Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Using Diatoms To Reconstruct Eutrophication In Lake Carmi, Vt, Margaret Polifrone, Sarah Wasserman, Ismar Biberovic, Kaleb Jones, Andrew Schroth, Andrea Lini, Ana Morales-Williams

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

No abstract provided.

Whole Farm Net Zero: Approaches To Quantification Of Climate Regulation Ecosystem Services At The Whole Farm Scale. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Report #7, Christopher Bonasia, Lindsey Ruhl, Benjamin Timothy Dube, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

In this report, approaches to the quantification of climate mitigation ecosystem services at the whole farm scale are reviewed and summarized for easy comparison. Eight quantification tools, and three case studies demonstrating possible tool applications, are summarized to fulfill the requirements of the Technical Services Contract—Task 7. Information from a combination of literature review and expert interviews served to document the inputs, outputs, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for each quantification tool. This research was conducted in service to the Vermont Soil Health and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Working Group (VT PES working group). It is our hope that …

Valuation Of Soil Health Ecosystem Services. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Research Report #5, Benjamin Timothy Dube, Alissa C. White, Taylor H. Ricketts, Heather M. Darby

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

In this report, we present estimates for ecosystem services from soil health using two approaches for four different services. One approach generates estimates based on soil-health practices, and the other approach is based on improvements in soil-health indicators. For soil- health practices, such as adopting best-management practices on annual corn, we utilize a set of off-the shelf empirical models widely used to estimate ecological functions on farm landscapes. For soil-health indicators, we make estimates by linking these tools with soil data and statistical models describing how soil-health parameters influence the interaction of soils with water and their environment. We provide …

Results Of The 2022 Vermont Farmer Conservation & Payment For Ecosystem Services Survey. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Research Report #3a, Alissa C. White

Reports and Policy Briefs

This survey was commissioned by the Vermont Soil Health and Payment for Ecosystem Services Working Group (VT PES Working Group) to gather farmer input on the development of payment for ecosystem services (PES) in Vermont for agriculture. In particular, the survey was intended to help set appropriate levels of compensation for participation in a soil health PES program, although additional information was gathered in the survey to inform the development of a new incentive program. The VT PES Working Group has explored the potential for a performance-based soil health PES program that would compensate farmers on the basis of environmental …

Field Scale Soil Health Scenarios. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Report #2, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby, Lindsey C. Ruhl, Bryony Sands, Sara Ziegler,, Juan P. Alvez, Sarah Brickman

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

This report illustrates how changes in management on Vermont farms can influence soil health metrics at the field scale. We’ve used regionally relevant science-based scenarios to demonstrate how selected soil health metrics that are associated with ecosystem services could change on farms in response to management practices at the field scale. These field scale management scenarios demonstrate that many practices in use by farmers in Vermont can have positive impacts on the soil health indicators of interest to the Vermont Soil Health & Payment for Ecosystem Services Working Group. The scenarios document potential for tradeoffs among soil health properties. Specifically, …

Soil Carbon Storage And Sequestration In Vermont Agriculture, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby, Donald Ross

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

In 2021, The State of Soil Health (SOSH) project measured indicators of soil health on 221 farm fields across the state of Vermont through a collaborative effort among many organizations. Soil carbon stocks to 30 cm depth were assessed on 191 of those fields. In this brief we share a summary of this new soil carbon stock data alongside data from a national assessment of soil carbon stocks performed by the NRCS from 2010 and highlight its relevance to current policy conversations within the state of Vermont.

Key Ideas

• The protection of existing soil carbon stocks and support for increased …

Tile Drainage Flow Partitioning And Phosphorus Export In Vermont Usa, Ryan Ruggiero, Donald Ross, Joshua W. Faulkner

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

Tile drainage (TD) has been identified as a potential non-point source of phosphorus (P) pollution and subsequent water quality issues. Three fields with TD in Vermont USA were monitored to characterize hydrology and P export. Fields were in corn silage and used minimal tillage and cover cropping practices. Preferential flow path (PFP) activity was explored by separating TD flow into flow pathway and source connectivity components using two hydrograph separation techniques, electrical conductivity end member unmixing, and hydrograph recession analysis. TD was the dominant P export pathway because of higher total discharge. Drought conditions during this study limited surface runoff, …

Maintaining Driveways, Lake Champlain Sea Grant

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

This presentation produced by Lake Champlain Sea Grant's BLUE BTV initiative explains how driveways can contribute to stormwater and pollutant runoff into waterways, what cities, like Burlington, Vermont, are doing to encourage impervious driveways, and actions that individuals can take to maintain their own driveways to keep waterways clean.

Keeping Dogs Safe From Cyanobacteria Blooms (Habs), Lake Champlain Sea Grant

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

Cyanobacteria blooms (sometimes called Harmful Algal Blooms or HABs) are overgrowths of a type of bacteria that use sunlight to reproduce in lakes and ponds. Cyanobacteria blooms sometimes produce potent toxins that can poison people, pets, and livestock. The presence of these blooms is increasing in many areas, putting both animals and humans at risk.

This brochure will help you understand the risks, how to recognize cyanobacteria blooms, how to keep both you and your dog safe from exposure, as well as what to do if your dog has been exposed to a bloom or poisoned by toxins.

Best Lawn Care Practices, Lake Champlain Sea Grant

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

Lawn care practices that contribute to a healthy lawn and better water quality are described.

Programs in Burlington, Vermont, are described.

Introducing Lake Champlain Sea Grant And Programs For Real Estate Professionals, Linda Patterson

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

Lake Champlain Sea Grant offers accredited workshops to Vermont and New York real estate professionals. Real estate professionals are often the first (and sometimes only) source of information for buyers and sellers about construction and alterations in regulated areas (such as wetlands and river corridors), potential flood risks, septic requirements, shoreland protection, and related topics. Realtors also gain valuable information about state and local resources that they can pass on to their clients.

All courses award Vermont continuing education credits. New York credits are available for the septic course, with others pending. Courses are listed in the presentation.

Stormwater Subsurface Gravel Wetlands In Vermont: Permitting, Performance, And Chloride Concerns, Watershed Consulting Associates, Llc, University Of Vermont

Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute

Subsurface gravel wetlands (SGW) are water treatment practices that utilize a saturated bed of gravel and (sometimes) wetland vegetation to filter incoming water and remove pollutants through a combination of physical filtration, adsorption, biological uptake, and microbial transformation. Water level is controlled by an outlet structure to retain a permanent subsurface pool, providing retention of stormwater volume in addition to pollutant removal. SGW are becoming increasingly popular tools for stormwater treatment in Vermont.

A varied group of partners including academic researchers, municipal stormwater managers, and consulting designers and engineers, have identified questions around stormwater gravel wetland performance as significant in …

The State Of Soil Health In Vermont: Summary Statistics From Vermont Agriculture In 2021, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby, Lindsey Ruhl, Erin Lane

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

This report shares the summary statistics of the soil health indicators evaluated in the 2021 State of Soil Health project on farms in Vermont. The aim of this report is to share the data in a simple format that can be accessed by farmers, advisors and policy makers.

The State of Soil Health in Vermont is an initiative to measure soil health and soil carbon on farms across the state of Vermont. This project is coordinated by UVM Extension and has relied on field support, in kind- donations and data sharing from partnering organizations. The project has five primary objectives: …

Changing Environmental Conditions And The Response And Potential Adaptability Of Freshwater Whitefishes, Taylor R. Stewart

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Changes in winter conditions, such as increased temperatures and decreased ice coverage, have been observed worldwide. The responses of many lake fish populations to changing winters are projected to be inadequate to counter the speed and magnitude of climate change. Such environmental changes have been hypothesized to explain the low recruitment observed in freshwater whitefishes (Salmonidae Coregoninae). My research focused on measuring the impact changing winter conditions may have on coregonine reproductive phenology and developmental and morphological traits to better predict changes in coregonine populations as a result of climate change.

I used experimental incubation methods and modeling to explore …

Multi-Scale Assessment Of Gully Erosion At Road Drainage Outlets, Emma Louise Estabrook

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Gully erosion and sediment deposition from roads are underrated sources of sediments entering receiving waterways. While gully erosion has been studied throughout the world, the monitoring of the temporal and spatial erosional processes related to culverts and road drainage is rare. The objectives of this study are to quantify rates of gully erosion from Vermont’s transportation drainage networks at multiple temporal scales and report on insights gained from a multi-scale approach to monitoring gully erosion. To quantify event to seasonal timescales of gully erosion, high resolution terrestrial LiDAR surveys were conducted at 13 field sites. Field sites were monitored at …

Revealing The Direct And Indirect Effects Of Climate Change On Soil Nutrient Dynamics And Forage Resources In Mountain Ecosystems, Kenna Elizabeth Rewcastle

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Modern climate change is already altering the structure and function ofecosystems around the world in nontrivial ways. Mountain ecosystems in particular will continue to experience a greater magnitude and rate of climatic warming than the global average, threatening the stability of key ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling as well as the supply of benefits from ecosystem services provided by mountains. While significant advancements have been made to address the direct effects of rising temperatures on nutrient cycling dynamics, our understanding of the synergies between the direct effects of warming and the indirect effects of climate change, mediated by the response …

Constraint-Aware And Efficiency-Aware Control Of Air-Path In Fuel Cell Vehicles, Eli Bacher-Chong

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Fuel cell technology offers the potential for clean, efficient, robust energy productionfor both stationary and mobile applications. But without fast and robust control systems, fuel cells cannot hope to maintain real-life efficiencies near enough to their theoretical potential. This work studies control and constraint management techniques to regulate a nonlinear multivariable air-path system for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The control objectives are to avoid oxygen starvation, run at the maximum net efficiency, achieve fast tracking of air flow and pressure set-points, and be easy to calibrate. To operate at maximum efficiency, a set-point map is generated for …

Embracing Uncertainty, Ambiguity, And Complexity In Agriculture, Science, And Policy, Benjamin Timothy Dube

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Policy makers say they govern the environment based on scientific evidence, but environmental activists express concern about issues that challenge scientific understandings, such as risk, uncertainty, justice, and participation. This conflict is magnified in agriculture, where many social movements and farmers advocate and create farming systems that are ecological—diverse, heterogenous and adaptive. Ecological farming systems are thus harder for outside experts - researchers, extensionists, development practitioners or policymakers – to understand. Complexity and context-specificity in ecological agriculture presents numerous challenges along the path from scientific inquiry to policy implementation, including in categorizing, systematically studying, modelling and regulating farming systems. In …

Management For Amphibians In Complex Ecosystems, Lindsey Pekurny

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Effective conservation is becoming more difficult as threats to wildlife increase. Natural resource managers are pressured to make difficult decisions with limited resources, and in many instances, some degree of uncertainty. Scientists and managers tasked with the conservation of a species need tools to help guide efficient decision making. Often, information for management decisions is insufficient. Tools that help to inform decision makers and address uncertainty will be invaluable to effective conservation initiatives. Here, we create two models to help managers navigate the complexities associated with decision making. The objective our first study was to create a model to best …

A Holistic Approach To River Restoration Design And Conservation Planning On The Reach And Basin Scales Using Hydraulic Modeling And Multi-Objective Optimization Tools, Lindsay Courtney Worley

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Flooding events around the world cost billions (USD) in damages each year. For decades, engineers have combated flood related damages by implementing flood mitigation controls such as channelization, levees or berms, and armoring. Recent advances in the study of river dynamics, however, have challenged the efficacy of these traditional flood mitigation techniques and pose that these structures are disconnecting channels from their floodplains, increasing flow rates, and contributing to more erosion. The effects of climate change combined with future predictions of increased storm frequency and intensity make it necessary to revise flood hazard mitigation strategies. A more nature-based alternative to …

Assessing Recovery And Reuse Of Nutrients Using Grid-Based Spatial Modeling: A Case Study Of Sri Lanka, Maya Fein-Cole

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Identifying and implementing strategies for recovering resources from waste streams for reuse helps to minimize natural resource extraction and reduces waste generation. Spatial modeling can guide resource cycling by optimizing co-location of recovery and reuse. These models can help assess feasibility and effectiveness (e.g., meeting crop nutrient needs) of circular economy practices at a landscape scale. Though many useful models exist, there is a need for an adaptable grid-based tool to address reuse on a per area basis (e.g., kg nitrogen per hectare of cropland). A model like this could be applied to any landscape and would utilize input data …

Implications Of Population Genetics And Physiological Responses On The Conservation Of Moose (Alces Alces Americana), Elias Rosenblatt

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Wildlife populations around the globe are facing numerous, complex challengesto their persistence, yet conservation efforts are hindered by limited information about these populations and the anthropogenic pressures they face. North American moose (Alces alces americana), despite being of ecological, cultural, and economical importance, inhabit remote landscapes, making population monitoring difficult. At the same time, many moose populations, including in Vermont and eastern North America, have experienced recent declines mainly due to winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) epizootics. Anthropogenic landscape change and climate-mediated pressures pose future challenges for moose across the southern extent of their distribution. Though impacts of winter tick infestation …