Exploring The Role Of Organic Matter Accumulation On Delta Evolution, 2019 Montclair State University
Exploring The Role Of Organic Matter Accumulation On Delta Evolution, Jorge Lorenzo Trueba, Vaughan Voller, Chris Paola, Robert Twilley, Azure Bevington
Jorge Lorenzo-Trueba
We explore the role of plant matter accumulation in the sediment column in determining the response of fluvial-deltas to base-level rise and simple subsidence profiles. Making the assumption that delta building processes operate to preserve the geometry of the delta plain, we model organic sedimentation in terms of the plant matter accumulation and accommodation (space made for sediment deposition) rates. A spatial integration of the organic sedimentation, added to the known river sediment input, leads to a model of delta evolution that estimates the fraction of organic sediments preserved in the delta. The model predicts that the maximum organic fraction …
Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen Dynamics In Swash Zone Sands Of Long Bay, Sc, 2019 Coastal Carolina University
Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen Dynamics In Swash Zone Sands Of Long Bay, Sc, Alexis F. Echols
Honors Theses
A key component affecting the biogeochemistry of the sedimentary environment is pore water between grains of sediments. Sedimentary microorganisms are constantly modifying chemical compounds as part of their life functions which are then exchanged between the sediment column and the overlying water column. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen, a major element for life, takes on several forms including nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium which vary in concentration throughout the sediment and with respect to each other. The relative concentrations of these nitrogen species have been previously briefly explored in sandy columns, where redox gradients that control their relative concentrations can be fairly deep …
Character And Water Quality Of Sandpiper Pond: A Coastal Pond Assessment, Fifteen Years After Restoration, 2019 Coastal Carolina University
Character And Water Quality Of Sandpiper Pond: A Coastal Pond Assessment, Fifteen Years After Restoration, Nicholas E. Workman
Honors Theses
Sandpiper Pond is a coastal pond at Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina. Originally a tidal inlet surrounded by marshland, it was isolated in 1989 and rechanneled in 2004-2005 under a community-based wetland restoration project. The project was designed to restore the pond to a tidal inlet to improve water quality and biodiversity. Since then, the tidal connection with the ocean has been severed once more and the main influx of seawater occurs from the marsh during spring high tides. In this three-month study, the current state of Sandpiper Pond is evaluated using fundamental biogeochemical indicators that are indicative of …
Coupling Metaproteomics With Taxonomy To Determine Responses Of Bacterioplankton To Organic Perturbations In The Western Arctic Ocean, 2019 Old Dominion University
Coupling Metaproteomics With Taxonomy To Determine Responses Of Bacterioplankton To Organic Perturbations In The Western Arctic Ocean, Molly P. Mikan
OES Theses and Dissertations
Understanding how the functionality of marine microbial communities change over time and space, and which taxonomic groups dominate distinct metabolic pathways, are essential to understanding the ecology of these microbiomes and the factors contributing to their regulation of elemental cycles in the oceans. The primary goal of this dissertation was to investigate the community metabolic and taxonomic responses and the degradation potential of two compositionally distinct marine microbiomes within the shallow shelf ecosystem of the Chukchi Sea after rapid fluctuations in algal organic matter availability. Novel bioinformatics tools were collaboratively developed and used together with community proteomics (metaproteomics) to characterize …
Spatiotemporal Variation Of Benthic Silica Fluxes In The Ngom Shelf, 2019 Louisiana State University
Spatiotemporal Variation Of Benthic Silica Fluxes In The Ngom Shelf, Byron Ebner
LSU Master's Theses
Dissolved silica (DSi), plays an important role in regulating primary productivity of silicifying organisms, such as diatoms which precipitate hard parts composed of biogenic silica (bSi) in coastal and shelf ecosystems fed by major rivers. In the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM), loading of nitrogen and phosphorous have increased compared to a decline in DSi in the Mississippi River. Continued decreasing in DSi loading could lead to limited diatom growth and production or shifts in community composition, therefore, it is important understand the role of benthic fluxes in providing silica to the overlying water column as there are few regional …
Stable Isotope Analysis Of Japan Sea And East China Sea Sediments: Late Pleistocene Paleoceanographic Reconstructions, 2019 Florida International University
Stable Isotope Analysis Of Japan Sea And East China Sea Sediments: Late Pleistocene Paleoceanographic Reconstructions, Heather Dawn Black
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The East Asian Monsoon system is an important dynamic of East Asian climates, affecting over one-third of the world’s population. Marginal seas within East Asia are ideal environments to study past fluctuations of monsoon intensities and durations as they are sensitive to climatic and glacio-eustatic sea level changes. This study focuses on continuous sedimentary sequences collected from three Integrated Oceanic Drilling Program Expedition 346 sites; Sites U1426 and U1427 in the Japan Sea and Site U1429 in the East China Sea. Elemental concentration (%TOC, %TN, and %CaCO3) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) …
Wildfires In The Northeastern United States: Evaluating Fire Occurrence And Risk In The Past, Present, And Future, 2019 University of Massachusetts Amherst
Wildfires In The Northeastern United States: Evaluating Fire Occurrence And Risk In The Past, Present, And Future, Daniel R. Miller
Doctoral Dissertations
Climate change is one of the most complex and challenging issues facing the world today. A changing climate will affect humankind in many ways and alter our physical environment, presenting ethical challenges in how we respond. The impact of climate change will likely be exacerbated in heavily populated regions of the planet, such as the Northeastern United States (NEUS). The NEUS is comprised of complex, sprawling urban centers and rural regions, both of which are vital to the economic and cultural character of the region. Furthermore, both urban and rural areas in the NEUS contain communities that have been historically …
Root-Driven Weathering Impacts On Mineral-Organic Associations Over Pedogenic Time Scales, 2019 University of Massachusetts Amherst
Root-Driven Weathering Impacts On Mineral-Organic Associations Over Pedogenic Time Scales, Mariela Garcia Arredondo
Masters Theses
Plant roots are critical weathering agents in deep soils, yet the impact of resulting mineral transformations on the vast deep soil carbon (C) reservoir are largely unknown. Root-driven weathering of primary minerals may cause the formation of reactive secondary minerals, which protect mineral-organic associations (MOAs) for centuries or millennia. Conversely, root-driven weathering may also transform secondary minerals, potentially enhancing the bioavailability of C previously protected in MOAs. Here we examined the impact of root-driven weathering on MOAs and their capacity to store C over pedogenic time scales. I compared soil that experienced root-driven weathering, resulting in the formation of discrete …
Data For Paper "Microbial Generation Of Elemental Mercury From Dissolved Methylmercury In Seawater", 2019 SUNY Stony Brook
Data For Paper "Microbial Generation Of Elemental Mercury From Dissolved Methylmercury In Seawater", Cheng-Shiuan Lee, Nicholas S. Fisher
SoMAS Research Data
Elemental mercury (Hg0) formation from other mercury species in seawater results from photoreduction and microbial activity, leading to possible evasion from seawater to overlying air. Microbial conversion of monomethylmercury (MeHg) to Hg0 in seawater remains unquantified. A rapid radioassay method was developed using gamma-emitting 203Hg as a tracer to evaluate Hg0 production from Hg(II) and MeHg in the low pM range. Bacterioplankton assemblages in Atlantic surface seawater and Long Island Sound water were found to rapidly produce Hg0, with production rate constants being directly related to bacterial biomass and independent of dissolved Hg(II) and MeHg …
Advancing Marine Biogeochemical And Ecosystem Reanalyses And Forecasts As Tools For Monitoring And Managing Ecosystem Health, 2019 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Advancing Marine Biogeochemical And Ecosystem Reanalyses And Forecasts As Tools For Monitoring And Managing Ecosystem Health, K Fennel, M Gehlen, P Brasseur, Cw Brown, C Ciavatta, G Cossarini, A Crise, Ca Edwards, D Ford, Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Ocean ecosystems are subject to a multitude of stressors, including changes in ocean physics and biogeochemistry, and direct anthropogenic influences. Implementation of protective and adaptive measures for ocean ecosystems requires a combination of ocean observations with analysis and prediction tools. These can guide assessments of the current state of ocean ecosystems, elucidate ongoing trends and shifts, and anticipate impacts of climate change and management policies. Analysis and prediction tools are defined here as ocean circulation models that are coupled to biogeochemical or ecological models. The range of potential applications for these systems is broad, ranging from reanalyses for the assessment …
Soil Macroinvertebrate Presence Alters Microbial Community Composition And Activity In The Rhizosphere, 2019 Cornell University
Soil Macroinvertebrate Presence Alters Microbial Community Composition And Activity In The Rhizosphere, Natalie Bray, Jenny Kao-Kniffin, Serita D. Frey, Timothy Fahey, Kyle Wickings
Faculty Publications
Soil Macroinvertebrate Presence Alters Microbial Community Composition and Activity in the Rhizosphere
Restoration Of Soil Microbial Function Following Degradation On Department Of Defense Lands: Mediating Biological Invasions In A Global Change Context, 2019 University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Restoration Of Soil Microbial Function Following Degradation On Department Of Defense Lands: Mediating Biological Invasions In A Global Change Context, Kristina Stinson, Serita D. Frey
Faculty Publications
This project was designed to better understand the roles of soil biota in 1 mediating native species-NIS interactions and 2 facilitating the recovery of degraded ecosystems. The associated Research Needs were listed as follows 1. To quantify the functional diversity of soil biota and the role of key taxa in maintaining desired functional ecosystem attributes 2. To identify processes by which desired soil properties and associated soil biotic communities are degraded by NIS invasion and test potential mechanisms to restore them 3. To examine the role of disturbance in determining the functional attributes of the soil community 4. To test …
The Microbiome Stress Project: Toward A Global Meta-Analysis Of Environmental Stressors And Their Effects On Microbial Communities, 2019 Duke University
The Microbiome Stress Project: Toward A Global Meta-Analysis Of Environmental Stressors And Their Effects On Microbial Communities, Jennifer D. Rocca, Marie Simonin, Joanna R. Blaszczak, Jessica G. Ernakovich, Sean M. Gibbons, Firas S. Midani, Alex D. Washburne
Faculty Publications
Microbial community structure is highly sensitive to natural (e.g., drought, temperature, fire) and anthropogenic (e.g., heavy metal exposure, land-use change) stressors. However, despite an immense amount of data generated, systematic, cross-environment analyses of microbiome responses to multiple disturbances are lacking. Here, we present the Microbiome Stress Project, an open-access database of environmental and host-associated 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing studies collected to facilitate cross-study analyses of microbiome responses to stressors. This database will comprise published and unpublished datasets re-processed from the raw sequences into exact sequence variants using our standardized computational pipeline. Our database will provide insight into general response patterns …
Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, 2019 University of Texas at El Paso
Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, Kathryn Rose Wedemeyer-Strombel
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Identifying developmental habitat is essential for understanding population structure and species resiliency, especially for critically endangered species. In long-lived, oceanic, migratory animals such as sea turtles, elucidating developmental grounds is particularly difficult. When data are deficient or challenging to acquire, scientists often lean towards traditional quantitative methods when a social-ecological systems approach could better provide crucial baseline data and guiding information. Fishers ecological knowledge (FEK), the combination of experiential and culturally transmitted knowledge, is expert knowledge and should be treated as such. In 2008, FEK led to the rediscovery of the critically endangered eastern Pacific (EP) population of hawksbill sea …
Clarifying The Interpretation Of Carbon Use Efficiency In Soil Through Methods Comparison, 2019 University of New Hampshire, Durham
Clarifying The Interpretation Of Carbon Use Efficiency In Soil Through Methods Comparison, Kevin M. Geyer, Paul Dijkstra, Robert Sinsabaugh, Serita D. Frey
Faculty Publications
Accurate estimates of microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) are required to predict how global change will impact microbially-mediated ecosystem functions such as organic matter decomposition. Multiple approaches are currently used to quantify CUE but the extent to which estimates reflect methodological variability is unknown. This limits our ability to apply or cross-compare published CUE values. Here we evaluated the performance of five methods in a single soil under standard conditions. The microbial response to three substrate amendment rates (0.0, 0.05, and 2.0 mg glucose-C g−1 soil) was examined using: 13C and 18O isotope tracing approaches which estimate CUE based on …
Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Nitrogen And Carbon Biogeochemistry In A Wetland-Stream Sequence, 2019 University of Montana
Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Nitrogen And Carbon Biogeochemistry In A Wetland-Stream Sequence, Patrick E. Hurley
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Studies of aquatic ecosystems often segregate streams from the influential ponds, lakes, and wetland zones that act as important transitions between terrestrial and fluvial systems. Across the aquatic landscape, these zones interact to form linked ecosystems that function as discrete nutrient processing domains, shifting biogeochemical signals due to spatial and temporal variability in hydrologic and biologic controls. Using a mass-balance approach, we profiled nutrient dynamics along a 23-km wetland-stream sequence over three seasons. Hydrologic, morphologic, and biologic conditions, as well as landscape attributes, were quantified to determine potential controls on biogeochemical cycling in a tributary of the Upper Clark Fork …
Colloidal And Truly Dissolved Metal(Loid)S In Wastewater Lagoons And Their Removal With Floating Treatment Wetlands, 2019 University of Montana
Colloidal And Truly Dissolved Metal(Loid)S In Wastewater Lagoons And Their Removal With Floating Treatment Wetlands, Lauren Sullivan
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Climate change is predicted to cause continuing declines in late-season streamflow, thus increasing the relative contribution of wastewater effluent to surface water flows. Wastewater effluent represents a critical point source of metal and metalloid contamination to aquatic ecosystems and wastewater lagoons are the most common wastewater treatment system in the rural United States. Although the fraction of total wastewater metals and metalloids in "dissolved" forms (defined here asnm) likely drives the potential for negative effects on receiving waters, this broad operational definition lumps truly dissolved solutes (nm) with small colloids and nanomaterials (1-450 nm; hereafter colloids). This size distinction may …
Seasonal Soil Carbon Fluxes In Transitioning Agricultural Soils In Central Washington State: Relations To Land-Use, Environmental Factors And Soil Carbon-Nitrogen Characteristics, 2019 Central Washington University
Seasonal Soil Carbon Fluxes In Transitioning Agricultural Soils In Central Washington State: Relations To Land-Use, Environmental Factors And Soil Carbon-Nitrogen Characteristics, Brandon Kautzman
All Master's Theses
Changing agricultural land-use practices to increase soil carbon sequestration contributes to climate change mitigation and improved food security by moving CO2 from the atmosphere into soil as soil organic carbon (SOC). In 2016, a farm in Thorp, Washington, Spoon Full Farm, began converting land historically farmed using conventional methods of tillage and synthetic fertilizers to conservation farming methods with direct seeding and organic soil amendments with a goal of sequestering carbon in the soil. This project evaluates relationships of soil CO2 respiration and net ecological exchange (NEE) with land-use types, seasonal environmental factors (air temperature, relative humidity, soil …
Influence Of Ligand Complexation On Nickel Toxicity, Speciation And Bioavailability In Marine Waters, 2019 Wilfrid Laurier University
Influence Of Ligand Complexation On Nickel Toxicity, Speciation And Bioavailability In Marine Waters, Samantha Sherman
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Currently there are no site-specific bioavailability-based prediction models for assessing the impacts of nickel (Ni) in marine environments although there are indications that these may be warranted. The aim of this research was to characterize the complexation of Ni in relation to toxicity and speciation. Various complexing ligands were used, and it was predicted that the binding affinity (logKf) of ligands would be inversely correlated to toxicity based on dissolved Ni concentrations ([NiD]) but that on a free ion concentration ([Ni2+]) basis, toxicity would not vary. A two-phased approach was used; the first was a proof of principle where synthetic …
Resuscitation Of Microalgae From Mississippi River Plume Sediments, 2019 Auburn University
Resuscitation Of Microalgae From Mississippi River Plume Sediments, Chase C. Chaplin, Marnie Tabor, Israel A. Marquez, Kanchan Maiti, Jeffrey W. Krause
Gulf and Caribbean Research
No abstract provided.