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Mapping Urban Tree Canopy Using Publicly Available Satellite Data, Rosemary McGuinness 2024 CUNY Hunter College

Mapping Urban Tree Canopy Using Publicly Available Satellite Data, Rosemary Mcguinness

Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses the need for accessible, cost-effective tools for quantifying spatial and temporal changes in tree canopy cover in urban areas. Urban tree canopy provides a wide range of ecosystem services, including lowering air temperatures, reducing pollution, and mitigating stormwater runoff. Cities around the world have placed the expansion of their urban forests at the center of their sustainability goals. Consistent and timely data on urban tree canopy is essential for urban greening initiatives to succeed. Existing methods of accessing information about urban tree canopy are highly technical, costly, and labor-intensive, while the freely available source of tree canopy …


Understanding Private Landowners Involvement, Knowledge Sharing, And Social Networks In Conservation Of Brown Ash In The Face Of Emerald Ash Borer, Emily Francis 2024 University of Maine

Understanding Private Landowners Involvement, Knowledge Sharing, And Social Networks In Conservation Of Brown Ash In The Face Of Emerald Ash Borer, Emily Francis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

North America is facing a deadly invasive forest pest: the emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis Marsh.), which has the ability to eliminate brown ash trees (Fraxinus nigra). The geopolitical boundary for Maine is the unceded territory of the Wabanaki People, and the final northeastern US state for EAB to infest. EAB threatens brown ash which holds importance environmentally, economically, culturally, and intrinsically to the Wabanaki People and the state of Maine. This dissertation aims to determine the direction of outreach and research to sustain brown ash trees for the future through an important stakeholder group, private landowners, …


Occurrence, Inputs, And Ecological Significance Of Antibiotics And Pharmaceuticals In Western Nebraska Streams, Katelyn F. Glause 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Occurrence, Inputs, And Ecological Significance Of Antibiotics And Pharmaceuticals In Western Nebraska Streams, Katelyn F. Glause

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

Few emerging environmental contaminants are as concerning as antibiotics. Human and animal health benefits greatly from the prudent use of antibiotics, yet we give little thought to environmental release of these biologically active compounds. Environmental occurrence of these and other pharmaceutical compounds must be measured in different environmental compartments such as municipal wastewater and in the vicinity of large animal feeding operations to understand potential effects. This study reports the results of a monitoring study in western Nebraska, with a large population of livestock and smaller but more concentrated population of humans, comparing the relative environmental concentrations and loading from …


Applying Circuit Theory To Describe Changes In Structural Landscape Connectivity In Response To Wildfire, Christian Ross Nielsen 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Applying Circuit Theory To Describe Changes In Structural Landscape Connectivity In Response To Wildfire, Christian Ross Nielsen

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

Understanding and conserving ecological connectivity is critical to the preservation of vulnerable landscapes. Circuit theory, in which landscapes are imagined as circuit boards with varying resistances to the flow of current, is being increasingly used to model spatially explicit connectivity of landscapes and to inform land management and conservation decision-making. Utilizing continuous, quantitative estimates of percent cover by five land cover functional groups to create a conductance surface, this study expanded upon an established application of circuit theory that used the open-source software Circuitscape to model species-agnostic, omnidirectional connectivity. This model was automated using Python to create time-series connectivity maps …


Spatiotemporal Plasticity In Reproductive Readiness And Recruitment Of Ichthyoplankton Of Invasive Silver Carp Along A Western Invasion Front, Jessi L. Urichich 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Spatiotemporal Plasticity In Reproductive Readiness And Recruitment Of Ichthyoplankton Of Invasive Silver Carp Along A Western Invasion Front, Jessi L. Urichich

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

Individuals of invasive species at the edge of their invasion distribution may exhibit enhanced reproductive capacity and phenotypic plasticity leading to accelerated range expansion. Environmental conditions in highly fluctuating environments at distribution edges may either promote or hinder such reproductive readiness and phenotypic plasticity. Dynamic habitat conditions and periodic disturbances experienced in prairie streams, such as drought (e.g., low-flow, high water temperatures), may potentially reduce suitable spawning environments and ichthyoplankton recruitment of invasive Silver Carp, potentially slowing range expansion or enabling management strategies that reduce abundance in the absence of a reproducing population. Female Silver Carp batch fecundity, Gonadosomatic Index …


Assessing, Restoring, And Centering Social-Ecological Relationships For Advancing Social-Ecological Resilience In The Northern Great Plains Grasslands, Katia Pilar Carranza Bernal 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Assessing, Restoring, And Centering Social-Ecological Relationships For Advancing Social-Ecological Resilience In The Northern Great Plains Grasslands, Katia Pilar Carranza Bernal

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

The Northern Great Plains grasslands are social-ecological systems that were shaped by evolutionary and Indigenous social-ecological relationships. European colonization disrupted many of these interactions, including the coupling of fire and grazing, and degraded social-ecological resilience, shifting these grasslands to a new state. For those reasons, my research focused on assessing, restoring, and centering evolutionary and Indigenous social-ecological relationships for advancing social-ecological resilience in the Northern Great Plains grasslands. I first performed a study in the Nebraska Sandhillls assessing the potential of patch-burn grazing to support grassland resilience by comparing its effects to those of rotational grazing. Through vegetation and bird …


Analysis Of Drought-Flood Abrupt Alternation Events And Their Impacts In Kenya, Betty Makena 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Analysis Of Drought-Flood Abrupt Alternation Events And Their Impacts In Kenya, Betty Makena

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

Drought-Flood Abrupt Alternation (DFAA) is a compound disaster event that refers to the abrupt shift of extreme drought events to extreme floods resulting in exacerbated impacts on already vulnerable communities and hindering their coping abilities. This study aimed to analyze drought-flood abrupt alternation events and their impacts in Kenya. The first chapter aimed to understand historical drought events in the Greater Horn of Africa and their impacts, while drawing comparisons with the recent 2020-2022 drought period, referred to as the ‘triple dip La Niña’. Datasets used in this study include the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS), Normalized …


Impacts Of Invasive Carp And Their Population Dynamics On Fish Communities In The Missouri River, Joshua F. Kocik 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Impacts Of Invasive Carp And Their Population Dynamics On Fish Communities In The Missouri River, Joshua F. Kocik

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

Invasive Carp species: Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Bighead Carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, and Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus have both potential and realized abilities to negatively impact native species. Specifically, Bighead Carp and Silver Carp as filter feeders have been theorized to be detrimental not only to adult filter-feeding species, but to many fish which rely on plankton and algae in their early-life stages. The impact of Invasive Carp on the overall fish community remains underexplored. The fish communities below Gavins Point Dam (Invasive Carp present) and Fort Randall Dam (Invasive Carp absent) afford the …


Integration Of Matlab And Machine Learning To Accelerate Evaluation Of Biological Activity In Agricultural Soils And Promote Soil Health Improvement Goals, Andrew Stiven Ortiz Balsero 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Integration Of Matlab And Machine Learning To Accelerate Evaluation Of Biological Activity In Agricultural Soils And Promote Soil Health Improvement Goals, Andrew Stiven Ortiz Balsero

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

Traditionally, assessments of soil biological activity have been confined to laboratory settings, creating a disconnect with practical in-field methods. To bridge this gap, cotton fabric degradation has been used to illustrate soil microbial activity under different management practices. While effective, these demonstrations are subjective and labor-intensive.

Researchers have explored using image processing software like ImageJ and Adobe Photoshop to streamline this process. Although these tools accurately quantified fabric degradation under varying soil conditions, the methods remained labor-intensive and complex. Consequently, these methods were still not ideal for on-farm use by agricultural practitioners.

To further address labor and complexity limitations, the …


Evaluating The Effects Of Forage Availability And Landscape Composiiton On Whte-Tailed Deer Morphometrics Across The Eastern U.S., Mark Turner 2024 University of Tennessee

Evaluating The Effects Of Forage Availability And Landscape Composiiton On Whte-Tailed Deer Morphometrics Across The Eastern U.S., Mark Turner

Doctoral Dissertations

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management often focuses on improving nutrition to increase deer morphometrics, and many landowners use harvest data to track management progress. Better understanding the relationship among deer morphology, nutrition, landscape characteristics, and climate should inform deer management throughout much of the eastern US. I collected deer forage data in 2021–2023 from 43 sites in 25 states across the eastern US and worked with cooperating landowners and managers to collect harvest data from 35 of those sites. Adult female body mass explained 64% of the variation in mature male antler size on sites across the eastern …


Unraveling Wetland Ecology: The Effect Of Abiotic Heterogeneity And Habitat Size On Wetland Plant Diversity In The Piedmont, Gregory T. Gilmore 2024 Clemson University

Unraveling Wetland Ecology: The Effect Of Abiotic Heterogeneity And Habitat Size On Wetland Plant Diversity In The Piedmont, Gregory T. Gilmore

All Theses

Ecosystems around the world are seeing an unprecedented decline in biodiversity. However, to better prevent this decline we cannot only understand the drivers of biodiversity loss, but also the factors that support diversity. Traditional ecological hypotheses such as the Habitat Heterogeneity Hypothesis (HHH) and the Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) have provided frameworks for understanding biodiversity drivers. However, recent research suggests a more nuanced relationship between heterogeneity, habitat size, and diversity than previously thought. This study looks to bridge existing research gaps by examining the ecologically and conservational important habitat of wetlands. Specifically, the study focuses on the plant diversity …


Investigation Of Parasites And Other Pathogens Associated With Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) Declines In Tennessee, Laura K. Horton 2024 University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Investigation Of Parasites And Other Pathogens Associated With Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) Declines In Tennessee, Laura K. Horton

Doctoral Dissertations

This multi-part research project was carried out in order to investigate and address disease aspects which may be at play in the Middle Tennessee Wild Turkey population. This population has been experiencing declines since a restoration period which spanned from 1990-2000. In combined effort with Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and collaboration with other research groups at the University of Tennessee, this survey of parasites and diseases of known risk to Wild Turkeys was carried out in the study population from 2020-2023. We evaluated the prevalence of the following pathogens for three field seasons: Histomonas meleagridis …


Remotely Sensed Early Warning Of Algal Blooms In An Eastern Nebraska Reservoir: A Comparison Of Temporal And Spatial Indicators, Mercy Kipenda 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Remotely Sensed Early Warning Of Algal Blooms In An Eastern Nebraska Reservoir: A Comparison Of Temporal And Spatial Indicators, Mercy Kipenda

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

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) detrimentally affect human, animal, and ecosystem health. Remotely sensed early warning systems for cyanoHABs in inland lakes could contribute to more proactive water quality monitoring and help mitigate negative impacts. Advances in freely available remote sensing imagery, with finer spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, present new opportunities for the development and comparative analysis of methods to detect sudden deterioration in lake water quality. In this thesis, I compared and tested for temporal and spatial early warning signals of cyanoHABs in field-based and remotely sensed datasets from 2019 to 2023 in Pawnee Lake in southeast Nebraska, …


Enhancing Monthly Streamflow Prediction Using Meteorological Factors And Machine Learning Models In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Saichand Thota 2024 Utah State University

Enhancing Monthly Streamflow Prediction Using Meteorological Factors And Machine Learning Models In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Saichand Thota

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Understanding and predicting streamflow along river basins is vital for planning future developments and ensuring safety, especially with climate change challenges. Our study focused on forecasting streamflow at Lees Ferry, a key location along the Colorado River in the Upper Colorado River Basin. We employed four machine learning models - Random Forest Regression, Long short-term memory, Gated Recurrent Unit, and Seasonal Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average; and combined historical streamflow data with meteorological factors such as snow water equivalent, temperature, and precipitation. Our analysis spanned 30 years of data from 1991 to 2020.

Our findings revealed that the Random Forest Regression …


Upscaling Relative Permeability And Capillary Pressure From Digital Core Analysis In Otway Formation: Considering The Order And Size Effects Of Facies, Masoud Aslannezhad, Mohammad Sayyafzadeh, David Tang, Zhenjiang You, Stefan Iglauer, Alireza Keshavarz 2024 Edith Cowan University

Upscaling Relative Permeability And Capillary Pressure From Digital Core Analysis In Otway Formation: Considering The Order And Size Effects Of Facies, Masoud Aslannezhad, Mohammad Sayyafzadeh, David Tang, Zhenjiang You, Stefan Iglauer, Alireza Keshavarz

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Digital Core Analysis (DCA) has emerged as a crucial instrument in reservoir characterization in recent times. With the advent of high-resolution micro-CT imaging, it is now possible to visualize the three-dimensional microstructures of in-situ pores and flow patterns within rocks. DCA offers several notable benefits over traditional techniques, such as a higher density of measurements, faster processing times, and the preservation of rock samples. It also demonstrates considerable flexibility with challenging core conditions and can derive numerous parameters from each individual sample. The objective of this work is to utilise DCA data from Otway formation to enhance reservoir characterisation and …


Variation In Zero Plane Displacement And Roughness Length For Momentum Revisited, Ashvath Singh Kunadi, Richard P. Silberstein, Sally E. Thompson 2024 Edith Cowan University

Variation In Zero Plane Displacement And Roughness Length For Momentum Revisited, Ashvath Singh Kunadi, Richard P. Silberstein, Sally E. Thompson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Zero plane displacement height (d0) and momentum roughness length (z0m), describe the aerodynamic characteristics of a vegetated surface. Usually, d0 and z0m are assumed to be constant functions of the physical characteristics of the surface. Prior evidence collected from the literature and our examination of flux tower data show that d0 and z0m vary in time at sites with tree and shrub canopies, but not grasslands. The conventional explanations of these variations are based on linear functions of wind velocity and friction velocity, with little theoretical basis. This study explains the variation in aerodynamic parameters by matching four analytical canopy …


Transforming Grassland Conservation: Challenges And Opportunities Across Law, Policy, And Human Dimensions, Conor D. Barnes 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Transforming Grassland Conservation: Challenges And Opportunities Across Law, Policy, And Human Dimensions, Conor D. Barnes

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Great Plains social-ecological systems are facing growing pressure from complex, ‘wicked’ problems. Addressing these problems will require integrating ecological resilience and complex systems thinking concepts into our legal framework in order to better reflect the changing ecological reality of the Great Plains and promote flexibility and adaptability in the face of that change. In this dissertation, I examine how past and present policy priorities have affected social-ecological systems on the Great Plains, and how ecological resilience and complex systems thinking might be applied to grassland management policy. In Chapter 2, I examine the rapid progress made in the adoption of …


Learning From “Nature-Based Solutions” To Promote Optimal Management Of Integrated Ecological Conservation And Restoration In Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Jun WANG, Bojie FU, Xiao ZHANG, Yanxu LIU, Wenwu ZHAO 2024 Key Laboratory of Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation, Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Center/ Land Science and Technology Innovation Center, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100035, China

Learning From “Nature-Based Solutions” To Promote Optimal Management Of Integrated Ecological Conservation And Restoration In Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Jun Wang, Bojie Fu, Xiao Zhang, Yanxu Liu, Wenwu Zhao

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau plays an important role as an ecological security barrier for China and the world, where the ecological environment has generally improved in recent years. Nevertheless, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau still faces management challenges in dealing with the three relationships, namely, key problems and coordinated governance, natural recovery and artificial restoration, and high-quality development and high-level protection. This study proposes the application of “Nature-based Solutions” for adaptive management, including the implementation of ecological protection and restoration planning based on the “three-scale framework”, the ecological protection and restoration projects adaptation management under climate change and human disturbance based on quantitative …


Oregon State Rank Assessment For Midget Quillwort (Isoetes Minima), Lindsey K. Wise 2024 Portland State University

Oregon State Rank Assessment For Midget Quillwort (Isoetes Minima), Lindsey K. Wise

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Oregon state conservation status assessment for midget quillwort (Isoetes minima) using NatureServe methodology, 2024.


Hybridization Between The Rare Gray-Headed Chickadee And The Abundant Boreal Chickadee In The Midst Of Shifting Climate, Matthew R. Armstrong 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Hybridization Between The Rare Gray-Headed Chickadee And The Abundant Boreal Chickadee In The Midst Of Shifting Climate, Matthew R. Armstrong

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

As species respond to changing climate, distributions and abundances may shift and alter species interactions. Hybridization, a relatively widespread phenomenon becoming more common with climate change, can have beneficial and detrimental effects on population growth rates and genetic integrity. Beneficial effects due to the introduction of advantageous alleles and increased genetic diversity may result from hybridization. Species may also accrue fitness costs associated with changing climates if mismatches occur between environmental variables and phenotypes. The gray-headed chickadee, Poecile cinctus lathami, is an extremely rare songbird that has experienced marked declines in recent decades within its restricted distribution in Alaska …


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