Digital Commons Network^™

Mechanisms Behind The Impacts Of Co2 Concentration On Microbial Methanogenesis In Coal Seams, Wang Junyu, Liu Bingjun, Jiang Xiangqing, Chen Ruifeng, Xue Sheng, Zhou Wanlong, Yang Yundu

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Coal seams exhibit the extensive distribution of a variety of indigenous functional microorganisms. Among these, some archaea enable methane metabolism using CO₂ as a substrate, providing the potential for the biological CO₂ storage and utilization in coal seams. However, conventional studies focus primarily on the degradation characteristics of coal matrix, leading to a lack of a systematic understanding of the mechanisms governing the adjustment of the methanation process in CO₂-bearing environments. Methods This study investigated the bituminous coals with a high volatile content in the Huainan mining area. Using laboratory-scale experiments on methanogenesis through anaerobic …

Reproductive Season And Fecundity Reassessment Of Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus Polyphemus) In Southeastern Florida, Riley Waters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) breeding season occurs throughout spring and early summer across its distributional range, but recent research shows that in southeastern Florida, mating also occurs in the fall and winter months. This project evaluates the gopher tortoise’s extended reproductive season in southeastern Florida and female fecundity. The study, conducted at two locations in South Florida: Jupiter, FL and Boca Raton, FL, used field ultrasound equipment and radiographs to identify gravid females and determine clutch size. The data suggest a much earlier start to egg development and nesting, and the possibility of an extended egg development …

Understanding The Relationship Between Morphometric Indices Of The Eleven Point River And Sediment And Nutrient Transport, Karimot Shobowale, Jennifer Bouldin

Create@State

Objective: To evaluate how watershed characteristics impact sediment transport and water quality parameters.

Impact Of Climate Change On Agricultural Production In The North China Plain And Adaption Strategies, Yanjun Shen, Ying Guo, Chuanwei Zhang, Yaning Chen

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Over the past century, global warming has posed significant challenges to the North China Plain (NCP), a core region for grain production, where resource-induced water scarcity now coincides with complex meteorological disasters. In recent years, the NCP has exhibited new climatic characteristics, notably the transition from a “warm-dry” to a “warm-wet” pattern accompanied by asymmetric warming, leading to an increased frequency of extreme events such as droughts, abrupt dry-flood alternations, and temperature extremes. These shifts pose a grave threat to regional grain stability. Currently, critical gaps remain in the understanding of the underlying disaster mechanisms, as well as in predictive …

Accelerating Marine Science And Technology Innovation Under Great Power Competition: Challenges And Recommendations, Qingbin Guo, Yongsha Xiong, Shifang Sun

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Against the backdrop of intensifying great-power competition, the core issues of global technological competition and cooperation are increasingly converging on the marine domain. The oceans are progressively becoming a critical strategic sphere for national development and security. At present, China is steadily advancing towards its goal of becoming a maritime power, achieving historic leaps in technological innovation such as shipbuilding and deep-sea exploration. Nevertheless, the path ahead for China’s marine science and technology innovation will inevitably face severe international circumstances and competition from established global maritime powers. Based on a review of global and Chinese progress in marine science and …

Construction Of China’S Marine Protected Area System In 15th Five-Year Plan, Ke Duan, Danhong Chen, Keqiang Li, Limin Han, Zhengyan Liu, Dongliang Lu, Xiulin Wang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The establishment of the marine protected area (MPA) system constitutes a critical component of the national initiative to comprehensively advance the development of a nature reserve system centered on national parks. This study explores on domestic and international development trends from aspects such as conservation strategies, international policies, high seas protection, and development trends. It also sorts out and analyzes the construction status of marine protected area systems in China and the United States. Centering on issues in China related to spatial layout, management systems, policies and laws, scientific research support, high seas governance, and land-sea management, the study puts …

Impacts Of Climate Change On Agricultural Production And Adaptation Strategies In Northeast China, Ming Jiang, Aizhen Liang, Peng Qi

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

As the “stabilizer” of national food security, Northeast China is highly sensitive to climate change. Over the past 60 years, the regional temperature has risen significantly at a rate of 0.034℃/a, which is much higher than the global average of 0.0074℃/a. The improvement of thermal resources has driven a significant northward expansion of high-yield and heat-demanding crops, such as maize and rice. Nevertheless, increased warming has enhanced evapotranspiration demand, which, combined with the expansion of planting scales, has led to a 19.8% increase in agricultural irrigation water consumption over the past 20 years, resulting in a prominent contradiction between supply …

Plastic Purgatory: Investigating The Effects Of Plastic Litter On Water And Organic Content In Topsoil In Holland, Michigan, Kamryn Bice, Annis Cairns, Maddie Devries, Sebastian Lema

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

Plastic accumulation in soils can offer important insights into how human activity affects terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we examined the relationship between plastic litter and soil quality at several sites across Holland, Michigan to determine whether plastic abundance was associated with changes in soil properties. Soil samples from five different site types – construction, residential, commercial, nature, and a control – were collected over a threeweek period, then analyzed for pH, water contents, total organic carbon (TOC), and plastic abundance through field testing and laboratory methods. The number of plastic pieces ranged from 0 to 27 with the largest …

Recent Wetland Elevation Dynamics In Coastal Louisiana, Usa, Elizabeth Harris

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal marshes globally are increasingly vulnerable to accelerating relative sea-level rise (RSLR), which threatens their capacity to maintain elevation through feedbacks among sediment supply, vegetation productivity, hydrology, and soil processes. Although many marshes can persist under moderate rates of sea-level rise through vertical accretion and belowground biomass production, this resilience is strongly constrained by sediment availability and subsurface processes such as autocompaction and organic matter decomposition. High accretion is often assumed to confer marsh resilience; however, subsurface processes, particularly autocompaction driven by surface loading, can substantially offset elevation gains. Coastal Louisiana experiences among the highest rates of RSLR worldwide due …

Characterizing The Macroinvertebrate Community In Crissy Lake, An Impounded Reach Of The Pomme De Terre River, Prior To Channel Modification, Max Lundgren

Undergraduate Research Symposium (2026- )

The aging Crissy Lake Dam, on the Pomme de Terre River in Morris, has altered natural stream flow and impeded upstream passage of several fish species since 1939. In late 2026 the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will replace the dam with stone arch rapids and facilitate river channel formation upstream of the dam. In order to evaluate the river modification project, we characterized the macroinvertebrate community in Crissy Lake, the impoundment upstream of the dam before implementation of channel modification. In September 2025 we collected benthic macroinvertebrates from two sets of Ekman grab samples. We found 12 taxa (average …

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus Occidentalis) Groundings On A Four-Lane Divided Highway In South Texas: A Comparative Study Using Citizen Science, Bradley Evan Beer, Kevin W. Ryer, Md. Saydur Rahman, John H. Young Jr., Richard J. Kline

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The population of the once-endangered brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) has increased over the past several decades and is now considered fully recovered. However, in south Texas, the combined effects of weather patterns, transportation infrastructure, and brown pelican biology have led to road mortalities on State Highway 48 (SH 48) at the Carl “Joe” Gayman Bridge. To mitigate these mortalities, the Texas Department of Transportation modified traffic barriers on SH 48. We aimed to examine the effect of the barrier change and determine which weather variables influence brown pelican groundings on SH 48. Citizen scientists monitored sections of SH …

High Germinability Can Facilitate Recovery Of Adelia Vaseyi (Euphorbiaceae), An Imperiled Tamaulipan Thornscrub Shrub, Saroj Dhakal, Bashira Chowdhury, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

While critical to maintaining dryland biodiversity and drought resilience, reforestation has been limited in subtropical dry forests because of knowledge gaps in seed biology that must be filled to upscale seedling production and ensure recovery of imperiled endemic plants. We characterized seed germination, dormancy, and storage needs for Adelia vaseyi, a threatened endemic shrub commonly included in planting mixes to restore Tamaulipan thornscrub, an imperiled subtropical forest spanning South Texas and Northeastern Mexico. We found A. vaseyi seeds have high germinability (82.0%) and a short mean germination time (3.04 ± 0.08 days). A delia vaseyi seed does not appear …

Heavy Metal In Water Resources, Zuming Bi, Jeanne Sumrall

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Heavy metal pollution in surface water has posed a serious threat to human health. The goals of this research are to analyze the concentration and distribution of key heavy metals and compare the measured values with global standards. This study analyzed major heavy metals like Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, and Ag across several test points in Kansas and converted them to standard units mg/L. Based on the statistical graph, heavy metal iron and manganese levels are exceeded USEPA and WHO limits several times,  while other heavy metals stay in the safe range. The results indicate that the pollution in Kansas …

How To Effectively Trap Invasive Crayfish: A Discrete Life Stage Mathematical Model, Rini Pattison

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The red swamp crayfish is an invasive species introduced into several streams within the Santa Monica Mountains (SMM). Crayfish predation decimates native aquatic species. The Mountains Restoration Trust (MRT) has worked to remove crayfish through regular trapping in Malibu Creek.

A prior student created a crayfish life cycle model with trapping, which we expand to better predict the efficacy of crayfish removal efforts in the SMM. We separate crayfish based upon life stages and sizes. We construct and parameterize this discrete crayfish population model with and without trapping. We use literature and crayfish removal data from MRT to fit the …

Applications Of Machine Learning In Enhancing Evaporation Estimation For Small Reservoirs: A Case Study In Semi-Arid South Texas, Syed Muhammad F Abdullah, Chu-Lin Cheng, Jude A. Benavides, Jungseok Ho, Rafael M. Almeida

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Small reservoirs in semi-arid regions experience substantial evaporative losses but are rarely monitored at daily scales. A multi-reservoir machine learning (ML) framework was developed to estimate daily open-water evaporation. Empirical models (Penman, Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, Bowen Ratio Energy Budget) andabenchmark combination method (Daily Lake Evaporation Model-DLEM) were compared against ML models. Predictors combined gridded meteorology (gridMET) with reservoir attributes (surface area, average depth, maximum depth, and fetch). ML models (Random Forest-RF, Decision Tree-DT, K-Nearest Neighbor-KNN, and Support Vector Regression-SVR) were trained on four reservoirs using data from 2018 to 2025. Results from ML models were further validated using both DLEM and …

Investigating The Effect Of Kcl Stress In Raphanus Sativus, Mason P. Oelke

ATU Scholars Symposium

Presented by Stephanie Nelms at the Arkansas INBRE Conference on November 7-8, 2025.

Presented by Mason Oelke at Arkansas Tech Scholar's Symposium on April 9th, 2026.

Potassium is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and development, yet excessive potassium fertilization can induce salt stress with detrimental consequences for crop productivity and nutritional quality. Despite its agricultural relevance, potassium chloride induced stress remains significantly understudied compared to classical sodium-based salinity. This thesis investigates the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of Raphanus sativus to KCl stress using an integrated approach that combines germination assays, mineral profiling, and gene expression analysis.

Radish seeds …

Artificial Intelligence Assisted Evaluation Of Fungicide Efficacy In Acorn Squash, Olivia Grace Daniels

ASPIRE 2026

Powdery Mildew is a common fungus that infects a multitude of plants. This project will be working with Podosphaera Xanthii, the fungal pathogen that causes powdery mildew in cucurbits. Cucurbitaceae is a plant family that includes squash, pumpkins, melons and watermelons. Powdery mildew ends up significantly reducing the plants yield and infection causes an economic loss for growers which poses a great threat to the farmer’s lively hood. Powdery mildew is also extremely contagious and spreads rapidly to nearby plants. It can be absolutely decimating to populations. So there has been a push to find methods to control the spread …

Morphology, Phylogeny And Distribution Of Scaeurgus (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) In Southeast Pacific Seamounts, Sergio A. Carrasco, Christian M. Ibáñez, Andrea I. Varela, Jan M. Tapia-Guerra, Erin E. Easton, Javier Sellanes

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Octopuses of the genus Scaeurgus inhabit upper bathyal benthic habitats and are composed of five recognized species. In this study, we conducted morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses of two individuals of Scaeurgus and provided additional field observations of the genus in seamounts of the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridges (southeast Pacific Ocean) over the last six years. Specifically, two specimens of Scaeurgus were collected at 234 m depth in 2019 during the EPIC oceanographic cruise onboard the R/V Mirai (JAMSTEC, Japan), and five other specimens were video recorded at depths between 210 and 340 m during three oceanographic expeditions …

Monitoring Of Dissolved Calcium Levels In Creeks, Embayment, And Kentucky Lake Waters In Western Kentucky, Majeda Dalloul

Scholars Week

In order to reduce the economic and ecological impacts of aquatic alien species, studies are warranted across major taxonomic groups, geographic regions, and habitat types. This study addressed the dissolved calcium levels in Kentucky Lake and their implications for one of the top-ranked invasive species, the zebra mussel, and its colonization.  Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are well known for their “biofouling” capabilities, costing billions of dollars (for northeastern and midwestern states) in their removal from industrial, public, and power plant water supply lines. Calcium is one of the essential elements that contribute to the growth and reproduction of zebra …

Improving Energy Reliability In Mining Areas Through Modelling And Control Of Resonance Phenomena In Solar-Integrated Power Systems, Yurii Papaika, Gennadiy Pivnyak, Maksim Malyshko, Yuliya Pazynich, Natalia Howaniec, Adam Smolinski

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This study addresses the emergency and operational transient processes that arise when integrating large-scale solar power plants (SPPs) into electrical load nodes, particularly under conditions of limited power system capacity. With the increasing penetration of distributed generation in Ukraine's energy landscape, challenges related to electromagnetic compatibility and harmonic resonance are becoming more prominent. The research builds upon the foundational work of leading Ukrainian scientific schools and focuses on the specific resonance phenomena observed during the operation of solar inverters in medium-voltage networks, especially in regions with high industrial and mining Energy demand. A novel algorithm is proposed for determining the …

Downstream Effects Of Post Aerobic Digestion And Divalent Cation Treatment: Dewaterability, Phosphorus Mitigation, And Process Odors, Maya Marisol Quijano Garcia

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This study evaluated post-aerobic digestion (PAD) with aeration, mixing, and divalent cation addition to improve phosphorus capture, dewaterability, and odor control in thermal hydrolysis process (THP)–treated anaerobic digestate at the Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s Atlantic Treatment Plant. A three-day PAD process was operated under constant air flow (5 LPM) and dissolved oxygen (DO)-setpoint (0.2 mg/L) aeration conditions with Ca(OH)₂ or Mg(OH)₂ dosing. Aeration and mixing alone increased polymer demand by 14–46 % relative to untreated influent, indicating enhanced extracellular polymeric substance release. Chemical conditioning partially mitigated this increase but did not restore polymer demand to baseline levels. Dewatered cake total …

Quantifying Nutrient Fluxes Across The Sediment-Water Interface In The Lafayette River Estuary, Adriana E. Amrhein

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Lafayette River, a shallow, eutrophic tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, experiences seasonal harmful algal blooms (HABs). While management efforts focus on reducing external nutrient inputs, internal loading from benthic sediments remains poorly constrained. This study quantifies spatial and seasonal variability in nutrient and radium isotope fluxes across the sediment–water interface at three sites where HABs are known to initiate and represent contrasting sediment textures and hydrodynamic conditions. Sediment cores and porewater samples were collected in summer 2023 and winter 2024 to measure grain size, porosity, dissolved nutrients (NH₄⁺, NOₓ⁻, PO₄³⁻), and radionuclide activities (²²⁴Ra and ²²⁸Th). Radium isotope disequilibrium …

Corporate Fiduciary Duties And The Climate And Biodiversity Crisis, Eric W. Orts, Sandra G. Schafhäutle

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This Article argues that addressing one of the most urgent environmental challenges facing humanity today—the global climate and biodiversity crisis—calls for a transformation at the heart of corporate law: its fiduciary duties. After demonstrating how current corporate fiduciary duties are implicated in this crisis, we argue for reform of fiduciary duties operating at two levels: those governing directors and officers of business corporations, and those governing institutional investors and asset managers. We then distinguish between two general kinds of corporate fiduciary duties: permissive and mandatory. We contend that corporate law should accommodate a more expansive understanding of fiduciary duties by …

Four Decades, No Progress: Time For A Columbia River Basin Compact, Liesl L. Bogaard

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Since the Power Act’s passage in 1980, the government entities who develop and implement energy policy in the Pacific Northwest have operated under a congressional mandate to protect fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin. However, nearly half a century later, the number of wild salmon and steelhead returning to their native spawning grounds is still in decline, largely due to dam operations in the Columbia and its tributaries. This Note examines the history of hydroelectric power generation in the Columbia River Basin and its impact on fish populations, drawing parallels between the environmental crisis in the Columbia River …

Owning Geothermal Energy, Gabriel Eckstein

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Geothermal energy holds vast potential for decarbonizing the U.S. energy system, yet the sector remains significantly underdeveloped, supplying only 0.4% of the nation's electricity. A principal barrier to growth is the fragmented and ambiguous legal landscape currently governing ownership of geothermal resources: thirty-three states lack any clear statutory or common-law framework identifying who owns subsurface thermal energy. This Article examines the physical characteristics of geothermal energy, recent developments in the U.S. geothermal sector, and the principal doctrinal approaches that might govern ownership of subsurface heat, including the ad coelum doctrine, common-pool and open-access frameworks, the rule of capture, and public …

Water Current, Volume 58, No. 1, Spring 2026

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Testing The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis On Anthropogenic Pressure In Central Alabama, Gavin Terrell

Theses

Biodiversity is fundamental to maintaining ecosystem structure and function globally. Prior to the late 20th century, ecological theory generally predicted that biodiversity would be highest in systems experiencing minimal disturbance. However, Joseph H. Connell challenged this view with the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH), which posits that species diversity peaks at intermediate levels of disturbance and declines under conditions of both low and high disturbance. Although widely cited, the applicability of the IDH to natural systems remains debated, particularly in the context of anthropogenic disturbances and when diversity is measured beyond species richness alone.

This study evaluated the predictions of the …

Interspecific Overlap In Seabird Diet Throughout The Breeding Season, Alexis V. Berkey

Student Publications

Seabirds are central-place foragers that breed in multi-species colonies, providing an opportunity to study species coexistence. I quantified interspecific competition among four seabird species (common terns Sterna hirundo, Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea, Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica, black guillemots Cepphus grylle) breeding in the Gulf of Maine in 2022, 2024, and 2025. I hypothesized that, throughout the breeding season, 1) seabird diet would change and 2) interspecific overlap in diet would increase. I compared diets across species and time using direct observation of prey feeds and stable isotope values of seabird egg membranes and blood, which provide …

Imidacloprid Effects On The Survival And Cutaneous Microbiome Of Northern Leopard Frogs, Evelyn Margaret Osterloo

Honors Thesis

Amphibians are experiencing population declines due to habitat loss, climate change, and diseases, particularly chytridiomycosis caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Protection from this fungal infection stems from the cutaneous microbiome. Pesticides have been shown to affect amphibians in a variety of ways, including reducing survival, locomotor performance, and accumulation in body tissues. Pesticides may also lead to changes in the cutaneous microbiome affecting amphibians who rely on these organisms as an anti-Bd defense mechanism. To investigate the effect of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, Northern Leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens) were subjected to sublethal concentrations (control = …

The Importance Of Body Size And Spatial Scale In Modeling Winter Bird Distributions, Carissa M. Mobley

Student Publications

Birds’ annual cycles include biologically linked breeding and non-breeding seasons, yet most research and bird atlases focus exclusively on the breeding season. There have been very few winter bird atlas projects in North America, and none have been published for the northeastern United States. Short daylight hours and harsh weather limit winter survey coverage, making species distribution models (SDMs) essential for addressing spatial gaps.

I evaluated the optimal spatial scale for SDMs across bird species differing in body size and tested whether optimal scale varies with body mass. Using 16,967 eBird checklists collected during the first winter survey period (December …