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Wedge Veg : Gradient Analysis Of Impacts To Coastal Heath Vegetation At Wedge, Western Australia, Steven O'Dwyer

Theses : Honours

A reliable technique to assess impacts to coastal zones is required as coastal areas across the world are under pressure from an increasing human presence. The result is a greater level of disturbance to the coast, both marine and terrestrial. This study addresses a worldwide problem but is focused to a local scale. Wedge, on the central coast of Western Australia, supports a squatter shack settlement and has done so for approximately 50 years. Over time, the number of shacks, campers, tourists, 4WD's and motorbikes has increased. In recent years this growth has been significant. Management of this area and …

Toward A Sustainable Energy Future?: A Comparison Between U.S. And European Energy Sectors, Annett Moehner

LSU Master's Theses

Since 1987, the concept of sustainable development, which tries to combine economic, social and environmental concerns into one benign development model, has become increasingly popular worldwide. To explore and explain the differences in accomplishing sustainable development, this thesis looks at one specific aspect: the energy sectors in the United States and the European Union. After giving an overview on the political and theoretical aspects of sustainable development, the various sustainability dimensions in the energy sector are explored. The following four reasons which warrant the change of the current fossil fuel intense energy sector are discussed: first, air pollution; second, insecurity …

Development Of A Synthetic Materials Mimic For Vulture Olfaction Research, Richard E. Mauldin, Bruce A. Kimball, John J. Johnston, Jerome C. Hurley, Michael L. Avery

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Since the early 1990's, an increase in damage associated with the activities of black (Coragyps atratus) and turkey (Cathartes aura) vultures has been observed. These activities include extensive damage to real and personal property. Vultures display an affinity for objects made of synthetic materials such as vinyl or plastic, and frequently damage items such as seat cushions, roof shingles, and caulking sealant. To explore whether this behavior in vultures is olfactorily driven, volatile compounds emitted by 21 vulture-damaged objects were collected and analyzed using purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Results from these analyses were tabulated and the …

Age Of The Mono Lake Excursion And Associated Tephra, Larry Benson, Joseph Liddicoat, Joseph Smoot, Andrei Sarna-Wojcicki, Robert M. Negrini, Steve Lund

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Mono Lake excursion (MLE) is an important time marker that has been found in lake and marine sediments across much of the Northern Hemisphere. Dating of this event at its type locality, the Mono Basin of California, has yielded controversial results with the most recent effort concluding that the MLE may actually be the Laschamp excursion (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 197 (2002) 151). We show that a volcanic tephra (Ash #15) that occurs near the midpoint of the MLE has a date (not corrected for reservoir effect) of 28,620 ± 300 ¹⁴C yr BP (~32,400 GISP2 yr BP) …

Ce-Qual-W2: A Two-Dimensional, Laterally Averaged, Hydrodynamic And Water Quality Model, Version 3.1, Thomas M. Cole, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

CE-QUAL-W2 is a two-dimensional, longitudinal/vertical, hydrodynamic and water quality model. Because the model assumes lateral homogeneity, it is best suited for relatively long and narrow waterbodies exhibiting longitudinal and vertical water quality gradients. The model has been applied to rivers, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and combinations thereof.

The application of CE-QUAL-W2 requires knowledge in the following areas: 1. Hydrodynamics 2. Aquatic biology 3. Aquatic chemistry 4. Numerical methods 5. Computers and FORTRAN coding 6. Statistics 7. Data assembly and reconstruction.

Water quality modeling is in many ways an art requiring not only knowledge in these areas but also experience in their …

Sand Creek Watershed Project / Sand Creek Watershed Management Plan, Annis Water Research Institute

Watershed Management Plans and Reports

The overall goal of the Sand Creek Watershed Project is to improve and protect the designated uses of the watershed. In order to achieve this overall goal and attain compliance with the TMDL established in Sand Creek, four goals have been established and prioritized. The primary goal of the Sand Creek Watershed Project is to restore or improve the cold water fishery. The secondary goal of the project is to protect and improve the habitats of native aquatic life and wildlife. Both goals can be achieved by reducing the amount of known pollutants affecting both of these uses. Pollutant reduction …

The Role Of Physical, Chemical, And Microbial Heterogeneity On The Field-Scale Transport And Attachment Of Bacteria, Brian J. Mailloux, Mark E. Fuller, Tullis C. Onstott, James Hall, Hailiang Dong, Mary F. Deflaun, Sheryl H. Streger, Randi K. Rothmel, Maria Green, Donald J. P. Swift, Jon Radke

OES Faculty Publications

A field-scale bacterial transport experiment was conducted at the Narrow Channel Focus Area of the South Oyster field site located in Oyster, Virginia. The goal of the field experiment was to determine the relative influence of subsurface heterogeneity and microbial population parameters on flow direction, velocity, and attachment of bacteria at the field scale. The field results were compared with results from laboratory-scale column experiments to develop a method for predicting field-scale bacterial transport. The field site is a shallow, sandy, unconfined, aerobic aquifer that has been characterized by geophysical, sedimentological, and hydrogeological methods. Comamonas sp. strain DA001 and a …

Development Of An Expert System Tool For Environmental Impact Assessment, Raed Mohamed M. Al Marzouqi

Theses

In this study, approaches to environmental impact assessment are reviewed and discussed. An expert system tool has been developed via the use of Microsoft Access tool for data management and Visual Basic programming for decision-making. Policies and regulations included in the program are based on the Technical Guidelines # 4 of the Dubai Municipality. The salient features of the program can be summarized as follows: the program allows the EIA applicant to input all the necessary information about his/her company and its activities. All discharges to air, water and land are compared with TG # 4 and status report is …

Calibration Of Remotely Sensed, Coarse Resolution Ndvi To Co2 Fluxes In A Sagebrush–Steppe Ecosystem, Bruce K. Wylie, Douglas A. Johnson, Emilio Laca, Nicanor Z. Saliendra, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Bradley C. Reed, Larry L. Tieszen, Bruce B. Worstell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon flux can be partitioned into gross primary productivity (GPP) and respiration (R). The contribution of remote sensing and modeling holds the potential to predict these components and map them spatially and temporally. This has obvious utility to quantify carbon sink and source relationships and to identify improved land management strategies for optimizing carbon sequestration. The objective of our study was to evaluate prediction of 14-day average daytime CO₂ fluxes ( F_day) and nighttime CO₂ fluxes (R_n) using remote sensing and other data. F_{day …}

Rare-Earth Elements And Nd And Pb Isotopes As Source Indicators For Labrador Sea Clay-Size Sediments During Heinrich Event 2, Larry V. Benson, Don Barber, John T. Andrews, Howard E. Taylor, Paul Lamothe

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Elemental abundances and Nd and Pb isotope ratios were determined on samples from the carbonate-free, clay-size fractions of sediments from intervals above, within, and below Heinrich event 2 (H-2) in core HU87-9 from the Northwest Labrador Sea slope. In HU87-9, rare-earth element (REE) distributions and elemental concentrations within the H-2 event are distinct from those outside this event. ɛ_Nd(0) and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb data also indicate different values for sediments deposited within and outside the H-2 event. Comparisons of REE patterns from the H-2 interval with those from bedrock units in Baffin Island, northern Quebec, and Labrador …

Response Of North American Great Basin Lakes To Dansgaard–Oeschger Oscillations, Larry Benson, Steve Lund, Robert M. Negrini, Braddock Linsley, Mladen Zic

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We correlate oscillations in the hydrologic and/or cryologic balances of four Great Basin surface-water systems with Dansgaard– Oeschger (D–O) events 2–12. This correlation is relatively strong at the location of the magnetic signature used to link the lake records, but becomes less well constrained with distance/time from the signature. Comparison of proxy glacial and hydrologic records from Owens and Pyramid lakes indicates that Sierran glacial advances occurred during times of relative dryness. If our hypothesized correlation between the lake-based records and the GISP2 δ¹⁸O record is correct, it suggests that North Atlantic D–O stades …

Extracellular Enzyme Activity And Uptake Of Carbon And Nitrogen Along An Estuarine Salinity And Nutrient Gradient, Margaret R. Mulholland, Cindy Lee, Patricia M. Gilbert

OES Faculty Publications

Amino acid oxidation (AAO) and peptide hydrolysis (PH) are processes affecting the recycling of organic material and nutrients. We compared extracellular AAO and PH rates to C and N uptake rates along estuarine gradients of salinity, nutrients and productivity in the Pocomoke River, a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay. This estuary is seasonally depleted in inorganic N, and rich in dissolved organic material (DOM) throughout the year. AAO, PH, and N uptake rates measured in 1999 and 2000 were not limited to particular size fractions measured, or to auto- or heterotrophic groups of organisms. At a station near the turbidity …

Effects Of Epiphyte Load On Optical Properties And Photosynthetic Potential Of The Seagrasses Thalassia Testudinum Banks Ex König And Zostera Marina L, Lisa A. Drake, Fred C. Dobbs, Richard C. Zimmerman

OES Faculty Publications

The biomass and optical properties of seagrass leaf epiphytes were measured to evaluate their potential impact on the photosynthetic performance of the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König (turtlegrass) and Zostera marina L. (eelgrass). Turtlegrass was obtained from oligotrophic waters near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas; eelgrass was collected from a eutrophic environment in Monterey Bay, California. Leaf–epiphyte loads were characterized visually and quantified using measurements of their phospholipid biomass. Light absorption and reflectance of the intact epiphyte layer were determined spectrophotometrically. Turtlegrass epiphytes from the oligotrophic site absorbed a maximum of 36% of incident light in peak chlorophyll absorption …

Channel Geomorphology And Restoration Guidelines For Springfield Plateau Streams, South Dry Sac Watershed, Southwest Missouri, John M. Horton

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Land-use change, both historical and present, has been a source of channel degradation within Ozark streams. This study examines the influence of land use on channel morphology within the South Dry Sac Watershed which drains 78.5 km2. The main objectives of this study are to: (1) perform a geomorphic assessment of stream channel and sediment characteristics; (2) evaluate the effects of watershed factors on channel morphology and dynamics; (3) quantify the geomorphic relationships for use in stream restoration projects in the Springfield Plateau area. Thirty-six reaches were surveyed and evaluated in the field for channel cross-sectional geometry, longitudinal profile, and …

Chemical Defense And Mammalian Herbivores, Bruce A. Kimball, Frederick D. Provenza

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Plant Metabolism 2. Phytochemical Variation in Plants 3. Plant Defense Theory 4. Mammalian Metabolism of Phytochemicals 5. Mammalian Herbivory Related Chapters

A Coyote In Sheep's Clothing: Predator Identification From Saliva, Christen Lenney Williams, Karen Blejwas, John J. Johnston, Michael M. Jaeger

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) and microsatellite analyses to identify canid species, gender, and individual genotype in samples containing a large excess of domestic sheep DNA. These methods were then used to investigate the feasibility of identifying predators from saliva on predation wounds. We analyzed predation wound samples from 19 sheep carcasses. Coyote DNA was identified in 18 samples (95%), of which 17 contained male coyote DNA (94%) and 11 (61%) yielded heterozygous microsatellite genotypes at 21 locus. These methods have promise for genetic identification of individual predators.

Natural Radioactivity Of Uae Coastal Areas, Yaqoub Abdalla Mohamed Al-Ali

Theses

Many materials that are usually found in the earth's crust contain small but measurable amount of naturally occurring radioactivity.

In the present study, the natural radioactivity due to the presence of ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in beach sand along the UAE costal line has been measured. The measurements were performed using gamma-ray spectrometry with a high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detector connected to a multi-channel analyzer.

Chapter 1 includes an introduction about natural radioactivity, gamma ray spectrometry, types of detectors employed and analysis of gamma ray spectra. A literature review of the related work is also included at the …

Valley Floor Climate Observations From The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 1986-2000, Peter T. Doran, Christopher P. Mckay, Gary D. Clow, Gayle L. Dana, Andrew G. Fountain, Thomas H. Nylen, W. Berry Lyons

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate observations from the McMurdo dry valleys, East Antarctica are presented from a network of seven valley floor automatic meteorological stations during the period 1986 to 2000. Mean annual temperatures ranged from −14.8°C to −30.0°C, depending on the site and period of measurement. Mean annual relative humidity is generally highest near the coast. Mean annual wind speed increases with proximity to the polar plateau. Site to site variation in mean annual solar flux and PAR is due to exposure of each station and changes over time are likely related to changes in cloudiness. During the non-summer months, strong katabatic winds …

Blackbirds And Corn In Ohio, Richard A. Dolbeer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Damage to corn by blackbirds (Icteridae) has been an economic problem throughout historical times in North America. Ohio, with the highest nesting season population density of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) in North America and large acreages of corn, has been a key State in this conflict. Surveys of damage from 1968 to 1979 revealed that blackbirds annually destroyed less than 1% of the corn crops in Ohio, a 4- to 6-million dollar loss at 1979 prices. This total dollar loss is somewhat misleading because of the uneven distribution of damage among fields. Over 97% of the cornfields in Ohio receive …

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 2002/2003, The John Muir Center For Environmental Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA Volume 18, Number l Wri\ - 102/0.3 (6 Go TO theMountatns! " Helen Hunt Jackson bv Bonnie Johanna Gisel • I—4 elen Hunt Jackson, poet, author oiA Century of JL -L. Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes (1881) and Ramona: A Story (1884), and Special Commissioner to the "Mission Indians" of southern California (1883), wrote to her friend Jeanne C. Carr and to John Muir in 1885. She was seeking a place in the mountains of California where she could rest and recover from an …

Fisheries Research Report No. 143 - Methods Used In The Collection, Preparation And Interpretation Of Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus Commerson) Otoliths For A Study Of Age And Growth In Western Australia, Paul Lewis, M. C. Mackie

Fisheries Research Reports

The narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) is wide ranging throughout the Indo-West Pacific region where it has been the subject of various age and growth studies. Methods used in these studies have varied considerably and in some cases may have led to misleading conclusions. The purpose of this report, therefore, is to document in detail the methods used in determining the age and growth during a FRDC funded stock assessment of the species in the waters off Western Australia. These methods are considered to optimise the collection, processing, accuracy of microincrement counts, and interpretation of the annuli in both whole …

The Debate On The Health Effects Attributable To Low Radiation Exposure, Abel J. Gonzalez

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "Few scientific issues have aroused passions more than the dispute about the health effects attributable to low levels of exposure to ionizing radiation (or radiation in short) and the currently authoritative dose response hypothesis, termed “linear non-threshold,” or LNT. Finding out whether health effects are induced by low-level radiation exposures, and if so, what they are, has become a kind of contest rather than a serious scientific inquiry. Sometimes it seems that rationality, or a methodical examination of the unknown, has disappeared from this debate. While the confrontation of different hypotheses is typical in academic discussions – at least …

Determining The Mobility Of Metals Through Coal Combustion Byproducts In Surface Impoundments By Analyzing Leachate From Modified Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Tests, Michael Joseph Trofinoff

Theses and Dissertations

Surface impoundments are used extensively throughout the utility industry to store the combustion byproducts, or ash, from coal-fired generating facilities. Following combustion, the metals, naturally contained within coal at low concentrations, may become highly concentrated within the ash. These combustion byproducts are then piped out in a water-ash slurry to the surface impoundments where the ash weathers to- a clay- like substance after approximately 10 years. It is feared that these metals that are contained within the ash could possibly leach into the ground and contaminate the local groundwater. Utilizing a open column percolation test to determine the hydraulic conductivity …

Breeding Bird Community Response To Vegetation Succession In Hardwood Shelterwood Cuts In The Virginia Piedmont, Pamela Coleman

Theses & Honors Papers

Population declines of many Neotropical migrant bird species (NTMs) in parts or all of their North American breeding ranges have prompted concern regarding the conservation of these species. Many NTMs have specific habitat requirements and are thus negatively affected by habitat alteration. In eastern North America, habitats have changed significantly since European settlement and those changes have had different impacts on different suites of breeding birds. Forest birds are frequently identified as species particularly sensitive to habitat changes though, more recently,marked declines of shrubland or early successional songbirds have raised concern. My goal was to examine the effects of a …

Environmental Management Systems And Public Authority In Canada: Rethinking Environmental Governance, Stepan Wood

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Diets Of Baird’S Beaked Whales, Berardius Bairdii, In The Southern Sea Of Okhotsk And Off The Pacific Coast Of Honshu, Japan, William A. Walker, James G. Mead, Robert L. Brownell Jr.

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Stomach contents were analyzed from 127 Baird’s beaked whales, Berardizls bairdii, taken in coastal waters of Japan. During late July-August of 1985- 1987, 1989, and 1991, 107 samples were collected from off the Pacific coast of Honshu. An additional 20 samples were collected from whales taken in the southern Sea of Okhotsk during late August-September of 1988 and 1989. Prey identification using fish otoliths and cephalopod beaks revealed the whales fed primarily on deep-water gadiform fishes and cephalopods in both regions. Prey species diversity and the percentage of cephalopods and fish differed between the two regions. Off the Pacific …

Identifying Sources Of Fecal Pollution In The Roanoke River, Roanoke County, Virginia, J. Brooks Crozier, Brian Clark, Holly Weber

Virginia Journal of Science

Antibiotic Resistance Patterns (ARPs) of Enterococcus spp. were used as a phenotypic fingerprint to compare and categorize unknown-source isolates in an impaired segment of the Roanoke River, Roanoke County, Virginia. Antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA) of enterococci has been effectively used to differentiate among sources of fecal contamination in many geographic regions in the United States. Enterococcus spp. were used as a fecal indicator in a library consisting of 1,562 known-source isolates. Two-way analysis indicated that approximately 95% of the unknown-source isolates collected were of animal origin. A 3-way analysis indicated that 61% of the unknowns were of livestock origin while …

Benthic Biological Monitoring Program Of The Elizabeth River Watershed (2001) With A Study Of Paradise Creek, Daniel M. Dauer

Elizabeth River Reports

Executive Summary

A study of the macrobenthic communities of the Elizabeth River watershed was initiated in summer 1999. This report presents the data from the third year of sampling in 2001. The three objectives of the Benthic Biological Monitoring Program of the Elizabeth River watershed are: (1) To characterize the health of the tidal waters of the Elizabeth River watershed as indicated by the structure of the benthic communities. ( 2) To conduct trend analyses on long-term data at 14 fixed-point stations to relate temporal trends in the benthic communities to changes in water and/or sediment quality. Trend analyses will …

Understory Species Patterns And Diversity In Old-Growth And Managed Northern Hardwood Forests, Robert M. Scheller, David J. Mladenoff

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forest management can significantly affect both the diversity and spatial patterning of understory vegetation. However, few studies have considered both diversity and spatial patterning at a stand scale. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of forest management on understory plant communities in northern hardwood forests and assess the processes governing differences in species composition, diversity, and spatial patterns. We sampled understory vegetation (all speciestall) and percentage of light transmission levels in three forest types in 12 mesic northern hardwood stands in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA: old-growth, undisturbed forests; even-aged forests resulting from clearcut logging …

On-Site Sewage Disposal Systems & Septage Management For Individual Homes And Small Communities, James R. Hegarty

Watershed Management Plans and Reports

The purpose of this paper is two-fold:

To identify alternatives and/or improvements to conventional septic systems for residential sewage collection and treatment for small communities and residential developments.

To research existing ordinances that require on-going management of residential and community septic systems, disposal of septage, and develop a model septic system and septage management ordinance that can apply to Kent County communities.

It is hoped that this study’s recommendations will be adopted in Kent County. Eventually, Kent County’s model program can be used to effect statewide implementation of responsible environmental policies that will improve our environment and public health. The …