Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Improving Aquifer Characterization Through Integration Of Airborne Electromagnetics (Aem) And Well Hydrographs, Jacqueline Polashek

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

The objective of this study is to evaluate methods of hydrostratigraphic modeling using geophysics and well hydrographs at the eastern edge of the High Plains aquifer (HPA) in Platte and Colfax counties within Nebraska, USA. The HPA is very heterogeneous in the study area, being hosted by architecturally complex glacial sediments and having many irregular hydraulic boundaries. Further, the HPA exhibits local variations between unconfined and confined conditions. Pumping in such bounded aquifers can be unsustainable because of cost increases and lost agricultural productivity. Moreover, the large drawdowns typical of confined aquifers can contribute to well interference during heavy pumping. …

Modeling Waterfowl Hunter And Ducks Unlimited Member Behavior Using Mark-Recapture Methods, Katherine Graham

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

The number of individuals actively participating in waterfowl hunting has substantially declined since the 1980s, despite relatively abundant waterfowl populations and hunting opportunities. To avoid further losses in political support for wildlife management, losses in habitat conservation revenue, and broaden the base of waterfowl and wetland conservation support, there has been an increased focus on growing the number of waterfowl hunters and waterfowl and wetland conservation supporters. The purpose of this study was to estimate resident waterfowl hunter and Ducks Unlimited (DU) member recruitment rates, retention probabilities, and license/membership purchase probabilities; provide a better understanding of the factors influencing these …

Rangeland Management During Drought: Assessing Social-Ecological And Cognitive Indicators Of Ranchers’ Adaptive Capacity, Tonya Haigh

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

Rangeland managers face challenges to adapt to climate extremes, and research is needed on how to support their adaptive capacity for managing climate risk. This study evaluates adaptive capacity using an integrated vulnerability and resilience conceptual model and three cognitive behavioral models. Overarching research questions focus on the relationship between protective action and impacts and the best predictors of taking action in response to drought. Three studies address these questions, using quantitative data collected from two post-drought surveys of rangeland-based livestock managers in the Northern Great Plains of the U.S. The studies find evidence of the roles of social-ecological sources …

Nitrate Removal And Placement Of Floating Treatment Wetlands In The Midwest, Mary G. Keilhauer

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

The Midwestern United States is vulnerable to eutrophic conditions from high nutrient concentrations. Recommendations for nonpoint source pollution management include runoff treatment (i.e., filter strips, riparian buffers) and in-situ lake treatment practices (i.e., aluminum sulfate (alum) treatments, aeration, up/downdraft pumping, floating treatment wetlands). Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) are an innovative wetland design for nutrient removal from nonpoint sources and provide a unique in-situ treatment. Best management practice studies have commonly focused on adjacent to water practices, which have resulted in a gap for guidance for in-situ treatment placement and design. Therefore, the objectives of this project were to (1) Quantify …

Drought Impacts Assessment In Brazil - A Remote Sensing Approach, Denis Mariano

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

Climate extremes are becoming more frequent in Brazil; studies project an increase in drought occurrences in many regions of the country. In the south, drought events lead to crop yield losses affecting the value chain and, therefore, the local economy. In the northeast, extended periods of drought lead to potential land degradation, affecting the livelihood and hindering local development. In the southern Amazon, an area that experienced intense land use change (LUC) in the last, the impacts are even more complex, ranging from crop yield loss and forest resilience loss, affecting ecosystem health and putting a threat on the native …

Traffic Noise And Sexual Selection: Studies Of Anthropogenic Impact On Bird Songs And Undergraduate Student Reasoning Of Evolutionary Mechanisms, Sarah Spier

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

Humans have transformed much of the natural landscape and are continuing to do so at an accelerated rate, compromising natural areas that serve as important habitat for many species. Roads impact much of the environment as they fragment habitat and introduce traffic noise into the acoustic environment, deferentially affecting wildlife in roadside habitat. I explored how traffic noise affects the detection of birds based on whether their vocalizations were masked by traffic noise. Masked species detection was not affected by an increase in traffic noise amplitude, while there was a negative effect of traffic noise amplitude on unmasked species detection, …

Developing A Framework To Link Multi-Sector Drought Impacts To Drought Severity At The State Level, Mary Noel

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

The United States Drought Monitor, a weekly map depicting severity and spatial extent of drought, is a key indicator for federal and state policy decisions including the annual distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars for agricultural financial relief in the United States. However, the current table describing potential drought impacts for the map’s severity levels fails to adequately represent a state’s unique environmental, economic, and social values affected by drought. One approach to improve this broad, national-scale assessment is to transition from the former platform to a more detailed characterization of drought impacts at the state level. To accomplish …

Traffic Noise And Sexual Selection: Studies Of Anthropogenic Impact On Bird Songs And Undergraduate Student Reasoning Of Evolutionary Mechanisms, Sarah Spier

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

Humans have transformed much of the natural landscape and are continuing to do so at an accelerated rate, compromising natural areas that serve as important habitat for many species. Roads impact much of the environment as they fragment habitat and introduce traffic noise into the acoustic environment, deferentially affecting wildlife in roadside habitat. I explored how traffic noise affects the detection of birds based on whether their vocalizations were masked by traffic noise. Masked species detection was not affected by an increase in traffic noise amplitude, while there was a negative effect of traffic noise amplitude on unmasked species detection, …

Evaluation Of The Metric Model For Mapping Energy Balance Components And Actual Evapotranspiration For A Super-Intensive Drip-Irrigated Olive Orchard, Samuel Ortega

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

A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the METRIC (Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution Internalized with Calibration) model for mapping net radiation (Rni), soil heat flux (Gi), sensible heat flux (Hi), latent heat flux (LEi), actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and crop coefficient (Kc) of a superintensive drip-irrigated olive (Olea europeae L. cv Arbequina) orchard located in Pencahue Valley, Region del Maule, Chile (35 23’ LS; 71 44’ LW; 96 m above sea level). The study was conducted in an experimental plot of 21.1 hectares using 9 satellite images (Landsat 7 ETM+) acquired on clear sky days during 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 …

Regime Detection Measures For The Practical Ecologist, Jessica L. Burnett

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

Forecasting undesirable change is, arguably, the holy grail of ecology. Paired with an understanding of system interactions, a forecast is ideal if it provides reliable predictions in sufficient time to prevent or mitigate unwanted systemic change. Early warning systems (or early warning signals, early warning indicators) have been developed and tested for some ecological systems data, but have been mostly applied to marine fisheries time series and nutrient loadings in shallow lakes. Despite the numerous quantitative methods proposed for identifying or forecasting regime shifts in ecological data, few are used in practice. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the …

Population Dynamics Of The Freshwater Mussel Lampsilis Cardium Reintroduced In Nebraska, Lindsay M. Ohlman

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

The global decline of native freshwater mussels has accelerated conservation projects that preserve and restore populations, but the complex life histories among species challenges biologists in determining the most effective management strategies. This study details the conservation of plain pocketbook, a Tier I threatened mussel species in Nebraska that was artificially propagated and reintroduced into 13 sites from autumn 2016 to summer 2017. The objectives of this study were: 1) determine how handling influences mussels, and 2) evaluate mussel growth and survival following introductions.

We conducted a laboratory experiment with age-2 plain pocketbook to assess the effects of handling on …

The Niobrara National Scenic River: Exploring Co-Management Through A Case Study Of The Niobrara Council, Melissa M. Mosier

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

In recent decades, government staff and local citizens have increasingly employed cooperative schemes of natural resource management, in lieu of more conventional, top-down approaches of addressing user conflicts as they relate to water resources. The focus of this project was on the Niobrara Council, a partnership of local, state, and federal representatives charged with cooperatively managing the reach of the Niobrara River that was federally designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1991. The project's purpose was to explore the cooperative framework of the Council, using the methodology outlined by Carlsson and Berkes (2005). This methodology involved investigating …

Implementing The North American Bat Monitoring Program In Nebraska: An Assessment Of Nebraska Bats With An Emphasis On Citizen Science, Baxter Seguin

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

Over the past decade bat species in North America have been under immense stress due to anthropogenic activities throughout the continent along with severe declines from foreign invaders. Though many specific anthropogenic related activities such as deforestation, land-use alteration, and hibernacula disturbance/modification were the primary culprits of negative impacts on bat species in the past, they pale in comparison to the threats bats face today. White nose syndrome a disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans and wind energy development have caused declines and disruptions to the bat populations of North America at an unprecedented rate.

Due to the significant …

Hunter And Angler Motivations, Preferences, And Barriers To Waterfowl Hunting In The Central United States, Matthew P. Hinrichs

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

Since the mid-1980s, there has been a decrease in individuals participating in waterfowl hunting in the United States. The decline in participation has over-arching consequences for state and federal wildlife agencies in their ability to fund and manage habitat and waterfowl populations. There is a fundamental need to understand why individuals participate in waterfowl hunting and what barriers there are to participating in waterfowl hunting. An online survey was conducted in the summer and fall of 2018 asking waterfowl hunters, anglers, big game hunters, combination users (i.e., hunters that have multiple hunting and fishing permits), and small game hunters about …

Implications Of Channel Catfish Movement In An Internationally Managed System, Henry Hansen

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

The large-scale movements and spatial behavior of channel catfish in the Red River of the North, have direct interactions with geopolitics, anthropogenic structures, and ecosystems. Investigating the spatial dynamics and exploitation of this mobile and internationally managed fish species provides opportunities for resource managers to design evidence­-based policy for the diverse interest groups that utilize the fishery. My thesis comprised two parts: 1) characterize system­wide movement and survival patterns using mark­-recapture methods and acoustic telemetry and 2) project the interaction of hypothetical exploitation scenarios and alternative movement methodologies to assess the fishery from an ecosystem service flow perspective. Channel catfish …

Urban Forests In A Changing Environment: Motivations For Tree Planting And Perspectives Of Climate Change Impacts On Urban Forests, Tobias Burnham

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

Urban trees perform several ecosystem services important to humans. Climate variability and poor management threatens urban forests with ecological and socio-economic consequences. Therefore, it is critical urban trees are sustainably managed. For an urban tree management plan to succeed, social inputs at the residential scale must be taken into consideration. The aim of this research is to help inform urban forest managers of social variables that may play an integral role in successful implementation of urban forest management plans. Social factors behind home-owner decision-making to plant or remove trees in the Lincoln and Omaha metro areas show that 75% of …