Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Religion, Partisanship, And Attitudes Toward Science Policy, Ted G. Jelen, Linda A. Lockett

Political Science Faculty Research

We examine issues involving science which have been contested in recent public debate. These “contested science” issues include human evolution, stem-cell research, and climate change. We find that few respondents evince consistently skeptical attitudes toward science issues, and that religious variables are generally strong predictors of attitudes toward individual issues. Furthermore, and contrary to analyses of elite discourse, partisan identification is not generally predictive of attitudes toward contested scientific issues.

Assessing Growth Response To Climate Controls In A Great Basin Artemisia Tridentata Plant Community, Lorenzo F. Apodaca

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An assessment of the growth response of key vegetative species to climatic variability is vital to identifying possible local impacts on ecosystems faced with imminent climate change. With current climate projections in Nevada predicting a shift to an even more arid climate with greater year-to-year variability, the imperative exists to identify the effects of specific climatic controls on plant growth and to research methods to assess large-scale vegetative changes, especially in more remote areas where readily available data sets may be lacking. This study utilized annual growth ring indices constructed from big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentatassp.tridentata) stems collected in Spring Valley, …

Understanding Basin Specific Life History Characteristics Of Lake Mead Quagga Mussels (Dreissena Bugensis) And A Potential Treatment Using Uv Radiation In Laboratory Studies, Melissa Thaw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis) is an aquatic invasive species that is spreading throughout Lake Mead and other western waterways. Unlike their native waters in Eurasia, Lake Mead exhibits year round warm temperatures, high calcium levels and a lack of natural predators, all of which are very favorable conditions for their growth and spread. Dreissena bugensis reproduce and colonize hard surfaces rapidly, where they filter large amounts of water. They disrupt the aquatic food chain and interfere with infrastructure that is exposed to lake water. There is an urgent need to understand Dreissena bugensis life history characteristics within this new …

The Evaluation Of Water Storage In Death Valley Using Grace Satellite Data, Maile Sweigart

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As drought conditions spread across the United States, concerns over water supplies, water use, and water management policies are growing and possible contributing environmental factors are continually being scrutinized. This thesis examines Death Valley as an analog for Southern Nevada and utilizes NASA EOS data, combined with ancillary climate data, to assess the effect of decadal climate variability on groundwater storage in the Death Valley area. Historical climate data, combined with satellite imagery observations, were compiled and calculated for analyses. Conclusions derived from statistical analyses infer trends between GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite data and fluctuating levels of …

Understanding Effects Of Changes In Land Use, Environmental Parameters, Habitat Characteristics On The Great Basin Aquatic Invertebrates Using Ecological Stoichiometric Theory, Knut Mehler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many freshwater ecosystems in the Great Basin have undergone dramatic alteration over the past decades due to groundwater withdrawal, water diversion and changes in land use. These changes have affected benthic food web dynamics by altering the availability of chemical key elements for primary and secondary producers, by loss of biodiversity and extinction of endemic species. However, only few studies are available that addresses the link between changes in land use, habitat characteristics and its effects on benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) communities comprehensively and little attention has been given to integrating physiochemical aspects to link ecosystem functions.

This dissertation analyzes the …

Soil Moisture Recognition And The Spatial Distribution Of Storm Activity In The Mojave Desert Using High-Resolution Aster And Modis Imagery For Thermophysical Mapping, Russell J. Skuse

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Climate models suggest that the Mojave Desert ecoregion is vulnerable to becoming drier in the future, and as the human population grows and development increases, environmental stresses will likely increase. Determining the spatial distribution and variation of soil moisture on a regional scale is an essential component to climate change, hydrologic, and habitat analyses. Soil permeability and sediment stability are characteristics that have been shown to be measurable from remote sensing observations. The primary objective of this project is to map the mechanical composition of the surface materials in the Mojave Desert ecoregion with implications for soil permeability, sediment stability, …

Integrating, Developing, And Testing Methods To Generate More Cohesive Approaches To Biogeographic Inference, Mallory Elizabeth Eckstut

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As a fundamental component of the developing discipline of conservation biogeography, broadscale analyses of biotic assembly and disassembly across multiple temporal and spatial scales provide an enhanced understanding of how geologic transformations and climate oscillations have shaped extant patterns of biodiversity. As with any scientific field, there are limitations in the case of biogeographic historical reconstructions. Historical reconstructions are only as robust as the theoretical underpinnings of the methods of reconstruction (including data collection, quality, analysis, and interpretation). Nevertheless, historical reconstructions of species distributions can help inform our understanding of how species respond to environmental change.

My dissertation takes a …

Moving Forward: Preventing Water Shortage For Nevada, Sandra Blandon, Brianna Lyon

Anthropology 100: Feast and Famine In a Global World Poster Assignment

Southern Nevada is located in the arid Mojave Desert, which averages about 4 inches of rain each year. Southern Nevada gets about 90% of its water supply from the Colorado River. Seven western states and Mexico share the river. This means that The Colorado River provides water to 25 million people.

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2012, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Continuation of Project 1

• The research effort titled Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay is ongoing.

Continuation of Project 2

• Additional content was contributed to the future NPS-funded U.S. Geological Survey Circular ‘state-of-the-science’ report for Lakes Mead and Mohave. UNLV performed a new co-editing and coordinating task related to this product as the major focus of this quarter’s effort; the master version of this report is on schedule for delivery to the editorial team during the first week of October 2012.

Modification Activities:

Extended Short-term Continued Limnological Assistance

Quagga Mussel Objectives:

• Most juvenile/adult quagga mussel …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (IMAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing; remaining analyses are underway with report delivery rescheduled for 05/2012.
• Data have been delivered for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead with report delivery re-scheduled for 05/2012.
• Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on 11/17/2011; the next meeting is scheduled for 02/16/2011.

Project 2

• Appendix 7, an addition to the Long-term Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead and Mohave, has …

A Landscape Approach To Late Prehistoric Settlement And Subsistence Patterns In The Mojave Sink, Tiffany Ann Thomas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The environment of the Late Prehistoric period (1200 A.D. to Historic Contact) Mojave Sink was wetter than modern conditions. The settlement and subsistence patterns of the occupants of the region during this period were driven by the availability of water, subsistence resources, raw material sources, and tradition. These people utilized the regional landscape based upon the seasonal availability of these resources. Supplemental agricultural production has been proposed for the Mojave River Delta due to the more favorable environmental conditions of this period. If agriculture was being practiced it would have affected the regional land-use patterns. For this thesis I propose …

Effects Of Climate Change On Spring Ecosystem Hydroecology As A Guide To Developing Alternative Water Policies, Scott Mensing, Saxon E. Sharpe, Scott Bassett, Don Sada, Jim Thomas

Climate Change Seminar Series (NNE)

Hydroecology: the interface of ecological systems and water which combines the scientific disciplines of hydrology and ecology

Goal: evaluate the hydrologic and climate history using pollen, loss on ignition, total inorganic carbon, and invertebrates from spring sediments in Spring Valley, Eastern Nevada and Snake Valley, Western Utah

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, processing of all 2010 juvenile/adult samples was completed; remaining analyses are underway. The project team assisted NPS with 2011 collections.
• A final report on Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead is in preparation for delivery at the end of November 2011; sample analysis continues for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay with report delivery planned for the end of November 2011.
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on …

Climate And Vegetation Change In The Newberry Mountains, Southern Clark County, Nevada, Ross Joseph Guida

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ecological studies have shown worldwide that vegetation is being affected by climate change. Species are shifting to new elevations and physiographic positions to adapt to changes in their environment. More specifically, paleoecology studies in the Mojave Desert have shown shifting vegetation patterns in response to past warming and precipitation changes. Recent studies have shown mortality among desert plants related to extended drought and warming. However, few studies have shown how the geographic distribution of Mojave Desert species has changed during this most recent period of warming. This study addresses this gap in the literature by focusing on several plant species …

Historical Diversification Of Montane Herpetofauna Within And Between The Sierras Of Mexico, Robert William Bryson Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Mexican highlands consist of four major mountain ranges spanning most of mainland Mexico. The evolutionary history of the Mexican highlands has been shaped by various geological and climatic events over the past several million years. The relative impacts of these historical events on diversification in montane taxa, however, remains uncertain. I used mitochondrial DNA data from three widely distributed species complexes of lizards as a model system to exemplify the potential roles of Neogene mountain formation and Quaternary climate change on timing and tempo of diversification across the Mexican highlands. My results suggested strong geographic partitioning of genetic variation …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending June 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 42 juvenile/adult samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway.
• As of 7/07/11 all sample sets will have been collected for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead; sampling continues for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay.
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on 05/17/11; the next meeting is scheduled for 08/25/11.

Project 2

• Appendix 7, an addition to the Long-term Limnological and Aquatic …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending March 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 13 juvenile/adult samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway.
• Both research projects are well underway with 14 sample sets collected for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead and 12 samples collected for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay.

Project 2

• Annual summary sheets are under development for the topics listed within the Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending January 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 21 adult/juvenile samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway. A manuscript describing the I-MAP and its history, current recommended monitoring, and recommended future monitoring and a separate manuscript describing the I-MAP’s monitoring protocol were accepted for publication in the journal Aquatic Invasions. Two other manuscripts describing other aspects of the I-MAP program were published in Lake and Reservoir Management.

Project 2

• Annual summary sheets are under development for the topics listed within …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 11 adult/juvenile samples from the winter 2009 – spring 2010 sampling. Two manuscripts related to the I-MAP were submitted to the peer-reviewed journal, Aquatic Invasions.

Project 2

• Topics and analyses have been approved for annual report development as prescribed by the Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead and Mohave.
• Content, including links and photos for the front page, four limnology category web pages, and one associated page have been …

Similarity Of Climate Change Data For Antarctica And Nevada, Corbin Benally, Shahram Latifi, Karletta Chief

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

The correlation between temperature and carbon dioxide concentration in the past one hundred years is studied. Separate graphs containing data from Vostok, Antarctica and the Mojave desert/mountain west (Nevada region) are presented. Using data obtained from these graphs, an attempt is made to explain the results and investigate the similarity of these results for Antarctica and Nevada. The importance of this study lies in the fact that if data show the same trend in the two regions, many findings for climate change in Antarctica may readily be validated and employed for Nevada.

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending June 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 14 adult/juvenile samples from the fall 2009 – spring 2010 sampling.
• Sampling for the first of two small-scale research projects funded by this task agreement (Abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead) was initiated on June 16, 2010.

Project 2

• Topics and proposed analyses have been drafted for annual report development as prescribed by the Plan.
• A plan for developing and organizing NPS limnology-related web pages has been documented and content has …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending March 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. Three sampling events took place this quarter and analysis of all samples (fall 2009 – spring 2010) is underway.

• Two graduate students are undergoing necessary training for the two small-scale research projects funded by this task agreement. Sampling is anticipated to begin in June 2010.

• The quarterly Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held in March 2010.

Project 2

• Protocols relevant to the Long-term Limnological Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan (Plan) for Lakes Mead and Mohave have …

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Executive Summary And Concise Statement Of Accomplishments, Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Limnological Studies

Limnological Assistance for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Meeting the Challenge of the Water 2025 Initiative was a Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA)-funded project. It was implemented by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Public Lands Institute (PLI) cooperatively with the UNLV Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and the UNLV Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies on behalf of and in cooperation with the National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area (Lake Mead NRA).

Water Source Partitioning For Shrubland Transpiration Using Innovative Field Methods, Dale A. Devitt, Michael Young, Matthew S. Lachniet, Jeremy Koonce, Amanda Wagner, Brian M. Bird, J. Healey

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

37 PowerPoint slides Convener: Franco Biondi, UNR & Michael Young, DRI Session 4: Ecological Change and Water Resources Abstract: -Climate change models predict a decline in precipitation over the next few decades throughout much of the southwest. -Such change has the potential to shift water uptake dynamics of phreatophytes -If groundwater pumping also occurs, the impact of climate change could be exacerbated. -A better understanding of the forces that drive the coupling and decoupling of phreatophytes to groundwater is needed.

Design And Status Of The Elevationl Transect And Monitoring Systems For Nevada’S Nsf Epscor Climate Change Research Program, Brian M. Bird, Scotty Strachan, David B. Simeral, Richard L. Jasoni

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

15 PowerPoint slides Convener: Franco Biondi, UNR & Michael Young, DRI Session 4: Ecological Change and Water Resources Abstract: -Current status of Transects -Sheep Range Transect (5 sites) fully permitted through Fish and Wildlife Service. -Site access agreement acquired from the Long Now Foundation for Snake Range (sites 1, 2 and 3). -Snake Range site 4 access granted through the Nevada Land Conservatory. -Waiting for site permit approval on sites 8,9 and 6,7 from BLM and GBNP respectively. -Tower installed at North Las Vegas UWCC for testing of sensors and communications. -Installation of towers will begin winter 2010 at lower …

Biotic Responses To Climate Change In The Great Basin And Mojave Desert: Vegetation, David Charlet, Patrick Leary

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

84 PowerPoint slides Convener: Franco Biondi, UNR & Michael Young, DRI Session 4: Ecological Change and Water Resources Abstract: -The Problem -To detect changes in vegetation as it responds to changes in climate, we must first know where the vegetation is now -GAP (Geographic Approach to Protection of Biodiversity) map --National project to map land cover throughout the US. --Nevada map (Edwards et al. 1996) -Southwest ReGAP map --Land cover map for southwestern US (Prior-Magee et al. 2007) to correct problems identified in GAP map

Research Poster: Vegetation Change In The Newberry Mountains Of Southern Nevada, Ross Guida, William J. Smith Jr., Scott R. Abella

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

Research Poster: Climate Change Impacts To Groundwater, Springs Hydrology And Aquatic Communities Amargosa Desert And Death Valley National Park, Nevada And California, Terry Fisk, Greg Pohll, Don Sada, Mark Stone

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

Research Poster: Climate Change Science For Northern Nevada Educators, Melissa Slayden, Jacque Ewing-Taylor, Kelly Cannon

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

Research Poster: Quaternary Biogeography Of Neotoma Cinerea: Linking Genetic Patterns With Environmental Change, Angela D. Hornsby, Majorie D. Matocq

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster