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Natural Resources and Conservation

Theses/Dissertations

2021

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

Anthropogenic Impacts To Essential Habitats In The Gulf Of Maine: A Case Study Of The American Lobster, Homarus Americanus, And Its Fishery, Andrew Goode Dec 2021

Anthropogenic Impacts To Essential Habitats In The Gulf Of Maine: A Case Study Of The American Lobster, Homarus Americanus, And Its Fishery, Andrew Goode

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Maine has been fundamentally altered by anthropogenic forcings for decades and offers an ideal study system to monitor response to change. Through complex interactions between ocean warming, altered demographic bottlenecks, and reduced top-down controls, the American lobster (Homarus americanus Milne Edwards) capitalized on favorable conditions and proliferated within the Gulf of Maine. These changes catalyzed the expansion of the lobster fishery, elevated its status as North America’s most valuable marine resource, and shifted coastal communities towards a virtual lobster monoculture. The same processes that facilitated lobster to capitalize on favorable conditions may come with unintended consequences …

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Data Analytics For Sustainable Food And Agriculture Systems, Megan Lord Reavis Dec 2021

Data Analytics For Sustainable Food And Agriculture Systems, Megan Lord Reavis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing concentration of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is altering the climate, posing a serious threat to global agriculture and food security. Agriculture and food production contribute a quarter of all GHG emissions produced, so there is a critical need to limit emissions in this area while increasing food production to feed the anticipated 10 billion people by 2050. To address the needs of the future, data-driven solutions are needed to guide decision-making and provide support for actionable climate mitigation and survival strategies. Research efforts must be focused on analyzing problems on multiple scales, identifying new ways to …

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Forced And Unforced Permafrost Changes In The Northern Hemisphere During 1901-2100, Hong Guo Dec 2021

Forced And Unforced Permafrost Changes In The Northern Hemisphere During 1901-2100, Hong Guo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Permafrost regions are very sensitive to rapid changes in climate and environment. In recent decades, there has been growing interest to better understand the permafrost degradation over the Northern Hemisphere in the context of human-induced climate change. Understanding permafrost dynamics is not only important for infrastructure but also for environmental protection in cold regions. In-situ permafrost measurements are important for assessing permafrost conditions. However, direct permafrost observations are sparse and asymmetrical in both spatial and temporal coverage. Active layer thickness (ALT) modeling is another approach that can overcome many of these limitations, but the models have large uncertainty in predicting …

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Patterns And Drivers Of Introgression In Louisiana's Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) Stocks, Colleen E. Walsh Aug 2021

Patterns And Drivers Of Introgression In Louisiana's Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) Stocks, Colleen E. Walsh

LSU Master's Theses

In the southeastern U.S., populations of the popular sportfish Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides; LMB) are often stocked with Florida Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus; FLMB) to develop FLMB ancestry in systems north of its native peninsular Florida range, with the ultimate goal of creating trophy fisheries. Stock enhancement through introgression of FLMB ancestry can increase maximum potential size and growth in receiving populations, potentially through hybrid vigor of intergrade subspecies. We collected 60 fish and habitat data from six Louisiana lakes from 2018-2020 (N=360), quantified level of introgression of FLMB with fragment analysis at 12 microsatellite loci confirmed for subspecific …

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The Variability Of Seawater Carbonate Chemistry In Two Florida Urban Mangrove Ecosystems, Alexandrina R. Rangel Aug 2021

The Variability Of Seawater Carbonate Chemistry In Two Florida Urban Mangrove Ecosystems, Alexandrina R. Rangel

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere are yielding serious impacts across the world’s ocean, including ocean acidification, sea level rise, and increasing seawater temperature. However, these changes are not occurring uniformly across all marine ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, already experience extreme and variable environmental conditions due to natural biogeochemical and physical processes. The goal of this study was to document small-scale variability in two urban mangrove ecosystems to gain insight into how ocean acidification will manifest within these systems. Using a stand-up paddleboard, a suite of sensors, and traditional bottle sampling techniques, we measured …

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Characterizing The Relationship Between Species Richness And The Seasonal Phenomenon Of Tropical Fish Dispersal In New England Waters, Michael E. O'Neill May 2021

Characterizing The Relationship Between Species Richness And The Seasonal Phenomenon Of Tropical Fish Dispersal In New England Waters, Michael E. O'Neill

Graduate Masters Theses

The Gulf Stream exerts tremendous influence over oceanographic conditions in the Northwest Atlantic as it transports tropical water to higher latitudes. As the Gulf Stream’s path traverses the east coast of North America, there are implications for the biogeography of marine ecosystems within this range and beyond. While the meandering eddies and warm core rings generated by the Gulf Stream persist year-round, the seasonal warming of New England’s coastal waters afford many tropical species transported by the current temporary residence through the summer and fall. Many aspects that shape this phenomenon and its impact on coastal ecosystems remain a mystery. …

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The Quantitative Assessment Of Pond Scum: An Examination Of The Biogeochemistry Of Phosphorus Cycling In The Belgrade Lakes, Abbey M. Sykes Jan 2021

The Quantitative Assessment Of Pond Scum: An Examination Of The Biogeochemistry Of Phosphorus Cycling In The Belgrade Lakes, Abbey M. Sykes

Honors Theses

The internal recycling phosphorus in freshwater lake bottom sediments represents a significant source of hypolimnetic phosphorus (P) release for many of Maine’s lakes. In summer months, Maine lakes often thermally stratify and the lake hypolimnion develops anoxia, leading to a reduction in redox potential at the sediment-water interface. These reducing conditions facilitate the reductive dissolution of ferric iron, and, since phosphorus is often present in freshwater lake sediments as solid FeOOH-PO4 complexes, results in release of soluble phosphorus into the water column. Our current study presents field and laboratory data from sediment fractionation extractions designed to quantify concentrations of …

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Optimizing Green Infrastructure: Designing, Managing, And Evaluating Green Infrastructure To Receive Social, Economic, And Ecological Benefits, Mikaela Christine Martiros Jan 2021

Optimizing Green Infrastructure: Designing, Managing, And Evaluating Green Infrastructure To Receive Social, Economic, And Ecological Benefits, Mikaela Christine Martiros

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

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Evaluation Of A Low-Cost Uas And Phenocams For Measuring Grapevine Greenness, Timothy J. Hoheneder Jan 2021

Evaluation Of A Low-Cost Uas And Phenocams For Measuring Grapevine Greenness, Timothy J. Hoheneder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Unpersoned aerial systems (UAS) could provide winegrowers with the potential to monitor vineyard productivity with ultra-high-resolution imagery and low operational costs. This ability could prove particularly valuable in the challenging cool-climate viticultural areas of Appalachia. Especially in this mountainous region of increasingly variable microclimates, there could be of great value from an ability to use UAS-measured greenness to monitor wine grape phenology and predict harvest quality and quantity. In this study, I assess how UAS-measured greenness relates to three complementary measures of field-based: leaf angle measurements, phenocam measured greenness, and leaf spectral measurements of greenness. After correlating these field-based measures …

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