Invasive Plant Occurrence Is Not A Suitable Proxy For Abundance In The Northeast United States, Tyler Cross, John T. Finn, Bethany A. Bradley

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Measuring and predicting invasive plant abundance is critical for understanding impacts on ecosystems and economies. Although spatial abundance datasets remain rare, occurrence datasets are increasingly available across broad regional scales. We asked whether the frequency of these point occurrences can be used as a proxy for abundance of invasive plants. We compiled both occurrence and abundance data for 13 regionally important invasive plants in the northeast United States from herbarium records and several contributed distribution datasets. We integrated all available abundance information based on infested area, stem count, percent cover, or qualitative descriptions into abundance rankings ranging from 0 (absent) …

Cheatgrass (Bromus Tectorum) Distribution In The Intermountain Western United States And Its Relationship To Fire Frequency, Seasonality, And Ignitions, Bethany A. Bradley, Caroline A. Curtis, Emily J. Fusco, John T. Abatzoglou, Jennifer K. Balch, Sepideh Dadashi, Mao-Ning Tuanmu

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is an invasive grass pervasive across the Intermountain Western US and linked to major increases in fire frequency. Despite widespread ecological impacts associated with cheatgrass, we lack a spatially extensive model of cheatgrass invasion in the Intermountain West. Here, we leverage satellite phenology predictors and thousands of field surveys of cheatgrass abundance to create regional models of cheatgrass distribution and percent cover. We compare cheatgrass presence to fire probability, fire seasonality and ignition source. Regional models of percent cover had low predictive power (34% of variance explained), but distribution models based on a threshold of …

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Caco3 Content Settings Variable, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content is one of several ecological settings variables that collectively characterize the biophysical setting of each 30 m cell at a given point in time (McGarigal et al 2017). CaCO3 buffers acidity in soil and water, increasing nutrient uptake by plants, and providing a ready source of calcium for organisms such as aquatic insects. CaCO3 content (Fig. 1), affects the composition of natural communities both directly and indirectly, such that areas with high calcium have increased species richness and support a number of unique species.

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Watershed Habitat Loss, Watershed Imperviousness, Road Salt, Sediment, Nutrients, And Dam Intensity Metrics, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

This document describes a suite of stressor metrics that assess the various effects of development in the watershed of the focal cell, as opposed to a (usually) circular window around the focal cell, as with the other metrics. These metrics are used for lotic, lentic, and wetland systems. All effects are weighted by a the time of flow from each stressor source to the focal cell, thus, stressor sources that fall within a stream have a greater effect than those in distant uplands within the watershed. These share a common algorithm, but each has unique parameters. These metrics are elements …

Designing Sustainable Landscapes: Tidal Restrictions Metric, Kevin Mcgarigal, Brad Compton, Ethan Plunkett, Bill Deluca, Joanna Grand

Data and Datasets

Tidal restrictions include undersized culverts and bridges, tide gates, dikes, and other structures that interfere with normal tidal flushing in estuarine systems. Effects can range from mild changes in species composition and cycling of sediment and nutrients to wholesale conversion of ecological systems, such as conversion of Spartina-dominated salt marshes to Phragmites australis, or, in extreme cases, to freshwater wetlands (Roman et al. 1984, Ritter et al. 2008). The tidal restrictions metric is an element of the ecological integrity analysis of the Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) project (see technical document on integrity, McGarigal et al 2017). Consisting of a composite …