Digital Commons Network^™

Quantification Of Food Waste Disposal In The United States: A Meta-Analysis, Krista L. Thyberg, David J. Tonjes, Jessica Gurevitch

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Food waste has major consequences for social, nutritional, economic, and environmental issues, and yet the amount of food waste disposed in the U.S. has not been accurately quantified. We introduce the transparent and repeatable methods of meta-analysis and systematic reviewing to determine how much food is discarded in the U.S., and to determine if specific factors drive increased disposal. The aggregate proportion of food waste in U.S. municipal solid waste from 1995 to 2013 was found to be 0.147 (95% CI 0.137-0.157) of total waste, which is lower than that estimated by USEPA for the same period (0.176). The proportion …

Summary Of The Kentucky River Watershed Watch 2015 Water Sampling Results, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute

Kentucky River Watershed Watch

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Carbon Impacts Of Colby College’S Biomass Plant, Alice Hotopp

Honors Theses

Biomass energy plants are considered to be carbon neutral systems under some definitions. However, this concept of carbon neutrality needs to be rethought in order to understand the true carbon impact of biomass plants upon global climate change. A biomass plant’s wood source, the extent to which the biomass plant emits carbon dioxide, and the timescale over which the biomass plant emits carbon should all be taken into account. In this study, I consider the Colby College biomass plant’s role in carbon cycling. Colby’s Physical Plant Department provided me with information on how much carbon (tons of woodchips) is used …

Nurturing Environmental Literacy At Colby College: Higher Education And The Environmental Crisis, Molly Nash

Honors Theses

The environmental crisis will affect all people, career paths, and academic disciplines. Acknowledging this, does higher education have an obligation to educate all students for environmental literacy (EL)? This study reviews literature on how to effectively assess and implement EL initiatives and highlights how other colleges successfully nurture EL in all students. This study also uses quantitative and qualitative survey measures to understand student levels of EL at Colby College and to highlight specific programming or curriculum that leads to high EL levels in students. Findings include significantly different EL scores between environmental studies student respondents and respondents in all …

Derivatization And Separation Of Natural Estrogens (Estrone, 17Β-Estradiol, And Estriol) Using Gas Chromatography With Flame Ionization Detection (Gc-Fid), Dena L. Guptill

Masters Theses

A major cause of concern for estrogens found in the environment is that even at very low concentrations (10-100 ng/L) they can have a negative effect on aquatic ecosystems by disrupting endocrine systems. Due to the increasing importance of monitoring the levels of estrogens in the environment, a detection method was developed to identify and quantify three natural estrogens (estrone, 17β-estradiol and estriol) using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). In addition, the efficacy of two derivatizing agents, N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl) acetamide (BSTA) and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA), was evaluated. The GC detector (FID) was most responsive with E3, followed by E1 and …

Molecular Level Characterization Of Diatom-Associated Biopolymers That Bind 234th, ²³³Pa, ²¹°Pb, And 7be In Seawater: A Case Study With Phaeodactylum Tricornutum, Chia-Ying Chuang, Peter H. Santschi, Chen Xu, Yuelu Jiang, Yi-Fang Ho, Patrick G. Hatcher

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

In order to investigate the importance of biogenic silica associated biopolymers on the scavenging of radionuclides, the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum was incubated together with the radionuclides Th-234, Pa-233, Pb-210, and Be-7 during their growth phase. Normalized affinity coefficients were determined for the radionuclides bound with different organic compound classes (i.e., proteins, total carbohydrates, uronic acids) in extracellular (nonattached and attached exopolymeric substances), intracellular (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid and sodium dodecyl sulfate extractable), and frustule embedded biopolymeric fractions (BF). Results indicated that radionuclides were mostly concentrated in frustule BF. Among three measured organic components, Uronic acids showed the strongest affinities to …

The Effects Of Chanellization And Channel Restoration On Aquatic Habitat And Biota Of The Pecos River, New Mexico, Darrel J. Mecham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

River channelization has been shown to negatively impact riverine ecosystems by degrading aquatic habitat conditions, decreasing diversity of both fish and aquatic invertebrate assemblages and impairing fish recruitment. As knowledge of the negative impacts of channelization has increased, so have channel restoration efforts. We evaluated a recent channel restoration project on the Pecos River, New Mexico by comparing abiotic and biotic conditions among five reaches of river, including the restored reach, an unchannelized reach and a channelized reach all prone to streamflow intermittence and an unchannelized reach and channelized reach more perennial in nature. Our first objective was to assess …

Female Breakfast Skippers Display A Disrupted Cortisol Rhythm And Levated Blood Pressure, Megan Witbracht, Nancy L. Keim, Shavawn Forester, Adrianne Widaman, Kevin D. Laugero

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Chronic stress and over-activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis may link breakfast skipping and poor cardiometabolic health. Missing the first major meal of the day in rodents prolongs elevated circulating corticosterone at a time when it's normally decreasing. To extend these findings to humans, we hypothesized that habitual breakfast skippers would display a similar pattern of circulating cortisol and alterations in meal and stress-induced cortisol reactions. Normal weight to obese women aged 18–45 years old who were strictly defined as either breakfast skippers (n = 30) or breakfast eaters (n = 35) were invited to participate in our …

Using Storm-Watersheds And A Multi-Criteria Decision Model For Biodiversity Conservation In An Urban Environment, Christina M. Chiappetta

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Many planning and land use decisions in New York State are controlled at the local (town or municipal) level, not an optimal scale for planning and implementing resource conservation management. Watershed boundaries provide a more ecologically meaningful scale for conservation, because they capture a full range of natural ecosystem processes that span political boundaries. However, defining an urban watershed is complicated by stormwater infrastructure, so standard topographic watershed boundaries may be inadequate for urban resource conservation even when applied at the watershed scale. Storm-watersheds distort both municipal and watershed boundaries, because the flows are redirected in ways that are often …

Wetchimp-Wsl: Intercomparison Of Wetland Methane Emissions Models Over West Siberia, T. J. Bohn, J. R. Melton, A. Ito, T. Kleinen, R. Spahni, B. D. Stocker, B. Zhang, X. Zhu, R. Schroeder, M. V. Glagolev, S. Maksyutov, V. Brovkin, G. Chen, S. N. Denisov, A. V. Eliseev, A. Gallego-Sala, K. C. Mcdonald, M. A. Rawlins, W. J. Riley, Z. M. Subin, H. Tian, Q. Zhuang, J. O. Kaplan

Publications and Research

Wetlands are the world’s largest natural source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The strong sensitivity of methane emissions to environmental factors such as soil temperature and moisture has led to concerns about potential positive feedbacks to climate change. This risk is particularly relevant at high latitudes, which have experienced pronounced warming and where thawing permafrost could potentially liberate large amounts of labile carbon over the next 100 years. However, global models disagree as to the magnitude and spatial distribution of emissions, due to uncertainties in wetland area and emissions per unit area and a scarcity of in situ observations. …

Reservoir Rehabilitations: Seeking The Fountain Of Youth, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope, Larkin A. Powell, Kelly C. Turek, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Nathaniel T. Stewart, Nick P. Hogberg, Mark T. Porath

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Aging of reservoirs alters the functions, and associated services, of these systems through time. The goal of habitat rehabilitation is often to alter the trajectory of the aging process such that the duration of the desired state is prolonged. There are two important characteristics in alteration of the trajectory—the amplitude relative to current state and the subsequent rate of change, or aging—that ultimately determine the duration of extension for the desired state. Rehabilitation processes largely fall into three main categories: fish community manipulation, water quality manipulation, and physical habitat manipulation. We can slow aging of reservoirs through carefully implemented management …

The Global Status Of Freshwater Fish Age Validation Studies And A Prioritization Framework For Further Research, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Martin J. Hamel, Kevin L. Pope, Mark A. Pegg

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Age information derived from calcified structures is commonly used to estimate recruitment, growth, and mortality for fish populations. Validation of daily or annual marks on age structures is often assumed, presumably due to a lack of general knowledge concerning the status of age validation studies. Therefore, the current status of freshwater fish age validation studies was summarized to show where additional effort is needed, and increase the accessibility of validation studies to researchers. In total, 1351 original peer-reviewed articles were reviewed from freshwater systems that studied age in fish. Periodicity and age validation studies were found for 88 freshwater species …

Experimental Evaluation Of Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus Mykiss Predation On Longnose Dace Rhinichthys Cataractae, Kelly C. Turek, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Laboratory and in-stream enclosure experiments were used to determine whether rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss influence survival of longnose dace Rhinichthys cataractae. In the laboratory, adult rainbow trout preyed on longnose dace in 42% of trials and juvenile rainbow trout did not prey on longnose dace during the first 6 h after rainbow trout introduction. Survival of longnose dace did not differ in the presence of adult rainbow trout previously exposed to active prey and those not previously exposed to active prey (x²₁ = 0.28, P = 0.60). In field enclosures, the number of longnose dace decreased at …

Barriers And Bridges To The Integration Of Social–Ecological Resilience And Law, Olivia Odom Green, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Lance H. Gunderson, J.B. Ruhl, Craig A. Arnold, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Barbara Cosens, David G. Angeler, Brian C. Chaffin, C.S. Holling

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

There is a fundamental difference between the ways in which ecologists and lawyers view uncertainty: in the study of ecology, uncertainty provides a catalyst for exploration, whereas uncertainty is antithetical to the rule of law. This issue is particularly troubling in environmental management, where the tensions between law and ecology become apparent. Rather than acknowledge uncertainties in management actions, legal frameworks often force a false sense of certainty in linking cause and effect. While adaptive management has been developed to deal with uncertainty, laws and legal wrangling can be obstacles to implementation. In this article, we recommend resilience-based governance – …

Quantifying The Adaptive Cycle, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The adaptive cycle was proposed as a conceptual model to portray patterns of change in complex systems. Despite the model having potential for elucidating change across systems, it has been used mainly as a metaphor, describing system dynamics qualitatively. We use a quantitative approach for testing premises (reorganisation, conservatism, adaptation) in the adaptive cycle, using Baltic Sea phytoplankton communities as an example of such complex system dynamics. Phytoplankton organizes in recurring spring and summer blooms, a well-established paradigm in planktology and succession theory, with characteristic temporal trajectories during blooms that may be consistent with adaptive cycle phases. We used long-term …

Across-Ecoregion Analysis Suggests A Hierarchy Of Ecological Filters That Regulate Recruitment Of A Globally Invasive Fish, Przemek G. Bajer, Timothy K. Cross, Joseph D. Lechelt, Christopher J. Chizinski, Michael J. Weber, Peter W. Sorensen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Aim -- Even successful invaders are abundant only in a fraction of locales they inhabit. One of the main challenges in invasion ecology is explaining processes that drive these patterns. We investigated recruitment of a globally invasive fish, common carp (Cyprinus carpio), across three ecoregions to determine the role of environmental characteristics, predatory communities and propagule pressure on the invasion process at coarse and fine spatial scales.

Location -- Lakes across Northern Forest, Temperate Forest and Great Plains ecoregions of North America.

Methods -- We used data from 567 lakes to model presence or absence of carp recruitment …

Regional Scale Cropland Carbon Budgets: Evaluating A Geospatial Agricultural Modeling System Using Inventory Data, Xuesong Zhang, Roberto C. Izaurralde, David H. Manowitz, Ritvik Sahajpal, Tristram O. West, Allison M. Thomson, Min Xu, Kaiguang Zhao, Stephen D. Leduc, Jimmy R. Williams

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Accurate quantification and clear understanding of regional scale cropland carbon (C) cycling is critical for designing effective policies and management practices that can contribute toward stabilizing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. However, extrapolating site-scale observations to regional scales represents a major challenge confronting the agricultural modeling community. This study introduces a novel geospatial agricultural modeling system (GAMS) exploring the integration of the mechanistic Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model, spatially-resolved data, surveyed management data, and supercomputing functions for cropland C budgets estimates. This modeling system creates spatiallyexplicit modeling units at a spatial resolution consistent with remotely-sensed crop identification and assigns cropping systems …

Detection, Occurrence And Fate Of Emerging Contaminants In Agricultural Environments, Daniel D. Snow, David A. Cassada, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Xu Li, Matteo D'Alessio, Rachel Levine, Yun Zhang, J. Brett Sallach

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

A total of 43 papers published in 2014 were reviewed ranging from detailed descriptions of analytical methods, to fate and occurrence studies, to measuring and predicting biological effects for a wide variety of emerging contaminants likely to occur in agricultural environments. New methods and studies on veterinary pharmaceuticals, natural and synthetics steroids, and antibiotic resistance genes in agricultural environments continue to expand our knowledge base on the occurrence and potential impacts of these compounds. This review is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Analytical Methods, Occurrence and Fate, Antibiotic Resistance Genes, and Risk Assessment.

Failure Of Science, Death Of Nature, H.F. Recher

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

As a people, Australians have lost contact with the world of nature, Risking the collapse of civilization. One factor in the alienation of nature in Australia is the failure of the scientific community to take responsibility for the technology created by the knowledge generated from scientific research. Science has failed to protect Australia's flora and fauna. Scientists must communicate more widely with society, but need to be educated on how to communicate and on their ethical responsibilities to others and other species. Government needs to show leadership in environmental management and nature conservation, while conservationists need to 'invert the paradigm', …

Analyses Of Potential Ravine And Bluff Stabilization Sites Within The Blue Earth And Le Sueur River Basins, Anna My-Tien T. Tran

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has listed much of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) basin as impaired waters due to excessive turbidity, sedimentation, and nutrient loading. Of particular importance are the associated environmental problems (e.g. eutrophication, habitat and wetland loss, loss of biodiversity, and changes in water quality) that have developed within Lake Pepin, a popular recreational riverine lake of the UMR. Three major drainages contribute to these issues and empty in to the UMR near Lake Pepin - the Minnesota River Basin (MRB), St. Croix River, and UMR. The MRB makes up approximately one-third of the drainage …

Gvsu Sustainable Agriculture Project Handbook, Youssef Darwich, Dana Eardley

Honors Projects

The GVSU Sustainable Agriculture Project was started by a group of Grand Valley students in 2008, and is a project of the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies. The original farm site is on Luce Street on the Allendale campus.

Nanoceria Exposure To Kidney Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris): Implications On Plant Physiology, Nutrition And Their Transfer To Next Trophic Level, Sanghamitra Majumdar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous studies investigating the effects of cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria, nCeO2) on plants have primarily focused on the physiological and biochemical changes at early growth stages. Comprehensive information on the effects of nCeO2 through the entire life cycle of plants and the nutritional quality of the edible tissues is limited. No studies have been reported on the interactions between nCeO2 and common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). Common beans are leguminous crops, which are societally important due to their nutritional benefits. The beans are rich in proteins and essential nutrients like folate, iron, zinc, molybdenum and magnesium, and are consumed worldwide. This …

My Water, My Rights: Ethics And Implications Of Water Privatization, Rachel Vandermyde

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

No abstract provided.

Boundaries Of Governance: Social Responsibility In Mining In Western Australia, Gemma L. Broderick

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research investigated the boundaries of governance of social responsibility in three multinational mining organisations based in Perth, Western Australia. The mining industry has economic, environmental and social impacts, both positive and negative. While most of the attention of the media and supporters in government seems to focus on the positive impacts, a growing concern regarding the social implications of mining is clearly evident in public discourse and the academic literature. In response to public concern, the mining industry has adopted terms such as ‘sustainability’, ‘sustainable development’, ‘social licence to operate’ and ‘social responsibility’. Such phrases are widely used in …

An Appraisal Of Experiences Of Climate Change And Adaptive Response To Heat Stress By Farmers In Rural Ghana, Kwasi Frimpong

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the increase in average global temperatures, heat-related illnesses and deaths have unfolded as occupational and health issues. Periods of high to extreme temperatures are becoming more common and are a leading cause of weather-related deaths in many countries. In agricultural settings of African countries, heat stress is a major concern as many smallholder farmers work outdoors with limited access to cooling systems even in their resting and living environments. This study, conducted in the Bawku East part of Northern-East Ghana in 2013, examines, in the context of climate change, the trends and impacts of heat stress on smallholder farmers, …

Survey Of Two Perfluorinated Organic Compounds (Pfoa And Pfhxa) In Water And Biota Surrounding A Polyfluorinated Chemical Plant, Kevin S. Dillon

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) concentrations were measured in water and biota samples collected within and near a polyfluorinated chemical plant in coastal Mississippi. Effluents from the site and from the local public water treatment plant were sampled along with municipal water supplies, shallow groundwater beneath the site, nearby surface waters, and local biota. Highest concentrations were from stormwater ([PFOA] = 85—530 ng/l; PFHxA = 140—590 ng/l) and shallow groundwaters ([PFOA] = 44—1000 ng/l; PFHxA = 210—3100 ng/l) collected at the site. The local public water treatment effluent also had relatively high PFHxA concentrations (310—590 ng/l). Intermediate PFOA …

University Of North Florida Environmental Center Annual Report 2015, Caitlin Kengle, James W. Taylor

Annual Reports

2015 Annual Report of the Environmental Center at the University of North Florida

Triphenylamine-, Porphyrin- And Fullerene-Based Derivatives For Photovoltaic And Other Applications, Danisha Marie Rivera Nazario

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Proper collection of charges at the electrodes is an important process in organic solar cells. Interfacial layers between the electrodes and the photoactive layer have been design to improve charge collection and ohmic contacts. The most studied interfacial layer between the anode and the photoactive layer is the negatively charged polymer poly(3,4-ethylendioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), that possesses good hole transporting ability. However, inhomogeneities at the surface of the electrode after deposition of the polymer lower the stability and performance of the OPV devices. Triphenylamine (TPA) derivatives have received increased attention in the organic solar cells (OSCs) field because of their favorable light …

Recovery Potential Of The Mussel Communities In The Lower Section Of Big Walnut Creek, Jared B. Ellenbogen

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Since the enactment of the 1977 Clean Water Act, biologists have created numerous multimetric assessment tools to evaluate the biological integrity of water resources, using biological criteria. The integrity of Big Walnut Creek, Ohio, has been in flux since the 1955 construction of Hoover Dam, and while current water quality is high, mussel communities in the creek have yet to recover to historical levels. This study sought to determine the cause of the decline in the mussels in the lower section of the creek below the dam. Historical creek data, including a fish-based index of biotic integrity (f-IBI), invertebrate community …

Learning Love From A Tiger: Approaches To Nature In An American Buddhist Monastery, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

In current debates about Buddhist approaches to the non-human natural world, studies describe Buddhism variously as anthropocentric, biocentric or ecocentric. These perspectives derive for the most part from examinations of philosophical and normative aspects of the tradition without much attention to moments when embodied practice diverges from religious ideals. Responding to the need for narrative thick descriptions of lived Buddhist attitudes toward nature, I ethnographically explore a Vietnamese monastery in the United States. There I find multifaceted Buddhist approaches to nature which sometimes disclose disunity between theory and practice. Philosophically and normatively, this monastery embraces ecocentrism through notions of interconnectedness, …