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Environmental Monitoring Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Monitoring

Microplastic Accumulation In Terrestrial Gastropods And Soils, Gregory B. Bonilla Dec 2022

Microplastic Accumulation In Terrestrial Gastropods And Soils, Gregory B. Bonilla

Masters Theses

Microplastics (MPs) have become an emerging threat to ecosystems across the world. Transport, impacts, and fates are grossly understudied, especially in terrestrial environments. Current research on MP bioaccumulation has focused mainly on aquatic organisms with little study of terrestrial organisms, including snails where data are nearly nonexistent. To address this, we collected and examined land snails and their surrounding soil for MP content in shell and tissue. From September 11, 2020, to October 25, 2021, cover boards were placed (n=30) along relatively undisturbed sites in hardwood, forested areas, and tall grasses in a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Oak Ridge …


On Interpreting Eddy Covariance In Small Area Agricultural Situations With Contrasting Site Management., Joel Oetting Dec 2022

On Interpreting Eddy Covariance In Small Area Agricultural Situations With Contrasting Site Management., Joel Oetting

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined the carbon sequestration potential of a low C:N soil amendment and its incorporation into the soil over a rolling agricultural field. A segmented planar fit was developed to assess and correct the systematic errors the topography introduces on the carbon dioxide fluxes. The carbon dioxide fluxes were then be partitioned into gross primary productivity and soil respiration to understand the influence of the contrasting management practices, using flux variance partitioning. Concomitant with the partitioning, high resolution temporal and spatial scale remote sensing images were interpolated and standardized to conduct hypothesis testing for treatment effects.


Conservation Agriculture As A Climate Change Mitigation Strategy In Zimbabwe, Deb O'Dell, Neal Eash, Bruce B. Hicks, Joel Oetting, Thomas J. Sauer, Dayton M. Lambert, Tarirai Muoni, Joanne Logan, James A. Zahn, John J. Goddard Jun 2020

Conservation Agriculture As A Climate Change Mitigation Strategy In Zimbabwe, Deb O'Dell, Neal Eash, Bruce B. Hicks, Joel Oetting, Thomas J. Sauer, Dayton M. Lambert, Tarirai Muoni, Joanne Logan, James A. Zahn, John J. Goddard

Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Publications and Other Works

There is a need to quantify agriculture’s potential to sequester carbon (C) to inform global approaches aimed at mitigating climate change effects. Many factors including climate, crop, soil management practices, and soil type can influence the contribution of agriculture to the global carbon cycle. The objective of this study was to investigate the C sequestration potential of conservation agriculture (CA) (defined by minimal soil disturbance, maintaining permanent soil cover, and crop rotations). This study used micrometeorological methods to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) flux from several alternative CA practices in Harare, central Zimbabwe. Micrometeorological methods can detect differences in …


Characterizing Groundwater Ch4 And 222rn In Relation To Hydraulic Fracturing And Other Environmental Processes In Letcher County, Ky, St. Thomas Majeau Ledoux May 2015

Characterizing Groundwater Ch4 And 222rn In Relation To Hydraulic Fracturing And Other Environmental Processes In Letcher County, Ky, St. Thomas Majeau Ledoux

Masters Theses

Hydraulic fracturing of shale deposits has greatly increased the productivity of the natural gas industry by allowing it to exploit previously inaccessible reservoirs. However, previous research has demonstrated that this practice can contaminate shallow aquifers with CH4 [methane] from deeper formations. This study compares concentrations and isotope compositions of CH4 sampled from domestic groundwater wells in Letcher County, Kentucky in order to characterize its occurrence and origins in relation to neighboring hydraulically fractured natural gas wells. Additionally, this study tests the reliability of 222Rn [radon] as an alternative tracer to CH4 in identifying processes of gas …


Aquatic Habitat Mapping Within The Obed Wild And Scenic River For Threatened And Endangered Species Habitat Delineation, Joseph Ross Candlish May 2010

Aquatic Habitat Mapping Within The Obed Wild And Scenic River For Threatened And Endangered Species Habitat Delineation, Joseph Ross Candlish

Masters Theses

There is a need to define a more efficient and accurate approach to aquatic habitat mapping. Traditional approaches have focused on intense biological/non-biological sampling and observation analysis within specific and restrained scales. Therefore, an underwater video mapping system (UVMS) has been developed in efforts to identify federally protected aquatic species’ habitats within the Obed Wild and Scenic River (OBRI). The UVMS kayak apparatus provides georeferenced video footage correlated with GPS (global positioning systems) for GIS (geographic information systems) mapping applications. Based on its fluvial and geomorphological trends, OBRI was dissected quantitatively and integrated into databases for species-specific GIS habitat queries. …


Seasonal Variations In Fish Assemblages Of Small Warmwater Streams In Four Southeastern National Parks, Joseph Carl Zimmerman May 2007

Seasonal Variations In Fish Assemblages Of Small Warmwater Streams In Four Southeastern National Parks, Joseph Carl Zimmerman

Masters Theses

Small warm-water streams in the southeastern United States experience significant differences in temperature, as well as changes in physical parameters due to seasonal fluctuations. It has been generally thought that fish assemblage patterns change as a direct result of these seasonal variations. This study was designed to determine the effects of variable flow regimes on fish species composition, diversity, and abundance. Eight small warm-water streams in four national parks (Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, and Russell Cave National Monument) were sampled May-June 2005 for the summer trials, October-November 2005 …