Digital Commons Network^™

How Much Is Enough? Minimal Responses Of Water Quality And Stream Biota To Partial Retrofit Stormwater Management In A Suburban Neighborhood, Allison H. Roy, Lee K. Rhea, Audrey L. Mayer, William D. Shuster, Jake J. Beaulieu, Matthew E. Hopton, Matthew A. Morrison, Ann St. Amand

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Decentralized stormwater management approaches (e.g., biofiltration swales, pervious pavement, green roofs, rain gardens) that capture, detain, infiltrate, and filter runoff are now commonly used to minimize the impacts of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces on aquatic ecosystems. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of retrofit, parcel-scale stormwater management practices for improving downstream aquatic ecosystem health. A reverse auction was used to encourage homeowners to mitigate stormwater on their property within the suburban, 1.8 km² Shepherd Creek catchment in Cincinnati, Ohio (USA). In 2007–2008, 165 rain barrels and 81 rain gardens were installed on 30% of the properties …

Economic Impact Of The Commercial Fisheries On Local County Economies From Catch In All California National Marine Sanctuaries 2010, 2011 And 2012, Vernon R. Leeworthy, Desiree Jerome, Kelsey Schueler

Working Papers

This report estimates the economic impact of commercial fishing within all California National Marine Sanctuaries (CA NMS) according to the California Ocean Fish Harvester Economic Model (COFHE). The methodology applies county multipliers to estimates of harvest revenue from CA NMS in order to calculate output, income, value added and employment. This report also describes a profile of the commercial fish industry in the CA NMS. CA NMS includes all existing National Marine Sanctuary sites in California: Channel Islands (CINMS), Monterey Bay (MBNMS), Cordell Bank (CBNMS) and Gulf of the Farallones (GFNMS).

The three-year average for 2010 to 2012 finds that …

Influence Of Constant And Periodic Experimental Hypoxic Stress On Atlantic Croaker Otolith Chemistry, John Mohan, Md. Saydur Rahman, Peter Thomas, Benjamin Walther

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The chemical composition of fish otoliths may provide information on the environmental exposure histories of fishes if ‘vital effects’ on element incorporation are minimal. In order to use redox-sensitive geochemical proxies, such as manganese, in otoliths to quantify sublethal exposure to hypoxia, the relative influence of endogenous and exogenous controls on otolith composition must first be validated. Controlled laboratory experiments were conducted on Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus to examine the response of otolith Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca, Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca, and Na:Ca ratios to either constant or periodic hypoxia treatments for 4 and 10 wk, respectively. Although fish somatic growth and condition were …

Warming, Soil Moisture, And Loss Of Snow Increase Bromus Tectorum’S Population Growth Rate, Aldo Compagnoni, Peter B. Adler

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

Climate change threatens to exacerbate the impacts of invasive species. In temperate ecosystems, direct effects of warming may be compounded by dramatic reductions in winter snow cover. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is arguably the most destructive biological invader in basins of the North American Intermountain West, and warming could increase its performance through direct effects on demographic rates or through indirect effects mediated by loss of snow. We conducted a two-year experimental manipulation of temperature and snow pack to test whether 1) warming increases cheatgrass population growth rate and 2) reduced snow cover contributes to cheatgrass’ positive response to …

Sustainable Energy In The Galapagos, Sean Dove

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

As the global population continues to grow, so does the dependency and need for energy. For decades, the solution to satisfy the world's demand has been the use of cheap, abundant, and inefficient sources such as coal and oil, but these sources are contributing to massive amounts of environmental degradation and the emission of greenhouse gases. The Galapagos Islands have pledged to do away with fossil fuels in an innovative "Zero Fuels Initiative" in order to help combat environmental damage to its own pristine habitats that make Galapagos one of the most sought out destinations in the world for scientific …

Modeling Tidal Marsh Distribution With Sea-Level Rise: Evaluating The Role Of Vegetation, Sediment, And Upland Habitat In Marsh Resiliency, Lisa M. Schile, John Callaway, J T. Morris, Diana Stralberg, V Thomas Parker, Maggi Kelly

Environmental Science

Tidal marshes maintain elevation relative to sea level through accumulation of mineral and organic matter, yet this dynamic accumulation feedback mechanism has not been modeled widely in the context of accelerated sea-level rise. Uncertainties exist about tidal marsh resiliency to accelerated sea-level rise, reduced sediment supply, reduced plant productivity under increased inundation, and limited upland habitat for marsh migration. We examined marsh resiliency under these uncertainties using the Marsh Equilibrium Model, a mechanistic, elevation-based soil cohort model, using a rich data set of plant productivity and physical properties from sites across the estuarine salinity gradient. Four tidal marshes were chosen …

Local Awareness Of And Attitudes Toward Pygmy Hippopotamus Conservation In The Moa River Island Complex, Sierra Leone., April L. Conway, Sonia M. Hernandez, John P. Carroll, Gary T. Green, Lincoln Larson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Abstract The pygmy hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis is an Endangered species found only in the Upper Guinea rainforests of West Africa. Using a two-phase approach, with initial semi-structured interviews followed by more extensive questionnaires, we examined local residents’ awareness of and attitudes towards the pygmy hippopotamus along the Moa River near Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Sierra Leone. The interviews and questionnaires addressed human–hippopotamus interactions, local knowledge and awareness of pygmy hippopotamus ecology and behaviour, and public attitudes towards hippopotamus conservation. Overall, 22% of questionnaire respondents acknowledged benefits related to hippopotamus conservation; factors affecting the perception of benefits included age, livestock …

Evidence For Bluegill Spawning Plasticity Obtained By Disentangling Complex Factors Related To Recruitment, Mark A. Kaemingk, Kristopher J. Stahr, Jeffrey C. Jolley, Richard S. Holland, David W. Willis

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Fishes can exhibit many forms of plasticity to maximize fitness. However, limited information exists on the ability of freshwater fish to adjust spawning behavior and characteristics (e.g., timing, duration, magnitude of spawning events) to minimize mortality of recruits and ultimately maximize fitness.Wewanted to test the life history hypothesis for bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) (i.e., opportunistic strategy) utilizing existing literature and results from our study to further evaluate the potential for spawning plasticity in this species. Our objective was to identify bluegill recruitment bottlenecks (i.e., periods of high mortality) and factors associated with these events in a single lake during …

Temperature, Hatch Date, And Prey Availability Influence Age-0 Yellow Perch Growth And Survival, Mark A. Kaemingk, Brian D. S. Graeb, David W. Willis

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Throughout their range, Yellow Perch Perca flavescens are an important ecological and economic component of many fisheries, but they often exhibit highly variable recruitment. Much research effort has been devoted to better understanding the mechanisms responsible for these erratic recruitment patterns, yet few studies have examined this process at the detail necessary to reveal complex interactions that may exist across multiple early life stages. Our current understanding of the early life recruitment patterns of Yellow Perch suggests a strong abiotic component. Using existing information, we developed three working hypotheses to examine Yellow Perch recruitment at two larval stages (5–14 and …

Does Human Predation Risk Affect Harvest Susceptibility Of White-Tailed Deer During Hunting Season?, Andrew R. Little, Stephen Demarais, Kenneth L. Gee, Stephen L. Webb, Samuel K. Riffell, Joshua A. Gaskamp, Jerrod L. Belant

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Large carnivores are considered a primary source of mortality for many ungulate populations, but harvest by hunters is the primary means of population management. However, research is needed to evaluate how human predation risk influences observability (a surrogate to harvest susceptibility) of ungulates. We determined how hunting intensity and duration influence observation rates of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and how deer behavior (i.e., movement rate and resource selection) affects observation rates. We sampled 37 adult (≥2 yr) male deer at 2 levels of risk (i.e., low-risk = 1 hunter/101 ha; and high-risk = 1 hunter/30 ha) during 3 …

Unscreened Water-Diversion Pipes Pose An Entrainment Risk To The Threatened Green Sturgeon, Acipenser Medirostris, Timothy D. Mussen, Dennis Chocherell, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Jon S. Reardon, Zachary Hockett, Ali Ercan, Hossein Bandeh, M. Levent Kavvas, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Over 3,300 unscreened agricultural water diversion pipes line the levees and riverbanks of the Sacramento River (California) watershed, where the threatened Southern Distinct Population Segment of green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, spawn. The number of sturgeon drawn into (entrained) and killed by these pipes is greatly unknown. We examined avoidance behaviors and entrainment susceptibility of juvenile green sturgeon (3560.6 cm mean fork length) to entrainment in a large (.500-kl) outdoor flume with a 0.46-m-diameter water-diversion pipe. Fish entrainment was generally high (range: 26–61%), likely due to a lack of avoidance behavior prior to entering inescapable inflow conditions. We estimated that …

Larval Green And White Sturgeon Swimming Performance In Relation To Water-Diversion Flows, Christine E. Verhille, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Bethany Decourten, Sarah Baird, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Little is known of the swimming capacities of larval sturgeons, despite global population declines in many species due in part to fragmentation of their spawning and rearing habitats by man-made water-diversion structures. Larval green (Acipenser medirostris) and white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) inhabit the highly altered Sacramento–San Joaquin watershed, making them logical species to examine vulnerability to entrainment by altered water flows. The risk of larval sturgeon entrainment is influenced by the ontogeny of swimming capacity and dispersal timing and their interactions with water-diversion structure operations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe and compare …

Efficacy Of A Sensory Deterrent And Pipe Modifications In Decreasing Entrainment Of Juvenile Green Sturgeon (Acipenser Medirostris) At Unscreened Water Diversions, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Dennis E. Cocherell, Timothy D. Mussen, Ali Ercan, Hossein Bandeh, M. Levent Kavvas, Joseph J. Cech Jr., Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Water projects designed to extract fresh water for local urban, industrial and agricultural use throughout rivers and estuaries worldwide have contributed to the fragmentation and degradation of suitable habitat for native fishes. The number of water diversions located throughout the Sacramento–San Joaquin watershed in California’s Central Valley exceeds 3300, and the majority of these are unscreened. Many anadromous fish species are susceptible to entrainment into these diversions, potentially impacting population numbers. In the laboratory, juvenile green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) have been shown to have high entrainment rates into unscreened diversions compared with those of other native California fish …

Parameterization Of The Satellite-Based Model (Metric) For The Estimation Of Instantaneous Surface Energy Balance Components Over A Drip-Irrigated Vineyard, Marcos Carrasco-Benavides, Samuel Ortega-Farias, Luis Octavio Lagos, Jan Kleissl, Luis Morales-Salinas, Ayse Kilic

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A study was carried out to parameterize the METRIC (Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) model for estimating instantaneous values of albedo (shortwave albedo) (αi), net radiation (Rni) and soil heat flux (Gi), sensible (Hi) and latent heat (LEi) over a drip-irrigated Merlot vineyard (location: 35°25′ LS; 71°32′ LW; 125 m.a.s. (l). The experiment was carried out in a plot of 4.25 ha, processing 15 Landsat images, which were acquired from 2006 to 2009. An automatic weather station was placed inside the experimental plot to measure αi, …

Biofrag – A New Database For Analyzing Biodiversity Responses To Forest Fragmentation, Marion Pfeifer, Andrew Tyre

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Habitat fragmentation studies have produced complex results that are challenging to synthesize. Inconsistencies among studies may result from variation in the choice of landscape metrics and response variables, which is often compounded by a lack of key statistical or methodological information. Collating primary datasets on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in a consistent and flexible database permits simple data retrieval for subsequent analyses. We present a relational database that links such field data to taxonomic nomenclature, spatial and temporal plot attributes, and environmental characteristics. Field assessments include measurements of the response(s) (e.g., presence, abundance, ground cover) of one or more species …

Spectroscopic Analysis Of Seasonal Changes In Live Fuel Moisture Content And Leaf Dry Mass, Yi Qi, Philip E. Dennison, W. Matt Jolly, Rachael C. Kropp, Simon C. Brewer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Carbon–Temperature–Water Change Analysis For Peanut Production Under Climate Change: A Prototype For The Agmip Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3mp), Alex Ruane, Sonali Mcdermid, Cynthia Rosenzweig, Guillermo Baigorria, James W. Jones, Consuelo Romero, L. Dewayne Cecil

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Climate change is projected to push the limits of cropping systems and has the potential to disrupt the agricultural sector from local to global scales. This article introduces the Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP), an initiative of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) to engage a global network of crop modelers to explore the impacts of climate change via an investigation of crop responses to changes in carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), temperature, and water. As a demonstration of the C3MP protocols and enabled analyses, we apply the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) CROPGRO-Peanut crop model for …

Assessing Risk Of Disease Transmission: Direct Implications For An Indirect Science, Michael Lavelle, Justin Fischer, Gregory Phillips, Tyler Campbell, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Aaron Hildreth, David Hewiltt, Scott Hygnstrom

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

By definition, contact denotes the ;unction of at least two objects. In the context of disease transmission, contact implies interaction with potential to spread disease. Mischaracterization of contacts may res"lt in inaccurate estimates of transmission rates. To collect more-accurate contact data among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), "'e built a deer-borne contact detection system (DCDS) consisting of a camera and a proximity logger installed on a GPS (Global Positioning System) collar. We outfitted 26 adult male deer with DCDSs to record GPS locations, proximity of equipped deer to other equipped deer, and video of deer interactions in southern Texas during arltUmn …

Data-Driven Diagnostics Of Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics Over North America, Jingfeng Xiao, Scott V. Ollinger, Steve Frolking, George Hurtt, David Y. Hollinger, Kenneth J. Davis, Yude Pan, Xiaoyang Zhang, Feng Deng, Jiquan Chen, Dennis D. Baldocchi, Beverly E. Law, M. Altaf Arain, Ankur R. Desai, Andrew D. Richardson, Ge Sun, Brian Amiro, Hank Margolis, Lianhong Gu, Russell L. Scott, Peter D. Blanken, Andrew E. Suyker

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The exchange of carbon dioxide is a key measure of ecosystem metabolism and a critical intersection between the terrestrial biosphere and the Earth’s climate. Despite the general agreement that the terrestrial ecosystems in North America provide a sizeable carbon sink, the size and distribution of the sink remain uncertain. We use a data-driven approach to upscale eddy covariance flux observations from towers to the continental scale by integrating flux observations, meteorology, stand age,aboveground biomass, and a proxy for canopy nitrogen concentrations from AmeriFlux and Fluxnet-Canada Research Network as well as a variety of satellite data streams from the MODIS sensors. …

Estimation Of Crop Gross Primary Production (Gpp): FaparChl Versus Mod15a2 Fpar, Qingyuan Zhang, Yen-Ben Cheng, A. I. Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Feng Gao, Andrew E. Suyker, Shashi B. Verma, Elizabeth M. Middleton

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Photosynthesis (PSN) is a pigment level process in which antenna pigments (predominately chlorophylls) in chloroplasts absorb photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for the photochemical process. PAR absorbed by foliar non-photosynthetic components is not used for PSN. The fraction of PAR absorbed (fAPAR) by a canopy/vegetation (i.e., fAPAR_canopy) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images, referred to as MOD15A2 FPAR, has been used to compute absorbed PAR (APAR) for PSN (APAR_PSN) which is utilized to produce the standard MODIS gross primary production (GPP) product, referred to as MOD17A2 GPP. In this study, the fraction of PAR …

Variation In Age Composition Among Colony Sizes In Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Variation in group size is characteristic of most social species. The extent to which individuals sort among group sizes based on age may yield insight into why groups vary in size and the age-specific costs and benefits of different social environments. We investigated the age composition of Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) colonies of different sizes over 18 yr at a long-term study site in western Nebraska, USA. Using years elapsed since banding as a relative measure of age for over 194,000 birds, we found that the proportion of age-class-1 swallows (birds banded as nestlings or juveniles or adults in the …

On The Role Of Budget Sufficiency, Cost Efficiency, And Uncertainty In Species Management, Max Post Van Der Burg, Bartholomew B. Bly, Tammy Vercauteren, James B. Grand, Andrew J. Tyre

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many conservation planning frameworks rely on the assumption that one should prioritize locations for management actions based on the highest predicted conservation value (i.e., abundance, occupancy). This strategy may underperform relative to the expected outcome if one is working with a limited budget or the predicted responses are uncertain. Yet, cost and tolerance to uncertainty rarely become part of species management plans. We used field data and predictive models to simulate a decision problem involving western burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) using prairie dog colonies (Cynomys ludovicianus) in western Nebraska. We considered 2 species management strategies: …

You Are Not Always What We Think You Eat: Selective Assimilation Across Multiple Whole-Stream Isotopic Tracer Studies, W. K. Dodds, S. M. Collins, S. K. Hamilton, J. L. Tank, S. Johnson, J. R. Webster, K. S. Simon, M. R. Whiles, H. M. Rantala, W. H. Mcdowell, S. D. Peterson, T. Riis, C. L. Crenshaw, S. A. Thomas, P. B. Kristensen, B. M. Cheever, A. S. Flecker, N. A. Griffiths, T. Crowl, E. J. Rosi-Marshall, R. El-Sabaawi, E. Marti

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Analyses of 21 ¹⁵N stable isotope tracer experiments, designed to examine food web dynamics in streams around the world, indicated that the isotopic composition of food resources assimilated by primary consumers (mostly invertebrates) poorly reflected the presumed food sources. Modeling indicated that consumers assimilated only 33–50% of the N available in sampled food sources such as decomposing leaves, epilithon, and fine particulate detritus over feeding periods of weeks or more. Thus, common methods of sampling food sources consumed by animals in streams do not sufficiently reflect the pool of N they assimilate. Isotope tracer studies, combined with modeling and …

Iron Clad Wetlands: Soil Iron-Sulfur Buffering Determines Coastal Wetland Response To Salt Water Incursion, Valerie Anne Schoepfer, Emily S. Bernhardt, Amy J. Burgin

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Coastal freshwater wetland chemistry is rapidly changing due to increased frequency of salt water incursion, a consequence of global change. Seasonal salt water incursion introduces sulfate, which microbially reduces to sulfide. Sulfide binds with reduced iron, producing iron sulfide (FeS), recognizable in wetland soils by its characteristic black color. The objective of this study is to document iron and sulfate reduction rates, as well as product formation (acid volatile sulfide (AVS) and chromium reducible sulfide (CRS)) in a coastal freshwater wetland undergoing seasonal salt water incursion. Understanding iron and sulfur cycling, as well as their reduction products, allows us to …

Fluoride Exposure From Groundwater As Reflected By Urinary Fluoride And Children’S Dental Fluorosis In The Main Ethiopian Rift Valley, Tewodros Rango, Avner Vengosh, Marc Jeuland, Redda Tekle-Haimanot, Erika Weinthal, Julia Kravchenko, Christopher Paul, Peter G. Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This cross-sectional study explores the relationships between children’s F⁻ exposure from drinking groundwater and urinary F⁻ concentrations, combined with dental fluorosis (DF) in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) Valley. We examined the DF prevalence and severity among 491 children (10 to 15 years old) who are lifelong residents of 33 rural communities in which groundwater concentrations of F⁻ cover a wide range. A subset of 156 children was selected for urinary F⁻ measurements. Our results showed that the mean F⁻ concentrations in groundwater were 8.5 ± 4.1 mg/L (range: 1.1–18 mg/L), while those in urine …

06. Computer Science, University Of Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.

04. Botany, University Of Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.

09. Environmental Science, University Of Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.

12. Kinesiology, University Of Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.

08. Engineering, University Of Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.