Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Agriculture In A Water Scarce World, Allison Roberts, Amjad Assi, Bassel Daher, Men Li

Student Papers in Public Policy

According to the McKinsey report (2009), the world is facing a water scarcity challenge where agriculture is its predominant consumer. It accounts for approximately 3100 billion m³, or 71 percent of global water withdrawals today, and is expected to increase to 4500 billion m³ by 2030. This increase is due to a number of factors: growing population and the ever growing necessity to cater for its food needs, economic growth, the variability of precipitation trends and increase in global temperatures. In addition to the increase in water scarcity, the agricultural sector faces an enormous challenge of producing almost ...

Ocean Sustainability, Logan Levan, Joshua Millea, Woo Choi, Mark Powell, David Flint

Student Papers in Public Policy

Oceans cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface area. They provide more than 90% of the world’s oxygen production, account for 200 billion pounds of food each year, regulate the global climate, and are the primary mode of global shipping traffic (“www.marinebio.org”). With such social, economic, and environmental value, there is a clear need to enact sustainable policies and practices concerning marine zones.

Using Gis To Delineate Headwater Stream Origins In The Appalachian Coal-Belt Region Of Kentucky, Jonathan A. Villines

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream ...

Targeting Perennial Vegetation In Agricultural Landscapes For Enhancing Ecosystem Services, Heidi Asbjornsen, V. Hernandez-Santana, Matthew Z. Liebman, J. Bayala, J. Chen, Matthew J. Helmers, C. K. Ong

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications and Papers

Over the past century, agricultural landscapes worldwide have increasingly been managed for the primary purpose of producing food, while other diverse ecosystem services potentially available from these landscapes have often been undervalued and diminished. The incorporation of relatively small amounts of perennial vegetation in strategic locations within agricultural landscapes dominated by annual crops—or perennialization—creates an opportunity for enhancing the provision of a wide range of goods and services to society, such as water purification, hydrologic regulation, pollination services, control of pest and pathogen populations, diverse food and fuel products, and greater resilience to climate change and extreme disturbances ...

Using Biodiversity To Link Agricultural Productivity With Environmental Quality: Results From Three Field Experiments In Iowa, Matthew Z. Liebman, Matthew J. Helmers, Lisa A. Schulte-Moore, Craig A. Chase

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications and Papers

Agriculture in the US Corn Belt is under increasing pressure to produce greater quantities of food, feed and fuel, while better protecting environmental quality. Key environmental problems in this region include water contamination by nutrients and herbicides emitted from cropland, a lack of non-agricultural habitat to support diverse communities of native plants and animals, and a high level of dependence on petrochemical energy in the dominant cropping systems. In addition, projected changes in climate for this region, which include increases in the proportion of precipitation coming from extreme events could make soil and water conservation in existing cropping systems more ...

Delineation And Characterization Of The Furnace Brook Watershed In Marshfield, Massachusetts: Potential Impact Of Water Supply Extraction, Erik Croll

Undergraduate Review

The Furnace Brook watershed in Marshfield, Massachusetts supplies a coastal community of 25,132 residents with nearly 45% of its town water supply (Marshfield 2012a). As in many other coastal communities, development pressure in Marshfield has increased in recent years, creating a growing demand for freshwater extraction. It has been observed, however, that portions of the stream and Furnace Pond disappear entirely at certain times of year, generally between June and August, depending on the rate of groundwater extraction. This has created a conflict between protecting the designated wetland areas and meeting public pressure for water resources, even within what ...

Cougar Predation Behavior In North-Central Utah, Dustin L. Mitchell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cougar (Puma concolor) predation has been identified as being one of several factors contributing to the decline of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) throughout the Western United States. In order to better understand how these elusive felines utilize their surroundings and prey, I examined and analyzed cougar predation behavior in North-Central Utah, using global positioning systems (GPS) data from 2002-2010. Twenty-three cougars were fitted with GPS collars and monitored for prey caching behavior. In total 775 potential cache sites were visited and 546 prey remains found. Mule deer comprised the majority of prey at cougar cache sites, but 11 other species ...

Invasion Ecology Of Acer Platanoides In An Old-Growth Urban Forest, Justin Paul Rogers

Environmental Science and Biology Theses

Acer platanoides (Norway maple) is an exotic tree species with invasive potential that has been described as a prolific seed producer, shade tolerant, and a strong competitor for limiting resources. It has invaded many forests in the northeastern United States and Canada, including the Washington Grove, a 10 ha forest in Cobbs Hill Park in Rochester, NY. To quantify the extent of the invasion at the Grove, I surveyed the forest canopy, subcanopy, seedlings, saplings, shrub cover, herbaceous cover, seed rain, and seed bank. In a primarily Quercus (oak) canopy, A. platanoides was relatively sparse at 31 individuals/ha, but ...

Renewable Resource Extraction: Experimental Analysis Of Resource Management Policies Under Assumptions Of Resource Migration, Kevin Lugo '13

Student Publications

This paper presents research using a spatially explicit and dynamic common pool resource experiment to compare renewable resource extraction behavior between four treatments combining (1) open access and sole ownership institutions with (2) mobility and non-mobility of the renewable resource. The primary purpose of this research is to test the theory that introducing resource mobility into a sole ownership regime will remove the incentive for subjects to maximize the resource, instead causing them to revert to the myopic strategy predicted for the open access regime. I also test the hypothesis that open access firms are indifferent to resource dispersal. The ...

Water Use In Las Vegas, Gram Bazylinski

Anthropology Undergraduate Research (COLA)

Sources of Water for Las Vegas

The Colorado River

According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Nevada brings in almost 90% of its water from the Colorado River (pictured below).

The river is split up into two distinct allocations: the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin. The Upper Basin provides water for Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, and the Lower Basin is shared between Nevada, California, and Arizona.

When the Colorado River allocations were first being assigned in 1928, the negotiators of Nevada agreed on 300,000 acre-feet per year for Nevada’s water allowance, an acre-foot of water ...

Water Consumption In Southern Nevada, Paul Conyers

Anthropology Undergraduate Research (COLA)

Overview

With its massive hotels, casinos, restaurants, and dramatic architecture it can be easy to forget that Las Vegas resides in the middle of a desert receiving just 4.5 inches of rain per year. Its population has grown immensely to nearly 2 million as of 2012 and that is without including the more than 30 million tourists visiting every year. With this growth more and more water is needed to keep yards and golf courses green, to keep the fountains of Bellagio flowing, to support the habitats of Mandalay Bay and the Flamingo, and to allow Las Vegas to ...

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

Anthropology Undergraduate Research (COLA)

Introduction:

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.

Review Of The Purple Amole Chlorogalum Purpureum (Agavaceae): A Threatened Plant In The Coast Ranges Of Central California, Christopher P. Kofron, Connie Rutherford, Elizabeth R. Clark, Darlene Woodbury, Jody Olson, Robert F. Holland

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

The purple amole Chlorogalum purpureum (Agavaceae) is a bulbous, perennial soap plant endemic to central California and listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 2000. Chlorogalum p. purpureum occurs in the rain shadow of the Santa Lucia Range on Fort Hunter Liggett, south Monterey Co., and on Camp Roberts, north San Luis Obispo Co. Chlorogalum p. reductum occurs in the rain shadow of the La Panza Range in central San Luis Obispo Co., mostly on Los Padres National Forest and with potential for a substantially larger occupied area on private land. We review and enhance the ...

Local Residents' Experience Of The Coal Ash Spill In Kingston, Tennessee: A Phenomenological Study, Amy Lynn Mathis

Doctoral Dissertations

On December 22, 2008, near Kingston, Tennessee, a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) retention pond holding approximately 1.7 million cubic yards of coal fly ash failed, spilling the ash into the nearby Emory River and inundating farms and homes in the Swan Pond community. As a result more than 100 people were permanently displaced from their homes and the clean-up effort is ongoing.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of living near Kingston, Tennessee, in the aftermath of the spill. Using existential phenomenology as the guiding research methodology, I interviewed 9 participants from the area and ...

Predicting Groundwater Trading Participation In The Upper Republican River Natural Resource District, Elizabeth M. Juchems

Dissertations and Theses in Agricultural Economics

The goal of this thesis is to predict participation in groundwater trading and the directions of trades among participants. Specifically, the paper considers both formal and informal trading of groundwater used for crop irrigation purposes and attempts to identify those characteristics that predict the probability of trade participation and whether an individual is a buyer or seller of groundwater rights. While the public benefits from efficient use of groundwater include adequate stream flow in hydrologically connected areas and future use of groundwater supplies, there are significant private benefits to landowners especially in water-short areas. Groundwater trading can help move water ...

Smart Dispatch Methods, Hannah K. Panno

Social Sciences

My senior project will be focused on smart dispatch methods for CAL FIRE. Currently the level of dispatch including how many personnel and how much equipment such as fire engines, water tanks, dozers, and aircrafts that are sent to a fire is based on subjectivity rather than science. A reliable dispatch system based on Fire Family Plus software needs to be implemented in San Luis Obispo County. A reliable dispatch should be grounded on the prominent elements of fire progression i.e. fuels, topography, and climatology. These fire catalysts will be applied and considered based on unique climate regions of ...

False Spike, Quadrula Mitchelli (Bivalvia: Unionidae), Is Not Extinct: First Account Of A Live Population In Over 30 Years, Charles R. Randklev, Matthew S. Johnson, Eric T. Tsakiris, Susan Rogers-Oetker, Kevin J. Roe, John L. Harris, Stephen E. Mcmurray, Clint Robertson, Julie Groce, Neal Wilkins

Natural Resource Ecology and Management Publications and Papers

During a recent survey a small population of Quadrula mitchelli (Simpson, 1895), a species thought to have been extinct, was discovered in Texas. In total, 7 live individuals were collected from the Guadalupe River near Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas. Our finding represents the only known population for this species in Texas and the first record of live specimens in over 30 y, which is significant because this species is currently under review for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Assessment Of A Rotenone Application Event At Mormon Island West Lake In Central Nebraska, Keith D. Koupal, Brian C. Peterson, Casey W. Schoenebeck

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Fisheries managers applied rotenone to Mormon Island West in August of 2010 to renovate a fish community that was hypothesized to be unbalanced (i.e., dominated with gizzard shad and common carp) based on standardized survey results. We estimated species-specific biomass following the lake renovation to provide a baseline biomass estimate for a sand pit lake and to evaluate the effectiveness of standardized sampling gears. Gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) were abundant in all sampling gears, but mostly stock-size (>175 mm total length) and larger individuals were caught in gill and trap nets and sub-stock (≤175 mm total length) individuals were ...

A Comparison Study Of A Bird Population In Lake Alaotra: The Effects Of A Protected Area, Sonya R. Kaufman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Lake Alaotra, the largest lake in Madagascar, is well known for its diverse plant and animal communities. It is home to three critically endangered endemic species, the Alaotran gentle lemur (Hapelemur griseus alaotrensis), Alaotra Little Grebe (Tachybaptus rufolavatus), and Madagascar pochard (Aythya innotata). Widespread habitat destruction by fire and clear-cutting is destroying the marshland vegetation of the lake, and siltation from erosion runoff and rice field creation is resulting in the ever-decreasing size of the lake. This study looked at the effectiveness of the protected area, Park Bandro, in preserving species diversity, relative abundances, and species evenness of bird species ...

A Comparison Of Qualitative And Quantitative Ecological Assessment Methods Of Mangroves In Southwestern Madagascar, Sondra Winders

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangroves are unique, tropical, intertidal forests that, among many other important functions, serve as large carbon sinks for the sequestration of atmospheric CO2. This project qualitatively assessed the mangrove forest of Honko Mangrove Conservation and Education (Tulear, Madagascar) in conjunction with Blue Ventures for a proposed Plan Vivo carbon stock project. The qualitative results were then compared with quantitative measurements in order to determine the most effective method of ecological assessment. Sixty-three stands of mangrove forest covering 9.72km2 were identified and mapped. Level of harvest, species composition, density, canopy cover, dominant height, dominant DBH, forest condition and composition were ...