Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Land Use On Nitrate-N Movement And Storage In The Vadose Zone Of The Hastings’ Whpa, Craig Adams

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

Nebraska has one of the largest agricultural economies in the United States and relies heavily on irrigation and fertilizer application to maintain crop yields. Over-irrigation and continuous application of nitrogen (N) in many areas has led to accumulation of nitrate-N in soils and sediments throughout the state’s vadose zone. Because nitrate-N is both persistent and mobile, groundwater concentrations in many areas of Nebraska and other agriculturally intensive states are increasing. Nitrate-N contamination of public and private drinking water supplies that utilize groundwater are of particular concern. Vadose zone sampling is an important method for rapidly assessing the effect of changing …

Downscaling Africa’S Drought Forecasts Through Integration Of Indigenous And Scientific Drought Forecasts Using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Muthoni Masinde, Mwanjele Mwagha, Tsegaye Tadesse

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

In the wake of increased drought occurrences being witnessed in Sub-Saharan Africa, more localized and contextualized drought mitigation strategies are on the agendas of many researchers and policy makers in the region. The integration of indigenous knowledge on droughts with seasonal climate forecasts is one such strategy. The main challenge facing this integration, however, is the formal representation of highly-structured and holistic indigenous knowledge. In this paper, we demonstrate how the use of fuzzy cognitive mapping can address this challenge. Indigenous knowledge on droughts from five communities was modeled and represented using fuzzy cognitive maps. Maps from one of these …

2018 Senior Research Symposium, Otterbein University Department Of Biology & Earth Science

Biology and Earth Science Student Scholarship

This is the schedule for the 2018 Senior Research Symposium and the abstracts from each presentation.

Moonmilk As A Human And Veterinary Medicine: Evidence Of Past Artisan Mining In Caves Of The Austrian Alps, Christoph Spötl

International Journal of Speleology

The use of moonmilk for medical and other purposes in the Alps is documented since the 16^th century. This article reviews speleological reports and sparse historical accounts about the extraction of moonmilk from 18 caves in the Eastern Alps of Austria in an artisan mining style. One such example from a cave in Tyrol is documented in detail, where moonmilk was mined until the beginning of the 20^th century and which, due to its remote location, uniquely preserved traces of both the mining and processing style.

T.D.A. Cockerell (1866–1948) Of The University Of Colorado: His Contributions To The Natural History Of The California Islands And The Establishment Of Channel Islands National Monument, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell was a naturalist at the University of Colorado from 1904 to 1947 and studied botany, zoology, and paleontology in North and South America, Asia, Australia, Africa, and Europe. In the latter part of his career, he studied the California islands and published many papers on their natural history, 16 of them in four years (1937–1940). He made important contributions to the natural history of the islands in four distinct ways: entomology of the islands, including identification of a number of new species of bees; discovery of fossil marine invertebrate faunas and recognition that the zoogeography of …

Modeling Climate Change Impacts On Water Balance Components Of The Mackinaw River Watershed, Central Illinois, Joseph Honings

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the response of water cycle dynamics to climate change and human activity is essential for best management of water resources. This study used the USDA Soil-Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to measure and predict major water balance variables including stream discharge, potential aquifer recharge, and surface storage in a small-scale watershed (~2,930 km²) in Central Illinois. The watershed is predominantly tile-drained agricultural land, which controls the nutrient dynamics and hydrology. Two reservoirs, Evergreen Lake and Lake Bloomington, and the Mahomet Aquifer in the watershed are used for public water supply. The subject watershed has been very sensitive to recent droughts, …

Hip Extensor Mechanics And The Evolution Of Walking And Climbing Capabilities In Humans, Apes, And Fossil Hominins, Elaine E. Kozma, Nicole M. Webb, William Harcourt-Smith, David A. Raichlen, Kristiaan D’Août, Mary H. Brown, Emma M. Finestone, Stephen R. Ross, Peter Aerts, Herman Pontzer

Publications and Research

The evolutionary emergence of humans’ remarkably economical walking gait remains a focus of research and debate, but experi- mentally validated approaches linking locomotor capability to postcranial anatomy are limited. In this study, we integrated 3D morphometrics of hominoid pelvic shape with experimental mea- surements of hip kinematics and kinetics during walking and climbing, hamstring activity, and passive range of hip extension in humans, apes, and other primates to assess arboreal–terrestrial trade-offs in ischium morphology among living taxa. We show that hamstring-powered hip extension during habitual walking and climbing in living apes and humans is strongly predicted, and likely constrained, by …

The Prairie Post Quarterly Newsletter Of The High Plains Regional Climate Center- April 2018, Natalie Umphlett, Crystal J. Stiles, Shellie Hanneman

Prairie Post: Quarterly Newsletter of the High Plains Regional Climate Center

Inside this issue:

Message from the interim director........................................1

Weather photo of the quarter.........................................1

Tribal climate summaries......2

Product highlights..................3

Update on regional climate conditions..................................4

State Climate Extremes Committee.................................4

Update on research................5

Recent and upcoming travel and activities.............................6

Cuando La Vida Era Tranquila: Land Use And Livelihood Changes Following The Construction Of The Chan 75 Dam In Nance Del Risco, Bocas Del Toro, Patrick Mckenzie

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Ngobe are Panama’s most populous indigenous group. While the Ngobe that live in the comarca have land and resource rights, those that live immediately outside of it do not. This issue has been exacerbated by the creation of Palo Seco Forest Reserve which has removed all land rights from the Ngobe living within it. In order to meet its growing demand for energy, Panama is expanding its hydroelectric sector. One such hydroelectric dam built by AES is Chan 75. However, Chan 75 has had a controversial history, especially regarding its treatment of the Ngobe people of the corregimiento Nance …

Carbon Flux And Weathering Processes In Icelandic Glacial-Fed Rivers, Allison Quiroga

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An investigation into the carbon dynamics and weathering processes occurring in Icelandic glacial-fed streams was conducted during the spring to summer seasonal transition in June of 2017. Four major outlet rives were sampled from the glaciers of Gígjökull, Steinsholtsjökull, Sólheimajökull, and Falljökull. Markarfljót, the major river that Gígjökull, Steinsholtsjökull, and many other glaciers drain into, was also sampled. Longitudinal sampling occurred at all sites to capture downstream trends in the hydrogeochemistry and carbon dynamics. Distinct differences in geochemistry between glacier surface meltwater, sub-glacial waters, pro-glacial lake water, and post-mixed downstream samples were evident in the data. Glacier surface streams were …

Selection Perception: Views On The Theory Of Evolution Among Residents Of Moshi, Tanzania, Robin Waterman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The theory of evolution is a major tenet of biological science and has many practical applications, particularly in agriculture, medicine, and conservation. Nevertheless, there is significant opposition to the theory and its incorporation into school curricula, largely on religious grounds. This disconnect between public opinion and scientific opinion has been studied at length in the US and to some extent in other industrialized nations, but little is known about the issue in other communities around the world. This paper will use the town of Moshi, Tanzania as a case study in community views and knowledge about the theory of evolution. …

Earth News, V41, Spring 2018, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Earth And Environmental Sciences.

Earth News

Inside this issue:
-- From the Department Head
-- Faculty Updates
-- SGE Newsletter
-- Student Awards
-- Sunday at the Quarry
-- Alumni Spotlight
-- A Unique Honor
-- In Memorium
-- Lake Michigan Ozone Study
-- Student Research
-- Hydrology News
-- Carver Grants
-- 2017-2018 Pictures
-- Alumni-in-Residence
-- Alumni Updates
-- Solar Eclipse Party
-- How Many Snowflakes
-- Geology and Interior Design
-- Beta Project
-- Stem Story
-- Gifts From Alumni & Friends
-- Contribution Form

Revising The Geological Time Scale: A Conop9 Graptolite Composite From The Middle Ordovician Rocks Of Newfoundland, Katherine Michel

Honors Theses

The Geological Time Scale is a fundamental tool for geoscientists that is revised and republished every eight years. It is a representation of the geologic record - a system composed of radioisotope dates interpolated into fossil successions that can be used to correlate rocks. The current Geologic Time Scale for the Ordovician Period (GTS 2012) is composed of a sequence of species ranges from a group of fossils called graptolites with interpolated radiometric dates. Building a global geologic time scale requires correlating between different biofacies.

In this thesis I will attempt to combine stratigraphic range data from different kinds of …

Biogeochemical Cycling Of Selenium In The Arctic Ocean, Kyle M. Mcquiggan

OES Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the global climate may have a pronounced effect on the biogeochemical cycling of trace elements like selenium (Se) in the Arctic Ocean. This study described the first quantitative examination of the biogeochemical cycle of selenium in the Amerasian Basin, providing the baseline from which future changes can be identified. Aerosol, dissolved and particulate water samples were collected for Se determinations during the U.S. GEOTRACES GN01 Arctic expedition that sampled the two parts of the Amerasian Basin in 2015: The Makarov Basin on the way to the North Pole and the Canada Basin on the return trip to Dutch …

Interactive Effects Of Hypoxia And Pcb Co-Exposure On Expression Of Cyp1a And Its Potential Regulators In Atlantic Croaker Liver, Md. Saydur Rahman, Peter Thomas

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Although marine and coastal environments which are contaminated with xenobiotic organic compounds often become hypoxic during the summer, the interactive effects of hypoxia and xenobiotic exposure on marine species such as teleost fishes remain poorly understood. The expression and activity of monooxygenase enzyme cytochrome P450-1A (CYP1A) in fishes are upregulated by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), whereas they are down-regulated during hypoxia exposure. We investigated the interactive effects of hypoxia and PCB co-exposure on hepatic CYP1A expression in Atlantic croaker and on potential regulators of CYP1A. Croaker were exposed to hypoxia (1.7 mg/L dissolved oxygen), 3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB 77, dose: 2 …

The Concept Of Water Storage On Agriculture Lands: Exploring The Notion In South Florida, Kayla Ouellette, Kamal Alsharif, John C. Capece, Hannah Torres

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) can be used for increased water storage in order to relieve coastal estuaries of excess runoff in the rainy season. The goals of this study were: (1) to quantify the environmental and economic tradeoffs of different water storage scenarios using water tolerant sugarcane cultivars; and (2) to quantify the amount of water storage possible in the EAA under different water storage scenarios. A mathematical model was developed to calculate soil depth, soil subsidence, depth to the water table, and water storage for three different sugarcane cultivars with different water tolerances. The …

Introducing And Evaluating A Knowledge Transfer Approach To Support Problem Solving In And Around Protected Areas, Brady J. Mattsson, Marie Fischborn, Mark W. Brunson, Harald Vacik

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Protected areas (PAs) can generate many benefits inside and outside their borders, and achieving objectives for diverse stakeholders raises many challenges. There are many examples of successful PA management around the globe, although a systematic and comprehensive approach to developing and sharing these solutions has been lacking. We present “solutioning” as a structured process of peer-learning, which can inform management strategies in and around protected areas. We explain how the PANORAMA—Solutions for a Healthy Planet initiative has put solutioning into practice through an interactive community and web portal to learn about protected area solutions around the globe. Unlike other web …

Remote Sensing And Spatial Metrics For Quantifying Seagrass Landscape Changes: A Study On The 2011 Indian River Lagoon Florida Seagrass Die-Off Event, René Dieter Baumstark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida’s seagrasses are ecologically important marine environments which have suffered major degradation caused by increasing anthropogenic pressures. A 2011 seagrass die-off event caused by an algal bloom in the Florida Indian River Lagoon (IRL) was particularly severe with a majority of seagrass lost in areas such as the Banana River. An understanding of how this coastal marine environment changed is an important step toward better managing resources for conservation. Modern tools and methods provide new opportunities to study these changes at the landscape scale, a scale that informs on the larger more comprehensive state of a system. Classified satellite imagery …

High-Resolution Water Footprints Of Production Of The United States

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The United States is the largest producer of goods and services in the world. Rainfall, surface water supplies, and groundwater aquifers represent a fundamental input to economic production. Despite the importance of water resources to economic activity, we do not have consistent information on water use for specific locations and economic sectors. A national, spatially detailed database of water use by sector would provide insight into U.S. utilization and dependence on water resources for economic production. To this end, we calculate the water footprint of over 500 food, energy, mining, services, and manufacturing industries and goods produced in the United …

Soil Phosphorus Characterization And Vulnerability To Release In Urban Stormwater Bioretention Facilities, Benjamin James Shetterly

Dissertations and Theses

Modern urban stormwater infrastructure includes vegetated bioretention facilities (BRFs) that are designed to detain water and pollutants. Phosphorus (P) is a pollutant in stormwater which can be retained in BRF soils in mineral, plant, and microbial pools. We explored soil properties and phosphorus forms in the soils of 16 operational BRFs in Portland, OR. Since soil hydrology can significantly impact P retention, we selected BRFs along an infiltration rate (IR) gradient. We conducted sequential fractionation and tests of P pools and measured P release in a subset of soils after drying and flooding samples for ten days. We hypothesized that …

Forecasting The Eruption Of An Open‐Vent Volcano Using Resonant Infrasound Tones, Jeffrey B. Johnson, Leighton M. Watson, Jose L. Palma, Eric M. Dunham, Jacob F. Anderson

CGISS Publications and Presentations

Open‐vent volcanic systems with active degassing are particularly effective at producing infrasound that exhibits resonant tones controlled by the geometry of the volcano's crater. Changes in the infrasound character can thus provide constraints on a crater's lava level, which may vary dynamically in the lead‐up to an eruption. Here we show that the increasing frequency content and damping characteristics of the resonant infrasound at Volcán Villarrica (Chile) relate to lava lake position in its crater/conduit preceding its 2015 eruption. We model the acoustic response of Villarrica's crater to determine that the lake began to rise on 27 February and reached …

Reproductive Success And Contaminant Associations In Tree Swallows (Tachycineta Bicolor) Used To Assess A Beneficial Use Impairment In U.S. And Binational Great Lakes’ Areas Of Concern, Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Matthew A. Etterson, Paul M. Dummer, Diana Goldberg, J. Christian Franson

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

During 2010-2014, tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) reproductive success was monitored at 68 sites across all 5 Great Lakes, including 58 sites located within Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs) and 10 non-AOCs. Sample eggs were collected from tree swallow clutches and analyzed for contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and 34 other organic compounds. Contaminant data were available for 360 of the clutches monitored. Markov chain multistate modeling was used to assess the importance of 5 ecological variables and 11 of the dominant contaminants in explaining the pattern of egg and nestling failure …

Legacy Contaminants In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Shelf, Jessica N. Landry

LSU Master's Theses

The Mississippi River watershed is the third largest in the world and drains from 31 states in the United States. Due to its route through the U.S., it passes through hundreds of EPA labeled Superfund sites as well as agricultural and suburban watersheds. These sites are known to have historical chemical contamination, and as a result chemicals can be transported by runoff down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico where their ultimate fate is unknown. Organochlorine chemicals are known to be persistent and are found in agricultural land as well as US EPA Superfund sites, especially DDT, PCBs, …

Landscapes From The Waves—Marine Terraces Of California, Marjorie Schulz, Corey Lawrence, Daniel R. Muhs, Carol Prentice, Sam Flanagan

United States Geological Survey: Publications

M any coastlines around the world have stair-step landforms, known as marine terraces. Marine terraces make up a large part of coastal California’s landscape—from San Diego to Crescent City. Find out how these landscapes form, why marine terraces are of interest to scientists, and where you can explore these landscapes.

Marine terraces result from the interaction of two geologic processes: uplift of the land surface and the natural rise and fall of sea level over hundreds of thousands of years. As sea level rises, waves move underwater sediment—sand and gravel—back and forth against bedrock, acting like sandpaper to hone bedrock …

City Of Tampa Tree Canopy And Urban Forest Analysis 2016, Shawn M. Landry, Andrew K. Koeser, Robert J. Northrop, Drew Mclean, Geoffrey Donovan, Michael G. Andreu, Deborah Hilbert

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Fossils On The Floor In The Nebraska State Capitol: A Coloring And Activities Book, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Nebraska State Capitol is a wonderful place. This building is home to great treasures of art owned by the people of Nebraska. The floor of the Capitol Rotunda has beautiful works of art. Maybe you have seen this art. Small pieces of two kinds of rocks make pictures of people, their tools, the natural resources they used, and pictures of fossil animals and plants. These kinds of pictures are called mosaics [moe ZAY icks]. The animals and plants follow one another in a curved ribbon around the floor. In that ribbon of pictures are many kinds of fossil animals …

Nutrient Contamination From An Agricultural Non-Point Source And Its Mitigation: A Case Study Of Eku Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, Walter S. Borowski, Reid E. Buskirk, James Scott Winter, Jonathan Malzone Dr.

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Non-point sources are now responsible for most nutrient contamination in surface water and groundwater, leading to eutrophication and decreased water quality. Because of fertilizer use and animal husbandry, agricultural areas are prime sources for nutrient contamination. Consequently, it is advisable to mitigate entry of nutrients into watersheds from agricultural runoff and groundwater flow. Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Meadowbrook Farm (Madison County, Kentucky) seeks to decrease its export of nutrients to Muddy Creek, which is tributary of the Kentucky River. To demonstrate the efficacy of any sequestration strategies, nutrient export must be measured both before and after sequestration efforts are implemented. …

Discovery Of Possible Paleotsunami Deposits In Pangandaran And Adipala, Java, Indonesia Using Grain Size, Xrd, And 14C Analyses, Kevin L. Stuart

Theses and Dissertations

Grain size, ¹⁴C age, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses of sediments indicate possible tsunami deposits on the southern coast of Java near Pangandaran and Adipala. Previous studies that have described known recent and paleotsunami deposits were used for comparison. Fining-upward grain size trends, interbedded sand and mud, sediment composition, and trends in heavy mineral abundances are among the characteristics used for tsunami deposit identification. At Batu Kalde, an archaeological site south of Pangandaran, a layer of aragonitic sand with marine fossils was found atop a layer of archaeological fragments at an elevation of ~2-5 m. It is likely this …

Managing Frost Damaged Alfalfa Stands, Christopher D. Teutsch, Jimmy C. Henning, S. Ray Smith, Tom Keene, Matthew Dixon

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Wide fluctuations in springtime temperature are common in Kentucky. Late freezing temperatures in the spring can cause damage to alfalfa depending on how far along it is in breaking dormancy. This publication provides information on the effect of low spring temperatures on both established and new alfalfa stands that have begun growth, as well as a method of predicting sensitivity to late frosts or freezes.

Harvesting Alfalfa For Quality, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa can be harvested for hay, baleage, silage, greenchop or grazing. Our goal is to produce, harvest and market high yielding-high quality forage. Profitable alfalfa programs consist of four basic phases and each phase have a specific goal.