Digital Commons Network^™

Ecosystem Functions And Services - Landscaping For Water Quality (March 25, 2026 Gbnerr), Julia Peterson

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Marketing Water Quality Friendly Services, Julia Peterson

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Estuary, Kelle Loughlin

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

2026 Water Quality Considerations In Landscaping, Thomas Swenson

UNH Cooperative Extension

2026 Water Quality Considerations in Landscaping

Nh State Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act (Landscaping For Water Quality Workshop - 2026), Jay Aube

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

A Preliminary Investigation Of Research Collaboration Through Scientific Paper Co-Authorship In The Gulf Of Mexico, Juliet Vallejo, Evelyn Roozee, Dongkyu Kim, Andrew M. Song, Christopher A. Gabler, Jasper R. De Vries, Antonia Sohns, Gordon M. Hickey, Owen Temby

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

It is well known that publications with collaborators from external institutions increase citations. This effect scales with spatial distance. There are also many barriers to long-distance collaborations, including linguistic differences, funding constraints, and the incremental costs of remote collaboration. This paper uses the Gulf of Mexico as a case study to examine long-distance research collaboration because it consists of three countries with diverse development levels and two prominent diplomatic languages, within a singular regional ecosystem of tremendous natural and economic value. This paper uses bibliometric network analysis to examine scientific research article co-authorship in the Gulf of Mexico from 2000 …

The Impact Of Regional Fishery Management Organization Structure On Collaborative Performance, Evelyn Roozee, Owen Temby, Gordon M. Hickey

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Collaboration is integral to understand, plan, coordinate, and implement management measures for fisheries that cross international borders. Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) are the main arenas for countries to collaborate and make decisions for transboundary fisheries, but these organizations have generally failed to prevent the depletion of some of the world's most valuable fish stocks. It is unclear how the structure and functioning of RFMOs can improve collaborative performance to better manage transboundary fish stocks. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, our study analyzes 10 RFMOs to identify the combination of six organizational conditions associated with high and low collaborative performance. …

Histochemical Alteration, Protein Nitration, And Antioxidant Expression In Oysters As Early Warning Indicators For Microplastic Contamination In The Texas Gulf Coast, Rebecca Muñiz, Md Faisal Amin, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Microplastics are widely distributed in aquatic environments and have been detected in numerous organisms. Marine bivalves are among the most affected aquatic organisms by microplastics due to their filter-feeding behavior. In this study, 60 oysters were collected from two sites along the Texas Gulf Coast. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Nile red staining were used to detect microplastics in oyster (Crassostrea virginica) tissues. We compared field and laboratory samples collected after a two-week depuration period to identify differences in the shape and size of microplastics in oyster tissues. Results from the field sites showed a large number of microplastics, …

The Conservation Value Of Silvicultural Systems For Breeding And Post-Fledging Bird Communities In Northeastern North America, Christopher Andrew Liazos

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Forest bird community decline in the eastern United States is partly due to the lack of early-and-late-successional forests stemming from historic land use. Silviculture can create underrepresented forest age classes and structures to support avian communities during the breeding and post-fledging periods. In southwestern New Hampshire, we conducted a case study evaluating avian conservation value indices across silvicultural systems. Our goal was to observe how avian conservation value indexes and abundance differed between recently managed and unmanaged stands. We surveyed 215 breeding and 118 post-fledging points across 22 sites using point counts and vegetation surveys. Conservation values in the breeding …

Remembering Right Relations: A Land-Centered Framework For Settler Teacher Transformation, Aimee E. De Ney

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Settler colonialism is based in the separation of peoples from Lands and from one another, producing ongoing harm to human and more-than-human communities as evidenced in climate collapse, racialized violence, war, and widening social inequities. These conditions are sustained by ideologies of human supremacy-specifically white, male, Christian human supremacy-that deny personhood to most humans and to all more-than-humans, while enabling the attempted erasure of Indigenous peoples and the nation-state enforcement of anti-Black and anti-Brown racism. Situated on the Lands of the Coast Salish Peoples in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, this multiparadigmatic innovation dissertation develops a Land-centered framework …

Sustainable Justice: A Critical Contemplative Approach To Sustainability In Higher Education, Jessica A. Reneau

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The field of sustainability studies increasingly asks students to confront ecological crises alongside considerations of power, privilege, and unequal environmental harm. This work can be emotionally challenging as well as intellectually complex. Contemplative practices, such as meditation and yoga, may offer meaningful pedagogical support, helping students cultivate the attention, reflection, and emotional capacity needed to stay engaged with justice-centered sustainability learning. Although the use of contemplative pedagogies is growing in higher education, little research has examined how these practices shape justice-orientated learning outcomes in sustainability education. This dissertation addresses that gap by exploring how both student and instructor experience contemplative …

Climate Resilience In Action: Process-Based Equity For Co-Governed, Socially Cohesive, Ecologically Integrated Democracies Through The Design And Implementation Of Nature-Based Solutions, Donna Choih

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) governance and behavior have the potential to become more equitable, beginning with a closer examination of what equity entails. Governance and behavior together are the actions manifest from internal dispositions and thoughts that facilitate the process of decision-making, in this case, for equitable NbS. This critical review seeks to (1) address the gap in literature on human development and behavioral dimensions of procedural justice for NbS by further defining process-based equity (PbE), and (2) present a framework of best practices for equitable NbS. This framework, along with a complementary conceptual model, was developed using the Preferred Reporting …

Green Space: Investigation Into The Role Pocket Parks Play In Biodiversity And Human Well-Being, Jacalyn Speicher

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Natural communities and the birds that inhabit them are essential to the physical and emotional well-being of human residents in urban settings. The action research undertaken in this study addresses the social and environmental justice issues of equity, accessibility, and diversity afforded avian and human communities in the design of pocket parks within the urban landscape. As urbanization consumes the natural landscape, people and birds must adapt to the novel challenges of a changing environment. I studied 10 pocket parks identified in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between January and June 2026. This time frame spanned the seasons from winter to …

Element-Based Predictive Modeling Of Hydrothermal Liquefaction Bioproducts Derived From Corn Stover, Isamu Umeda, Meicen Liu, Yi Zheng, Jiefu Wang, Zhiwu Wang, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process offers an energetic advantage over pyrolysis because it does not require prior drying of the biomass feedstock. However, there are significant challenges in simultaneously estimating both the yields and characteristics of products from the HTL of biomass with theoretical support. This study developed a unique element-based kinetic model to predict the yields, higher heating values, and fuel characteristics of solid residue and heavy bio-oil, based on the temperature, residence time, solid loading, and elemental composition (C, H, N, and O) of corn stover. Furthermore, the model predicted the weights of dissolved carbon and nitrogen in …

Harnessing Activated Sludge For The Treatment Of Hydrothermal Liquefaction Wastewater: A Proof-Of-Concept Study, Cyrus Li, Jiefu Wang, Meicen Liu, Yi Zheng, Sandeep Kumar, Isamu Umeda, Chandan Mahata, John Norton

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Although hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is the leading technology in converting wet biomass into bioenergy, the treatment of its toxic-laden aqueous phase wastewater presents a major challenge on its path toward commercial viability. This study presents the first-ever assessment of sewage sludge-fed HTL wastewater (SS-HTLWW) treatment and toxic compound removal using municipal activated sludge (AS) by optimizing its cultivation condition. It was found that AS with optimized pretreatment can remove up to 91.2% of the soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) in SS-HTLWW, of which up to 82% can be attributed to biological mineralization and adsorption of sCOD by AS. Conventional bioprocess …

Resilient Built Environment: An Overview On Design Strategies For Coastal Adaptation To Sea Level Rise, Farzaneh Soflaei, Gelareh Abdolzadeh, Navid Ziaee, Mohammad Amin Jafari, Faeghe Borhani

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper delves into the escalating risks faced by urban coastal communities due to tidal and storm flooding, exacerbated by climate change-induced Sea Level Rise (SLR). Projections indicate a potential increase in sea levels by at least 3 feet by 2100, with historical data revealing an average annual rise of 1.2-1.7 mm since the 1900s. With over 300 million individuals inhabiting coastal areas, low-lying regions emerge as particularly vulnerable to the impacts of SLR. This accelerated rise amplifies the significant challenge of nuisance flooding, a local-scale issue aggravated by high tide and winds, leading to inundation, road closures, infrastructure deterioration, …

Chesapeake Bay Water Clarity: Challenges And Successes, Jessica S. Turner, Carl T. Friedrichs, David B. Parrish, Kelsey A. Fall

OES Faculty Publications

The Chesapeake Bay is a large estuarine system spanning multiple jurisdictions and serves as a model for estuarine health worldwide. Historically, nutrient loading degraded water quality, prompting the need for regulation. Water clarity, one component of water quality, is vital for benthic communities and serves as a key indicator of overall ecosystem health. Here, physical resuspension and salinity gradients, nutrient and sediment inputs, production of organic detritus by phytoplankton, and benthic communities all interact to drive clarity patterns, with high spatial variability. Trends over the last 50 years show improvement, though with a temporary increase in organic detritus in response …

Contribution Of Non-Linear Internal Waves To Marine Net Primary Production Has Been Underestimated, Xiaoju Pan, Tung-Yuan Ho, George T. F. Wong, Jen-Hua Tai, Shoude Guan, Fuh-Kuo Shiah

OES Faculty Publications

Field observations in the northern South China Sea (NSCS) indicate that elevated concentrations of chlorophyll a (Chl_a) associated with non-linear internal waves (NIWs) were more pronounced in the subsurface than at the sea-surface. At a given surface Chl_a, the vertically integrated Chl_a in an NIW-active area was 45% higher than that in an area where the NIW activities were minimal. As a result, net primary production (PP_eu) estimated from surface Chl_a from remote sensing by using the current Chl_a-based PP_eu model (e.g. VGPM) would have underestimated the true value by the same amount. If this correction is …

Unintended Consequences Of Estuarine Management Within The Trajectory Of Recovery: Examples From The Chesapeake Bay, Jessica S. Turner, Fei Da, Molly M. Mitchell

OES Faculty Publications

Estuaries are vital ecosystems that support biodiversity, human populations, and economic activities such as fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism. Managing estuarine systems often involves interventions to regulate sediment and nutrient inputs with the goal of improving water quality, and subsequently the economic values of the estuary. However, these management strategies can produce unintended consequences. The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary recovering from eutrophication which provides clear case studies for these patterns. In the Chesapeake Bay, decreased sediment inputs, resulting from shoreline stabilization and watershed modifications, can impair marsh resilience to sea level rise and disrupt sediment-light-algal interactions affecting water clarity. Likewise, …

Assessing Dissolved Organic Matter Sources And Dynamics In Urban Stormwater: Implications For Greenhouse Gases, Harper W. Schmalz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Stormwater management ponds (SWMPs) are important aspects of land-use planning and increasingly recognized as active sites of biogeochemical processing that influence carbon cycling; however, little research has investigated the controls on dissolved organic and dissolved inorganic carbon (DOC and DIC) within these systems. This thesis examined the processing and transformations of dissolved carbon between three compartments to support the development of a greenhouse gas (GHG) box-model for urban stormwater ponds, including SWMP sediment, surface water, and vegetation. The objective of this thesis was to assess the biogeochemical processes that govern the rate and transformation of DOC and DIC between these …

Investigation Of Mercury Bioaccessibility In Subsistence Fishes From The Canadian Subarctic, Kiran Mateo Sharma Mr

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Fish consumption is the primary pathway for human exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), a global contaminant of concern known to cause adverse health effects. Fort Albany First Nation, a remote Indigenous community in northern Ontario that relies on fish for both subsistence and cultural practices, has expressed concern regarding the safety of local fish consumption. Community members and leaders have communicated several priorities for scientific research that are the foundation of this thesis. Specifically, consumers of wild-caught fish have asked how traditional cooking methods may affect mercury concentrations in fish, and how mercury concentrations in little-studied organs, such as liver and …

Elevated Sulfate Concentrations In Groundwaters Of Glaciated Terrains—Natural Or Anthropogenic?, Christabel Obi, Eric W. Peterson

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Increasing sulfate (SO₄²⁻) concentrations in groundwater systems are a growing environmental concern due to their implications for drinking-water quality and biogeochemical cycling. While sulfate is commonly of geogenic origin, its behavior in agriculturally influenced glacial aquifers remains poorly constrained. This study investigates the distribution, depth dependence, and seasonal variability of sulfate concentrations in groundwater within a riparian system comprised of sediments deposited by glaciers in central Illinois, USA. The study specifically evaluates whether sulfate concentrations 1) vary with groundwater depth, 2) exhibit seasonal trends, and 3) reflect contributions from agricultural tile drainage waters. Groundwater samples collected from …

Triangulating Primary Sources, Professional Judgement, And Llm-Generated Summaries: Educating Nurses In An Ai-First World, Sarah Oerther, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Environmental Engineers Develop Solutions To Problems Of Planetary Health: The Legacy Of Professor P. Aarne Vesilind, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The principal ethical obligation of the engineering profession, to "hold paramount the health, safety, and welfare of the public," has been challenged for decades. Professor P. Aarne Vesilind identified two primary deficiencies: an anthropocentric bias that values nature only instrumentally and the use of non-mandatory, aspirational language for environmental protection, which resulted in the exclusion of enforceable environmental canons. This paper argues that two recent developments provide a comprehensive response to Vesilind's recommendations for engineering ethics. First, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has redefined environmental engineering as "developing solutions to problems of planetary health." Second, Oerther proposed a …

A Transdisciplinary Approach To Advancing Water Security And Public Health: The “Nurse + Engineer” Model For Achieving Sustainability In Wash Systems Using Community-Based Participatory Research, Daniel B. Oerther, Sarah Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Human health is linked to the health of the environment, a concept referred to as planetary health. As environmental challenges become increasingly complex, single-disciplinary approaches are insufficient to achieve sustainable solutions. This article presents a transdisciplinary framework, termed the "Nurse + Engineer" model, as a novel methodology for addressing complex problems at the nexus of environmental engineering and public health. The model integrates the technical design and systems-level thinking of environmental engineering with the community-based, patient-centered care of nursing. This work details the key lessons learned from the retrospective application of this framework to a series of multi-year, community-based participatory …

2024 Annual Operations And Maintenance Report 2024 Bres Annual Summary Report For Work Completed In Quadrant 4, Butte-Silver Bow Department Of Reclamation And Environmental Services

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Swimming In Uncertainty: Filling Data Gaps And Providing An Educational Platform For Beach Water Quality At Tybee Island, Georgia, Lukas Roberson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

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Swimming in beaches water contaminated with high levels of bacteria can make you sick. Current monitoring at the public beaches on Tybee Island consists of weekly monitoring and enumeration of fecal indicator bacteria that takes 24 hours for results. If the number of bacteria exceed regulatory limits, a public health advisory is issued, and affected waters are retested until …

Priority Questions For The Next Decade Of Blue Carbon Science, Peter I. Macreadie, George E. Biddulph, Pere Masque, Hilary Kennedy, Jimena Samper-Villarreal, J. Patrick Megonigal, Hannah K. Morrissette, Tania E. Romero-Gonzalez, Vanessa Hatje, Jana Friedrich, Sigit D. Sasmito, Kenta Watanabe, Inés Mazarrasa, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Janine B. Adams, Miguel Cifuentes-Jara, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Andre S. Rovai, Milica Stankovic, Kirsten Isensee, Ana M. Queirós, Luzhen Chen, Jorge Herrera-Silveira, Catriona L. Hurd, Rashid Ismail, Ken W. Krauss, Anna Lafratta, Maria M. Palacios, William E.N. Austin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Blue carbon ecosystems, classically defined as mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses, but increasingly expanded to include ecosystems such as tidal flats, macroalgal forests and shelf sediments, contribute to climate change mitigation and biodiversity support. Here, seven years after the last global assessment of research priorities, we conducted a priority-setting exercise to identify persistent knowledge and implementation gaps, and the strategic priorities that must be addressed to enable scalable, high-integrity and equitable management of blue carbon ecosystems in a rapidly evolving policy and finance landscape. The highest priority focuses on managing blue carbon ecosystems to support coastal communities while integrating traditional …

Stakeholder Co-Design Of Sustainable Urban Pest Management Strategies, Elizabeth C. Lowe, Nathan J. Butterworth, Alexander Austin, Cameron Webb, Tanya Latty

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The high levels of broad-spectrum insecticides used to manage invertebrates in many cities around the world has significant environmental and health impacts. Integrated pest management (IPM) is a framework for sustainable pest control practice, but uptake of IPM remains low in most cities. We used participatory action research with pest management industry stakeholders (practitioners, industry representatives, researchers and government employees) to identify key issues in urban pest management in Australia, set priorities for change and discuss collaborative solutions. Via an online survey and a face-to-face workshop, the participants identified the key themes of education and training, public awareness, environmental impacts …

Lack Of Increase In Mercury Contamination In Coastal Western Australia Since European Settlement, Martin Dahl, Larissa Schneider, Harald Biester, Richard Bindler, Antonio Martinez Cortizas, Paul S. Lavery, Miguel A. Mateo, Oscar Serrano

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Current knowledge of long-term mercury (Hg) deposition is predominantly based on studies from the Northern Hemisphere, leading to a geographical bias in the comprehension of the global Hg cycle. Aiming to contribute to fill this knowledge gap, our study presents a high-resolution Hg record of a seagrass Posidonia australis sedimentary archive encompassing the last 3300 years in the Waychinicup estuary (Western Australia, WA). This setting is an ideal site for studying the natural Hg cycle, as it is located in the southwest of the state, outside the prevailing wind patterns that transport emissions from major Hg sources. Our results show …