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Desert Pool {If Every Desert Was Once A Sea}, Karen Miranda Abel

The Goose

Desert Pool {If every desert was once a sea} is a site-specific art project by Canadian artist Karen Miranda Abel completed in 2016 while artist-in-residence at Joya: arte + ecología, an arts-led research centre situated in an alpine desert within a national park in southern Spain. The elemental installation represents an envisioning of the ancient sea that occupied the Sierra de María-Los Vélez Natural Park millions of years before the current desert ecology, a time when its highest mountain peaks may have been islands.

Physical Water Scarcity Metrics For Monitoring Progress Towards Sdg Target 6.4: An Evaluation Of Indicator 6.4.2 “Level Of Water Stress”, D. Vanhama, A. Y. Hoekstra, Y. Wada, F. Bouraoui, A. De Roo, Mesfin Mekonnen, W. J. Van De Bund, O. Batelaan, P. Pavelic, W. G.M. Bastiaanssen, M. Kummu, J. Rockström, J. Liu, B. Bisselink, P. Ronco, A. Pistocchi, G. Bidoglio

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Target 6.4 of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) dealswith the reduction ofwater scarcity. To monitor progress towards this target, two indicators are used: Indicator 6.4.1 measuring water use efficiency and 6.4.2 measuring the level of water stress (WS). This paper aims to identify whether the currently proposed indicator 6.4.2 considers the different elements that need to be accounted for in a WS indicator.WS indicators compare water use with water availability.We identify seven essential elements: 1) both gross and net water abstraction (or withdrawal) provide important information to understand WS; 2) WS indicators need to incorporate environmental flow requirements …

East African Weathering Dynamics Controlled By Vegetation-Climate Feedbacks, Sarah J. Ivory, Michael M. Mcglue, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Adam Boehlke, Anne-Marie Lézine, Annie Vincens, Andrew S. Cohen

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Tropical weathering has important linkages to global biogeochemistry and landscape evolution in the East African rift. We disentangle the influences of climate and terrestrial vegetation on chemical weathering intensity and erosion at Lake Malawi using a long sediment record. Fossil pollen, microcharcoal, particle size, and mineralogy data affirm that the detrital clays accumulating in deep water within the lake are controlled by feedbacks between climate and hinterland forest composition. Particle-size patterns are also best explained by vegetation, through feedbacks with lake levels, wildfires, and erosion. We develop a new source-to-sink framework that links lacustrine sedimentation to hinterland vegetation in tropical …

Differential Preservation Of Vertebrates In Southeast Asian Caves, Julien Louys, Shimona Kealy, Sue O'Connor, Gilbert J. Price, Stuart Hawkins, Ken Aplin, Yan Rizal, Jahdi Zaim, Mahirta, Daud A. Tanudirjo, Wahyu Dwijo Santoso, Ati Rati Hidayah, Agus Trihascaryo, Rachel Wood, Joseph Bevitt, Tara Clark

International Journal of Speleology

Caves have been an important source of vertebrate fossils for much of Southeast Asia, particularly for the Quaternary. Despite this importance, the mechanisms by which vertebrate remains accumulate and preserve in Southeast Asian caves has never been systematically reviewed or examined. Here, we present the results of three years of cave surveys in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, describing cave systems and their attendant vertebrate accumulations in diverse geological, biogeographical, and environmental settings. While each cave system is unique, we find that the accumulation and preservation of vertebrate remains are highly dependent on local geology and environment. These factors notwithstanding, we find …

Effects Of Cultivar And Maternal Environment On Seed Quality In Vicia Sativa, Rong Li, Lijun Chen, Yanpei Wu, Rui Zhang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Xiaowen Hu

Biology Faculty Publications

Production of high quality seeds is of fundamental importance for successful crop production. However, knowledge of the effects of increased temperature resulting from global warming on seed quality of alpine species is limited. We investigated the effect of maternal environment on seed quality of three cultivars of the leguminous forage species Vicia sativa, giving particular attention to temperature. Plants of each cultivar were grown at 1700 and 3000 m a.s.l., and mass, germination, electrical conductivity (EC) of leakage and longevity were determined for mature seeds. Seeds of all three cultivars produced at the low elevation had a significantly lower …

Fruit Weight Is Controlled By Cell Size Regulator Encoding A Novel Protein That Is Expressed In Maturing Tomato Fruits, Qi Mu, Zejun Huang, Manohar Chakrabarti, Eudald Illa-Berenguer, Xiaoxi Liu, Yanping Wang, Alexis Ramos, Esther Van Der Knaap

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Increases in fruit weight of cultivated vegetables and fruits accompanied the domestication of these crops. Here we report on the positional cloning of a quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling fruit weight in tomato. The derived allele of Cell Size Regulator (CSR-D) increases fruit weight predominantly through enlargement of the pericarp areas. The expanded pericarp tissues result from increased mesocarp cell size and not from increased number of cell layers. The effect of CSR on fruit weight and cell size is found across different genetic backgrounds implying a consistent impact of the locus on the trait. In fruits, CSR …

Mobility Characteristics Of Azithromycin In Soil, Ryan Minter, Jihyun Kim, Linda Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The presence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment has become a widespread problem in recent decades. Azithromycin, a macrolide antibiotic commonly prescribed for infections in humans, has been detected in waste treatment plant discharge and surface waters across the world. Data on the mobility characteristics of azithromycin in soil is scarce, and further studies must be performed to explore the potential for azithromycin leaching to groundwater or becoming available for plant uptake. In this study, azithromycin sorption isotherms were measured on eight soils varying in pH, organic carbon content, and clay content. Soil was equilibrated with …

Cytonuclear Discordance In The Florida Everglades Invasive Burmese Python (Python Bivittatus) Population Reveals Possible Hybridization With The Indian Python (P. Molurus), Margaret E. Hunter, Nathan A. Johnson, Brian J. Smith, Michelle C. Davis, John S.S. Butterfield, Ray W. Snow, Kristen M. Hart

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) has been reproducing in the Florida Everglades since the 1980s. These giant constrictor snakes have caused a precipitous decline in small mammal populations in southern Florida following escapes or releases from the commercial pet trade. To better understand the invasion pathway and genetic composition of the population, two mitochondrial (mtDNA) loci across 1,398 base pairs were sequenced on 426 snakes and 22 microsatellites were assessed on 389 snakes. Concatenated mtDNA sequences produced six haplotypes with an average nucleotide and haplotype diversity of π = 0.002 and h = 0.097, respectively. Samples collected …

Laboratory Resistivity Measurements For Soil Characterization, Behdad Mofarraj Kouchaki

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Field based electrical resistivity measurements, such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and capacitively coupled resistivity (CCR), are geophysical methods that offer a non-destructive and rapid means to collect continuous data. As such, ERT and CCR are becoming increasingly popular tools for geotechnical engineers; however, it is challenging to derive geotechnical information such as soil type, density, and water content from the data. A laboratory geophysical investigation was carried out to gain a better understanding of the parameters that affect the electrical resistivity of soils and devise a relationship between resistivity and soil type or classification. In this study, a soil …

Enrichment Of Volcanogenic Trace Elements In A Continuous Subsurface Eagle Ford Core In South Texas And The Origin Of The Oceanic Anoxic Event Ii At The Cenomanian-Turonian (C/T) Boundary, Daniel Valencia

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas is a dark grey to black, sporadically laminated, organic rich carbonaceous mud rock located in the subsurface (~13,000), of the hydrocarbon producing shale-oil formation. This black shale formation was deposited contemporaneously worldwide across the Cenomanian-Turonian (C/T) boundary and records the Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE-II). Geochronological and geochemical analysis of a ~300ft long continuous South Texas Eagle Ford Shale core was conducted to further constrain the sub-surface nature of the formation. Major, minor and trace element concentrations were analyzed by ED-XRF to characterize the local geochemical heterogeneity in the formation. Total Organic …

Magnesium Isotope Investigation Of Stromatolitic Knobs In Storr’S Lake, San Salvador, Bahamas: Implications For Organomineralization And Laminae Formation, Zijian Li

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Storr’s Lake, a hypersaline lake located on San Salvador Island, Bahamas, contains modern, fine-grained stromatolites. This study focused on two morphological types of stromatolitic mounds in Storr’s Lake (pinnacle mound and plateau-mushroom) and systematically investigated their mineralogy, elemental abundance, carbon, oxygen and magnesium (Mg) isotopic signature to gain insights into the organomineralization process and laminae formation of stromatolites. In addition, the hydrochemistry of Storr’s Lake was characterized by in situ measurement of water parameters, elemental analysis, and Mg isotope investigation. Cations and anions analysis indicates the lake is spatially homogenous and shows little seasonal variation. Mg isotope analysis of the …

Geology And Paleontology Along Part Of The Niobrara River In Northern Nebraska, Robert Matthew Joeckel, S. T. Tucker, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Stable Isotope Geochemistry To Determine Changing Paleohydrology And Diagenetic Alteration In The Late Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation, Ut Usa, Daigo Yamamura

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Western Interior Basin of the North America preserves one of the best sedimentary and paleontological records of the Cretaceous in the world. The Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation is a rapidly deposited fluvial sequence and preserves one of the most complete terrestrial fossil record of the North America. Such a unique deposit provides an opportunity to investigate the interaction between the physical environment and ecology. In an effort to decipher such interaction, stable isotope composition of cements in sedimentary rocks, concretions and vertebrate fossils were analyzed.

Despite the difference in facies and sedimentary architecture, the isotope composition does not change …

Understanding Cigarette Butt Littering Behavior On Public Beaches: A Case Study Of Jekyll Island, Georgia, Maranda R. Miller

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

The world’s natural environment is degrading, and human behavior is a leading cause. Therefore, in order to address environmental problems it is important to understand the factors driving environmentally degrading behaviors and subsequently design behavioral interventions to alter undesirable behaviors.

One environmental issue of particular concern is toxins leeching from trash. Specifically, cigarette butts are of concern due to their prevalence in the environment. Cigarette butt discarding behavior is affected by personal attributes, but data regarding which personal attributes and how these affect discarding behavior is lacking. This thesis seeks to understand cigarette butt disposal on public beaches by exploring …

Sedimentary Characteristics And Nutrient Sequestration Of Embanked Floodplains Along The Lower Mississippi River, Mississippi And Louisiana, R M Malitha Rathnayake

Master's Theses

The Mississippi River Basin is the largest river basin in North America and the third largest river basin in the world. Most of the corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle, and hogs harvested in the United States come from the Mississippi River Basin and about 58% of the entire drainage basin is croplands. Runoff from these lands carries sediments and nutrients, and the Mississippi River transports these downstream and ultimately deposits them in the Gulf of Mexico. The northern Gulf of Mexico is one of largest human-caused hypoxic zones in the world. Hypoxia is the phenomena where the dissolved oxygen level decreases …

Vulnerability Assessment Of Groundwater To No3 Contamination Using Gis, Drastic Model And Geostatistical Analysis, Adela Beauty Adu Agyemang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study employed Geographical Information System (GIS) technology to investigate the vulnerability of groundwater to NO₃ content in Buncombe County, North Carolina in two different approaches. In the first study, the spatial distribution of NO₃ contamination was analyzed in a GIS environment using Kriging Interpolation. Cokriging interpolation was used to establish how NO₃ relates to land cover types and depth to water table of wells in the county. The second study used DRASTIC model to assess the vulnerability of groundwater in Buncombe County to NO₃ contamination. To get an accurate vulnerability index, the DRASTIC parameters were …

Stratigraphy, Petrology, And Paleontology Of The Late Cretaceous Campanian Mesaverde Group In Northeastern Utah, Christopher Ward

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project examines a poorly studied sandstone ridge called Snake John Reef located 22 miles southeast of Vernal, in northeastern Utah. Previously this ridge was mapped as exposures of late Cretaceous, undifferentiated Mesaverde Group, and recently unidentified dinosaur fossils have been found along the ridge by the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. Stratigraphic sections, petrographic thin sections, and collection and study of fossils from Snake John Reef were undertaken to understand the stratigraphic relationship as well as to reconstruct the depositional environment of the dinosaur bearing units. Snake John Reef represents exposures of three late Cretaceous …

Quantifying Riverbed Sediment Using Recreational-Grade Side Scan Sonar, Daniel Hamill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Colorado River in Glen, Marble, and Grand Canyons is subject to a complex regulatory framework, including the Colorado River Compact, the Endangered Species Act, and the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992. Physical, biological, and cultural resources are extensively monitored by the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) to assess the effect of Glen Canyon Dam (GCD) operations on the downstream environment. The GCDAMP consists of a diverse group of stakeholders who identify priority resources and agree upon water releases at GCD. Large expenditures of money have been devoted to monitoring physical and biological resources in Grand Canyon. …

The Geography Of Glaciers And Perennial Snowfields In The American West, Andrew G. Fountain, Bryce Glenn, Hassan J. Basagic

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

A comprehensive mid-20th century inventory of glaciers and perennial snowfields (G&PS) was compiled for the American West, west of the 100° meridian. The inventory was derived from U.S. Geological Survey 1:24,000 topographic maps based on aerial photographs acquired during 35 years, 1955–1990, of which the first 20 years or more was a cool period with little glacier change. The mapped features were filtered for those greater than 0.01 km². Results show that 5036 G&PS (672 km², 14 km³) populate eight states, of which about 1276 (554 km^2, 12 km³) are glaciers. …

Examining The Use Of Amazon’S Mechanical Turk For Edge Extraction Of The Occlusal Surface Of Fossilized Bovid Teeth, George K. Thiruvathukal, Gregory J. Matthews, Maxwell P. Luetkemeier, Juliet K. Brophy

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In order to reconstruct environments associated with Plio-Pleistocene hominins in southern Africa, researchers frequently rely upon the animals associated with the hominins, in particular, animals in the Family Bovidae. Bovids in southern Africa are typically identified by their teeth. However, identifying the taxon of a bovid tooth is challenging due to various biasing factors. Furthermore, inaccurate identification of fossil bovids can have significant consequences on the reconstructed paleoenvironment. Recent research on the classification of bovid fossil teeth has relied on using elliptical Fourier analysis to summarize the shape of the outline of the occlusal surface of the tooth and the …

Quantitative Literacy In The Affective Domain: Computational Geology Students’ Reactions To Devlin’S The Math Instinct, Victor J. Ricchezza, H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

Building on suggestions from alumni from a recent interview project, students in Computational Geology at the University of South Florida were tasked with reading a popular non-fiction book on mathematics and writing about the book and their feelings about math. The book, The Math Instinct by Keith Devlin, was chosen because we believed it would give the students something interesting to write about and not because we had any expectations in particular about what it might reveal about or do for their math anxiety. The nature of the responses received from the students led to the performance of a post-hoc …

Developing Sustainable Models Of Arsenic-Mitigation Technologies In The Middle-Ganga Plain In India, Sushant K. Singh, Robert Taylor, Haiyan Su

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study seeks to understand factors that guide the decision-making process to adopt and implement the available arsenic-mitigation technologies in rural areas in the middle-Ganga Plain in India. A total of 340 households comprising 2500 people were surveyed. Socio-economic and demographic factors, water and sanitation status, time spent and distance travelled to collect water, arsenic awareness, willingness to pay (WTP) for arsenic-free water, people's trust in others and in institutions, social capital in communities, and preferences for sustainable arsenic-mitigation options were investigated. Arsenic treatment units (filters) and piped water supply systems were the most preferred sustainable arsenic-mitigation options in the …

Shower Atomization, Chirag Ayappa Ravishankar,

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The research will help to design a shower for Dr. Chelson’s shelter, which can control the water flow, pressure and duration of the shower, which optimizes the utilization of water. The showers could be used in drought-hit areas where water is very scarce, as daily sanitation needs are necessary to keep a person safe and healthy without wasting water. The report from, World Health Organization shows that showers consume the most water. A timed shower could help resolve this issue through eliminating the wastage. Eco-friendly environmentalists may also be attracted to the showers, as their main purposes are to save …

Droughtscape, Summer 2017, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Drought policy write shops conclude in Caribbean

Drought encroaches on Northern Plains in second quarter

Impact tool racks up submissions in second quarter

Maps on new website highlight drought effects on ag industry

Centers release new flash drought tool: QuickDRI

NDMC contributes to EU report on disaster risk management

Groups earn Climate Adaptation award for work with tribes

NDMC, ICPAC director talk collaboration on drought in Greater Horn of Africa

Up next in MENA: Drought vulnerability assessments

Morphometric Changes In Semicircular Canal Shape Within Theropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia) And Their Dietary Implications, James Logan King

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Theropods were a suborder of dinosaurs that displayed a large variety of dietary preferences throughout the Mesozoic and into the Cenozoic as modern birds. Being ancestrally carnivorous, many of the large-bodied early theropods were hypercarnivorous; however, members of Theropoda diversified their diets into omnivory and herbivory. Modern vertebrates with different dietary preferences have different spatial sensitivities to changes in head and body movement. In order to test if theropod diet plays a major role in the rostral (RSC), caudal (CSC), and lateral (LSC) semicircular canal shape, therizinosaurs, tyrannosaurids, ratites, an allosaurid, an ornithomimid, and a phorusrhacid were analyzed via 2D …

Middle Miocene Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Of The Central Great Plains From Stable Carbon Isotopes In Large Mammals, Willow H. Nguy

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Middle Miocene (18-12 Mya) mammalian faunas of the North American Great Plains contained a much higher diversity of apparent browsers than any modern biome. This has been attributed to greater primary productivity, which may have supported greater browser diversity that commonly corresponds with densely vegetated habitats. However, several lines of proxy evidence suggest that open woodlands or savannas dominated middle Miocene biomes; neither of which support many browsers today. Stable carbon isotopes in mammalian herbivore tooth enamel were used to reconstruct vegetation structure of middle Miocene biomes.

Stable carbon isotopes in C₃ dominated environments reflect vegetation density and herbivores …

Rodenticide Incidents Of Exposure And Adverse Effects On Non-Raptor Birds, Nimish B. Vyas

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Interest in the adverse effects of rodenticides on birds has focused primarily on raptors. However, non-raptor birds are also poisoned (rodenticide exposure resulting in adverse effects including mortality) by rodenticides through consumption of the rodenticide bait and contaminated prey. A literature search for rodenticide incidents (evidence of exposure to a rodenticide, adverse effects, or exposure to placebo baits) involving non-raptor birds returned 641 records spanning the years 1931 to 2016. The incidents included 17 orders, 58 families, and 190 non-raptor bird species. Nineteen anticoagulant and non-anticoagulant rodenticide active ingredients were associated with the incidents. The number of incidents and species …

Conservation Farming And Changing Climate: More Beneficial Than Conventional Methods For Degraded Ugandan Soils, Drake N. Mubiru, Jalia Namakula, James Lwasa, Godfrey A. Otim, Joselyn Kashagama, Milly Nakafeero, William Nanyeenya, Mark S. Coyne

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

The extent of land affected by degradation in Uganda ranges from 20% in relatively flat and vegetation-covered areas to 90% in the eastern and southwestern highlands. Land degradation has adversely affected smallholder agro-ecosystems including direct damage and loss of critical ecosystem services such as agricultural land/soil and biodiversity. This study evaluated the extent of bare grounds in Nakasongola, one of the districts in the Cattle Corridor of Uganda and the yield responses of maize (Zea mays) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to different tillage methods in the district. Bare ground was determined by a supervised multi-band …

Evaluation Of Sources And Patterns Of Elemental Composition Of Pm2. 5 At Three Low-Income Neighborhood Schools And Residences In Quito, Ecuador, Amit U. Raysoni, Rodrigo X. Armijos, M. Margaret Weigel, Patricia Echanique, Marcia Racines, Nicholas E. Pingitore, Wen-Whai Li

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Elemental characterization of fine particulate matter was undertaken at schools and residences in three low income neighborhoods in Quito, Ecuador. The three zones were located in the northern (Cotocollao), south central (El Camal), and south east (Los Chillos) neighborhoods and were classified as zones 1–3, respectively. Forty elements were quantified via ICP-MS analysis. Amongst the geogenic elements, the concentration of Si was the most abundant followed by S, Al, and Ca. Elements with predominantly anthropogenic sources such as Zn, V, and Ni were higher in zone 3 school followed by zone 2 and zone 1 schools. Enrichment factors were calculated …

Sedimentology And Taphonomy Of The Abydosaurus Mcintoshi Quarry, (Naturita Formation, Early Cretaceous, Latest Albian), Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, Aaron Daniel Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

The holotypic locality of the brachiosaurid titanosauriform sauropod, Abydosaurus mcintoshi, is quarry DNM-16, located in Dinosaur National Monument. The bones are preserved near the base of a heterolithic, trough cross stratified to planar bedded sandstone channel complex. The trough cross to planar bedded sandstones mark times of variable flow with times of high flow velocity based on bones whose upper surfaces were eroded before final burial. The abundance of mud with the dominant medium to fine sand, and poorly confined sandstone channels indicate the bones were transported and buried in medial to distal intermittent flows of a distributive fluvial …