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Bacterial Diversity In Biological Soil Crusts From Extrazonal Mountain Dry Steppes In Northern Mongolia, Anne Kemmling, Birgit Pfeiffer, Rolf Daniel, Michael Hoppert

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Biological Soil Crusts (BSCs), consisting of prokaryotes, microalgae, lichens, mosses and eventually small vascular plants, cover wide areas in arid and semi-arid environments. In the present study, the microbial diversity of these crusts was explored at extrazonal mountain steppe sites in the western Khentej (Northern Mongolia). At the study site the Siberian taiga borders on the Mongolian-Daurian forest steppe, resulting in a unique intermixture of the dark taiga, the light taiga, and forest steppe (DULAMSUREN 2004). Due to the presence of boreal, temperate and dauric elements the forest steppe is eminently rich in species (MÜHLENBERG et al. 2004).

BSCs in …

Co-Grazing Beef Cattle And Goats In Kentucky, David C. Ditsch, Patty Scharko

Plant and Soil Sciences Research Report

A two season grazing study of mixed (goats and beef cattle) species was conducted in 2006 and 2008 at Sebastian Farms in Breathitt County KY. The objective of this study was to determine if the order of mixed species grazing affected beef cattle and goat weight gain and goat exposure to the barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) in a rotational grazing system. In this study, two co-grazing management strategies were tested. In treatment 1, goats and cattle were rotationally grazed together. In treatment 2, goats rotated through pastures as first grazers followed by cattle. Each co-grazing treatment was …

On-Road Measurement Of Nox And Co₂ Emissions From Biodiesel Produced From Different Feedstocks, Natchanok Pala-En

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations - Archive

Biodiesel has generated increased interest in the US and elsewhere recently as an alternative to petroleum-derived diesel. Because it can be produced from domestic feedstocks such as soybeans, canola oil, and even recycled cooking oil, biodiesel can help reduce dependence on foreign petroleum. Due to its high oxygen content, biodiesel typically burns more completely than petroleum diesel, and thus has lower emissions of hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM). However, biodiesel may increase or decrease nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, depending on engine type, test cycle, and biodiesel feedstock. Therefore, the purpose of this …

Model Ordinance For Development On Karst In Kentucky: Guidance For Construction On Karst Terrain And The Reduction Of Property Damage And Threat To Human Health Resulting From Karst Geologic Hazard, James C. Currens

Information Circular--KGS

I have dealt with hundreds of incidents of karst-related geohazards; some have caused major damage to buildings and infrastructure. Although cases are largely limited to the ground surface being made unusable, a significant number of structures are damaged by karst flooding or cover collapse each year, which is devastating to families who have lost their homes. Most of these events should never have happened, because the karst hazard could have been avoided by selecting a better building site or designing the building to withstand the damage from the hazard. Furthermore, most of the planning authorities I have had experience with …

Geomes (Geoscience Educational Opportunities For Motivating Every Student), Jody Stone

K-12 Curriculum Supplements

The intent of the GEOMES materials is to provide earth science teachers with resources and strategies that will generate interest and enthusiasm among students and teachers for the study of earth science. So there you have it—Geoscience Educational Opportunities for Motivating Every Student (GEOMES). The study of earth science should provide individuals with understandings that prepare them to make more intelligent decisions on processing issues. It should provide students with insights that make the interpretation of events in their environment more meaningful.

The format of the teaching strategies employed in the GEOMES program is designed to attract the student's interest …

Assessing Delta Oxygen-18 In The Coral Genus Isopora For Reconstructing Indo-Pacific Regional And Seasonal Climate, Gavin Lemley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Paleoclimate reconstructions often utilize coral reefs with very long time spans such as the genus Porites and Diploastrea, because of their potential to provide centuries of continuous climate records via geochemical signatures. Smaller corals, such as the genus Isopora, have been essentially unexplored as climate archives because their small skeletons (<1 m) and short lifespans (years to decades) do not provide such continuous geochemical records. There has not been a practical application for such corals until recently. In early 2010, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Leg 325 (IODP-325) cored drowned fossil reefs off the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) with the objectives of reconstructing sea level and surface ocean conditions since the Last Glacial Maximum. Out of 213 massive fossil corals that were recovered, most were massive Isoporan colonies. A 30-specimen subset of these fossils range in age from ~32,000 to ~11,500 years before present with even temporal spacing, based on preliminary U/Th dating of core catcher samples. This age distribution is excellent for meeting IODP-325 objectives, but the suitability of Isopora for paleoclimate analyses remains unknown.

An Elusive Carnivore Skeleton Discovered At The Ashfall Fossil Beds, Rick E. Otto

University of Nebraska State Museum: Programs Information

An articulated skeleton of the fossil dog Cynarctus has been revealed at the Ashfall Fossil Beds. Cynarctus fits into the subfamily of Canids known as Borophaginae, an extinct group - some of which are referred to as “bone-crushers”. Cynarctus and a few of its allies appear to have had an omnivorous diet; with dentition similar to Procyonthe modern raccoon. The skeleton, as well as a complete skull and mandibles of a separate individual also recovered from the volcanic ash bed, are the well-preserved remains of a species otherwise poorly represented in the fossil record.

The Global Drought Monitor Portal: The Foundation For A Global Drought Information System, Richard R. Heim Jr., Michael J. Brewer

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The international scientific community has long recognized the need for coordinated drought monitoring and response, but many factors have prevented progress in the development of a Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS): some of which involve administrative issues (coordinated international action and policy) while others involve scientific, technological, and logistical issues. The creation of the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Portal within the United States provided an opportunity to take the first steps toward building the informational foundation for a GDEWS: that is, a Global Drought Information System (GDIS). At a series of workshops sponsored by the World Meteorological …

Assessment Of Coal Geology, Resources, And Reserves In The Montana Powder River Basin, Jon E. Haacke, David C. Scott, Lee M. Osmonson, James A. Luppens, Paul E. Pierce, Jay A. Gunderson

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The purpose of this report is to summarize geology, coal resources, and coal reserves in the Montana Powder River Basin (MTPRB) assessment area in southeastern Montana. This report represents the fourth assessment area within the Powder River Basin to be evaluated in the continuing U.S. Geological Survey regional coal assessment program.

There are four active coal mines in the MTPRB assessment area: the Spring Creek and Decker Mines, both near Decker; the Rosebud Mine, near Colstrip; and the Absaloka Mine, west of Colstrip. During 2011, coal production from these four mines totaled approximately 36 million short tons (MST). A fifth …

Copper Pellets Simulating Oral Exposure To Copper Ammunition: Absence Of Toxicity In American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), J. Christian Franson, Lesanna L. Lahner, Carol U. Meteyer, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To evaluate the potential toxicity of copper

(Cu) in raptors that may consume Cu bullets, shotgun

pellets containing Cu, or Cu fragments as they feed on

wildlife carcasses, we studied the effects of metallic Cu

exposure in a surrogate, the American kestrel (Falco

sparverius). Sixteen kestrels were orally administered

5 mg Cu/g body mass in the form of Cu pellets

(1.18–2.00 mm in diameter) nine times during 38 days and

10 controls were sham gavaged on the same schedule. With

one exception, all birds retained the pellets for at least 1 h,

but most (69%) regurgitated pellets during …

The Population Structure Of Escherichia Coli Isolated From Subtropical And Temperate Soils, Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli, Tao Yan, Matthew J. Hamilton, Satoshi Ishii, Roger S. Fujioka, Richard L. Whitman, Michael J. Sadowsky

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

While genotypically-distinct naturalized Escherichia coli strains have been shown to occur in riparian soils of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior watersheds, comparative analyses of E. coli populations in diverse soils across a range of geographic and climatic conditions have not been investigated. The main objectives of this study were to: (a) examine the population structure and genetic relatedness of E. coli isolates collected from different soil types on a tropical island (Hawaii), and (b) determine if E. coli populations from Hawaii and temperate soils (Indiana, Minnesota) shared similar genotypes that may be reflective of biome-related soil conditions. DNA fingerprint and …

Development And Evaluation Of A Quantitative Pcr Assay Targeting Sandhill Crane (Grus Canadensis) Fecal Pollution, Hodon Ryu, Jingrang Lu, Jason Vogel, Michael Elk, Felipe Chávez-Ramírez, Nicholas Ashbolt, Jorge Santo Domingo

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

While the microbial water quality in the Platte River is seasonally impacted by excreta from migrating cranes, there are no methods available to study crane fecal contamination. Here we characterized microbial populations in crane feces using phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene fecal clone libraries. Using these sequences, a novel crane quantitative PCR (Crane1) assay was developed, and its applicability as a microbial source tracking (MST) assay was evaluated by determining its host specificity and detection ability in environmental waters. Bacteria from crane excreta were dominated by bacilli and proteobacteria, with a notable paucity of sequences homologous to Bacteroidetes and …

Palaeoflora And Climate Of Lignite-Bearing Lower−Middle Miocene Sediments In The Seyitömer And Tunçbilek Sub-Basins, Kütahya Province, Northwest Turkey, Mehmet Serkan Akki̇raz, Funda Akgün, Torsten Utescher, Volker Wilde, Angela Anneliese Bruch, Volker Mosbrugger, Sari̇ye Duygu Üçbaş

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Lower-Middle Miocene successions from Kütahya province (Seyitömer and Tunçbilek sub-basins) were analyzed to reconstruct the palaeoclimate and vegetation of the period. A rich coniferous forest formed the dominant components among sporomorphs and consisted mainly of undeterminable Pinaceae, Pinus haploxylon type, Pinus diploxylon type, Picea, Cedrus, Cathaya, Keteleeria and Podocarpus. Pollen data also indicate the presence of some fern taxa (Osmunda, Polypodiaceae, Schizeaceae) Selaginella and Lycopodium. Cupressaceae frequently occur in all samples from both sub-basins, and form part of the mixed forest assemblage. Two woody plants Castanea-Castanopsis and evergreen Quercus predominate in the assemblages as well. The reconstruction of palaeoclimate is …

The Biogeochemistry Of Carbon Isotopes In Local Lakes, Stephen Edward Sadurski

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Photosynthesis, respiration, and decay of organic matter all involve the transfer of carbon among the carbon-bearing species in the systems. These biogeochemical processes also fractionate the carbon isotope composition, which results in changes to the carbon isotope composition of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) pool. This thesis presents two separate, but related studies regarding the influence of biogeochemical processes on carbon isotopes in local lakes. Crystal Lake is a small but deep glacial lake (12.5 acres, 11.9 meters). The study shows that during thermal stratification, the heaviest carbon can be found in the epilimnion near the surface, where photosynthesis dominates …

Duality Of Terrestrial Subterranean Fauna, Tone Novak, Matjaž Perc, Saška Lipovšek, Franc Janžekovič

International Journal of Speleology

Terrestrial animals in subterranean habitats are often classified according to their degree of morphological or ecological specialization to the subterranean environment. The commonly held view is that, as distance into a cave increases, the frequency of morphologically specialized, i.e., troglomorphic, species or ecological specialization will increase. We tested this hypothesis for the fauna in 54 caves in Slovenia–the classical land for subterranean biology. We found that there exist two ecologically well separated terrestrial subsurface faunas: one shallow and one deep. 1) The shallow subterranean fauna, adapted to the terrestrial shallow subterranean habitats (SSHs) in the upper 10 m of subsurface …

Modeling Potential Impacts Of Heavy Metals And Btex Compounds From The Former Year-A-Round Cab Company On Hiniker Pond, Jason Nolan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Year-A-Round Cab Company (an industrial metal preparation, painting, and welding facility) in Mankato, MN has a history of numerous environmental violations. The site is located 300 yards north of Hiniker Pond, a popular swimming spot. The primary purposes of my research were to determine if BTEX (ethyl benzene, toluene, and xylenes) and heavy metals had reached Hiniker Pond, and model estimated contaminate plumes from the Year-A-Round Cab Company. Lead, cadmium, and chromium were found in sediments at levels of up to 30 times higher near the site as compared to the control lake, Hallett's Pond. Although BTEX were not …

Late Miocene Palaeoclimate And Ecosystem Dynamics In Southwestern Bulgaria − A Study Based On Pollen Data From The Gotse-Delchev Basin, Dimiter A. Ivanov, Torsten Utescher, A. Rahman Ashraf, Volker Mosbrugger, Vladimir Bozukov, Nadezhda Djorgova, Evgenia Slavomirova

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

A profile 63 m thick in the Late Miocene in the Gotse-Dechev Basin (SW Bulgaria) was sampled for pollen analysis in the Kanina opencast mine. The exposed sequence comprises a basal unit with brown coal-clay cycles and clayey/siliciclastic cover layers partly representing a lacustrine facies. A total of 60 pollen samples were analysed, but quantitative data are confined to 30 polleniferous samples. The palynological analysis carried out provides data about the composition and structure of the fossil vegetation. The main vegetation type was a mixed mesophytic forest dominated by Carya, Fagus, Betula, Quercus, and Ulmus. Accessory elements included Magnolia, Corylopsis, …

Discovery Of A Mississippian Reef In Turkey: The Upper Viséan Microbial-Sponge-Bryozoan-Coral Bioherm From Kongul Yayla (Taurides, S Turkey), Julien Denayer, Markus Aretz

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

For the first time, a Mississippian reef is described from Turkey. This microbial-sponge-bryozoan-coral bioherm has been discovered in the Central Taurides (South Turkey), at Kongul Yayla located between Hadim and Taşkent. The bioherm contains a rich and diversified fauna: sponges and rugose corals are of particular interest. The bioherm shows four main facies reflecting distinct growth stages from the base to the top: (1) the basal bioclastic beds, (2) the core facies formed of framestone comprising rugose corals, lithistid sponges, fistuliporid bryozoans and microbial boundstone, (3) the crest facies with large colonies of cerioid rugose corals and chaetetid sponges, and …

Evaluation Of Pleistocene To Holocene (Mis 5 To 1) Climatic Changes In Southwestern Black Sea: A Palynological Study Of Dsdp Site 380, Shannon Ferguson

LSU Master's Theses

Site 380 of the Deep Sea Drilling Program [DSDP] is located in the southwestern region of the Black Sea (42°05.94’, 29°36.82’E). The location of this site is important due to its proximity to the narrow Bosphorus strait, the only present-day connection between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Drops in eustatic sea level during extensive Pleistocene glacial episodes disconnected the Black Sea from the Aegean Sea at the Bosphorus strait, creating a change from brackish to freshwater within the Black Sea during these intervals. Organic-walled phytoplankton (dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, and fresh-water algae) are investigated to better constrain these glacio-eustatic …

Possible Early Foraminiferans In Post-Sturtian (716-635 Ma) Cap Carbonates, Tanja Bosak, Daniel J.G. Lahr, Sara B. Pruss, Francis A. Macdonald, Andrew J. Gooday, Lilly Dalton, Emily D. Matys

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Foraminifera are an ecologically important group of modern heterotrophic amoeboid eukaryotes whose naked and testate ancestors are thought to have evolved ~1 Ga ago. However, the single-chambered agglutinated tests of these protists appear in the fossil record only after ca. 580 Ma, coinciding with the appearance of macro scopic and mineralized animals. Here we report the discovery of small, slender tubular microfossils in the Sturtian (ca. 716-635 Ma) cap carbonate of the Rasthof Formation in Namibia. The tubes are 200-1300 μm long and 20-70μm wide, and preserve apertures and variably wide lumens, folds, constrictions, and ridges. Their sometimes fl exible …

Longitudinal Assessment Of Shifting Microbial Community Composition In Sandy Beaches Following The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill And Remediation Efforts, Axita Ajaykumar Gupta

LSU Master's Theses

Sandy beaches are geological zones parallel to the shoreline where high energy, open ocean unconsolidated sediments are deposited and reworked. Sandy beaches represent critical ecosystems that support a wide variety of underappreciated biodiversity. Prior to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the diversity and function of microbial communities in supratidal beach sediments along the Gulf of Mexico coastlines were not well understood. It was unclear if possible community compositional changes would occur during and following exposure to oil, or what impact the remediation efforts, such as sand washing, would have to the microbial communities and …

Successful Genotyping Of Microsatellites In The Woolly Mammoth, Yasuko Ishida, Alfred L. Roca, Stephen Fratpietro, Alex D. Greenwood

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Genetic analyses using ancient DNA from Pleistocene and early Holocene fossils have largely relied on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Among woolly mammoths, Mammuthus primigenius, mtDNA analyses have identified 2 distinct clades (I and II) that diverged 1-2 Ma. Here, we establish that microsatellite markers can be effective on Pleistocene samples, successfully genotyping woolly mammoth specimens at 2 loci. Although significant differentiation at the 2 microsatellite loci was not detected between 16 clade I and 4 clade II woolly mammoths, our results demonstrate that the nuclear population structure of Pleistocene species can be examined using fast-evolving nuclear microsatellite markers.

Unusual Holocene Serpulid-Tufu Bioherms, Enriquillo Valley, Dominican Republic: Morphologies And Paleoenvironmental Implications, Kelsey Winsor, H. Allen Curran, Lisa Greer, Bosiljka Glumac

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

During the early Holocene, rising waters of the Caribbean Sea flooded the Enriquillo Valley of southwestern Dominican Republic. A fringing coral reef developed and flourished along the margins of the Enriquillo Seaway for several millennia, until the seaway became restricted due to a combination of slowed sea-level rise, tectonic uplift, and increased sedimentation. Following changes in salinity and death of the coral reef by about 5 ka, meter-scale bioherms composed of the tubes of opportunistic, aggregating serpulid worms and associated with carbonate tufa that precipitated from the ancient lake or declining seaway waters formed along the steep walls of the …

Stratigraphy And Paleoenvironments Of The Soeginina Beds (Paadla Formation, Lower Ludlow, Upper Silurian) On Saaremaa Island, Estonia, Richa N. Ekka

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Soeginina Beds in the Paadla Formation on the island of Saaremaa, western Estonia, are a lower Ludlow (Upper Silurian) sequence of dolostones, marls, and stromatolites. They represent rocks just above the Wenlock/Ludlow boundary, which is distinguished by a major disconformity that can be correlated to a regional regression on the paleocontinent of Baltica. The depositional environments of the Soeginina Beds include a shelfal environment, restricted shallow marine setting, intertidal mudflat and finally a hypersaline supratidal setting. The evidence includes halite crystal molds, oscillation ripples, eurypterid fragments, stromatolites, ostracods, gastropods, Chondrites trace fossils, intraclasts and oncoids. Nautiloid conchs are common, …

Effects Of Hypoxia Exposure On Hepatic Cytochrome P450 1a (Cyp1a) Expression In Atlantic Croaker: Molecular Mechanisms Of Cyp1a Down-Regulation, Md. Saydur Rahman, Peter Thomas

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Hypoxia-inducible factor-α (HIF-α) and cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) are biomarkers of environmental exposure to hypoxia and organic xenobiotic chemicals that act through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, respectively. Many aquatic environments heavily contaminated with organic chemicals, such as harbors, are also hypoxic. Recently, we and other scientists reported HIF-α genes are upregulated by hypoxia exposure in aquatic organisms, but the molecular mechanisms of hypoxia regulation of CYP1A expression have not been investigated in teleost fishes. As a first step in understanding the molecular mechanisms of hypoxia modulation of CYP1A expression in fish, we characterized CYP1A cDNA from croaker liver. Hypoxia exposure …

Impacts Of Land Use/Land Cover And Soil On Water Quality In The Upper Little Miami River Sub-Basin, Devendra Kumar Akshaya

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The Little Miami River Basin (LMRB) is increasingly becoming susceptible to the degradation of water quality due to various factors such as increase in urban landscape and agricultural runoff. This study is about understanding the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) and soil on water quality in LMRB. It was assumed that the major sources of solutes in the river mainly originated from the leaching of the land by precipitation and the composition of the leachate is influenced by the type LULC and soil. Least square method was modified to estimate the production coefficient for each of the types of …

Why Is There Such A High Concentration Of Vertebrate Remains Within A Bone-Bed Along Clapp Creek, Williamsburg County, South Carolina?, Jennifer R. Soehner

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A phosphatic bone-bed occurs along Clapp Creek in Kingstree, South Carolina, within the east-central portion of the coastal plain. The location of the research site is within the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation. The paleoenvironment of this site was most likely a complex estuary with microenvironments that included tidal channels, tidal deltas, tidal flats, marshes and subtidal bays. The high diversity and large time span in the bone-bed is explained by the transgressive environment and storm deposits. The phosphate content of the bone-bed is from the calcium phosphate occurring in the coprolites of carnivores and the higher concentration of …

Genetic Population Substructure In Bison At Yellowstone National Park, Natalie D. Halbert, Peter J. P. Gogan, Philip W. Hedrick, Jacquelyn M. Wahl, James N. Derr

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Yellowstone National Park bison herd is 1 of only 2 populations known to have continually persisted on their current landscape since pre-Columbian times. Over the last century, the census size of this herd has fluctuated from around 100 individuals to over 3000 animals. Previous studies involving radiotelemetry, tooth wear, and parturition timing provide evidence of at least 2 distinct groups of bison within Yellowstone National Park. To better understand the biology of Yellowstone bison, we investigated the potential for limited gene flow across this population using multilocus Bayesian clustering analysis. Two genetically distinct and clearly defined subpopulations were identified …

Gene Transcription In Sea Otters (Enhydra Lutris); Development Of A Diagnostic Tool For Sea Otter And Ecosystem Health, Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Michael Murray, Martin Haulena, Judy Tuttle, William Van Bonn, Lance Adams, James L. Bodkin, Brenda Ballachey, James A. Estes, M. Tim Tinker, Robin Keister, Jeffrey L. Stott

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Gene transcription analysis for diagnosing or monitoring wildlife health requires the ability to distinguish pathophysiological change from natural variation. Herein, we describe methodology for the development of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to measure differential transcript levels of multiple immune function genes in the sea otter (Enhydra lutris); sea otter-specific qPCR primer sequences for the genes of interest are defined. We establish a ‘reference’ range of transcripts for each gene in a group of clinically healthy captive and free-ranging sea otters. The 10 genes of interest represent multiple physiological systems that play a role in immuno-modulation, …

History And Evaluation Of National-Scale Geochemical Data Sets For The United States, David B. Smith, Steven M. Smith, John D. Horton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Six national-scale, or near national-scale, geochemical data sets for soils or stream sediments exist for the United States. The earliest of these, here termed the ‘Shacklette’ data set, was generated by a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) project conducted from 1961 to 1975. This project used soil collected from a depth of about 20 cm as the sampling medium at 1323 sites throughout the conterminous U.S. The National Uranium Resource Evaluation Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (NUREHSSR) Program of the U.S. Department of Energy was conducted from 1975 to 1984 and collected either stream sediments, lake sediments, or soils at more …