Digital Commons Network^™

Scientific Landscape On Phthalates Biodegradation Research: A Bibliometric And Scientometric Study, Sai Ngassa, Cyprian Mpinda, Kessy F. Kilulya, Rose Masalu

Tanzania Journal of Science

This study investigated the scientific landscape of research on phthalate esters biodegradation using the Web of Science database up to 2022. The collected data were analysed using bibliometric and scientometric tools. A total of 863 scholarly documents published between 1975 and 2022 in 266 journals were selected for analysis. The analysis revealed a growth rate of 6.9% in the research field, with an average document age of 10.8 years. The trend in phthalate biodegradation research showed a steady increase in citations until 1997, followed by a slight decrease until 2005, but experienced renewed interest in 2006 and significant growth in …

Labile Dissolved Nickel (Ni) Concentrations In The North Pacific, Calyn M. Crawford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nickel (Ni) is an important micronutrient for phytoplankton and bacteria that serves as a required co-factor in several metalloenzymes. Despite these known biological uses, total dissolved Ni concentrations remain elevated in global surface waters, in contrast to the surface depletion commonly observed for macronutrients and other nutrient-type trace elements. A prevailing hypothesis for the muted depletion of dissolved Ni concentrations in surface waters is that dissolved Ni in seawater is not in a bioavailable form. The chemical lability of Ni in seawater provides insight into Ni speciation and bioavailability, but few measurements have been made in the open ocean to …

Review Of Harmful Algal Bloom Effects On Birds With Implications For Avian Wildlife In The Chesapeake Bay Region, Barnett A. Rattner, Catherine E. Wazniak, Julia S. Lankton, Peter C. Mcgowan, Serguei V. Drovetski, Todd A. Egerton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Chesapeake Bay, along the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, is the largest estuary in the United States and provides critical habitat for wildlife. In contrast to point and non-point source release of pesticides, metals, and industrial, personal care and household use chemicals on biota in this watershed, there has only been scant attention to potential exposure and effects of algal toxins on wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay region. As background, we first review the scientific literature on algal toxins and harmful algal bloom (HAB) events in various regions of the world that principally affected birds, and to a lesser …

Discovery And Generation Mechanisms Of Epigenetic Biogenic H2S From Coal Seams In The Fukang Block, Southern Junggar Basin, China, Yan Peipei, Su Xianbo, Zou Chenglong, Zhao Weizhong, Wang Lufei, Fu Haijiao

Coal Geology & Exploration

In the Fukang block located in the eastern part of the southern Junggar Basin, coalbed methane (CBM) from CBM wells exhibits a gradually increasing H₂S concentration in the process of CBM production via water drainage, severely threatening production safety. Based on the CBM exploration and extraction data, as well as the anaerobic fermentation experiments, this study preliminarily investigated the causes of abnormal H₂S concentrations during the CBM production in the Fukang block. As indicated by the gas content test in the CBM exploration stage, the original CBM showed a low H₂S concentration of only …

Wics Conference 2023: Moving Beyond The Ordinary, Daren Redfearn, Daran Rudnick

Water and Integrated Cropping Systems Conferences

The theme of this year’s WICS Conference is Moving Beyond the Ordinary with the goal of addressing Team Science. Our vision is to provide opportunities and connection points among IANR faculty to leverage their individual knowledge, skills, abilities, and passions. A tendency for land grant institutions is often to deliver information biased from a single, primary discipline and perspective. This is known as comfort zone mega bias and has been defined as “the tendency to drag a problem into our comfort zone and solve the problem that we know how to solve, rather than solving the problem that needs to …

Are We There Yet?, Marion S. Freistadt

LSU Master's Theses

To solve the Climate Crisis, a global Energy Transition is required. The primary contemporary tool for tackling these two massive problems is modeling, both biophysical climate models and IAMS (Integrated Assessment Models) which combine socioeconomic and technological progress with Climate Change. However, the proliferation and complexity of modeling systems make it difficult for most people to contribute substantively to solutions. In particular, stakeholders, policymakers, nonspecialists and activists require sufficient understanding of modeling to impact outcomes.

In this thesis, after summarizing the Climate Crisis and potential Energy Transition solutions, I review current modeling approaches. Models can be considered in terms of …

Ten-Year Review And Outlook For International Science Program—Integrated Research On Disaster Risk (Irdr), Huadong Guo, Fang Chen, Qunli Han, Jie Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) Program is a 10-year international science program initiated by International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), International Social Sciences Council (ISSC), and United Nations Office International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). In 2009, International Programme Office (IPO) of IRDR Program successfully applied by China Association for Science and Technology in Beijing, became the first office of ICSU Interdisciplinary Body hosted in Asia. IRDR Program has been implemented for ten years, and it has become the flagship program for global integrated research on disaster risk, established an extensive global disaster risk comprehensive research network, and formed …

Impacts Of Forest Fire Carbon Emission And Mitigation Strategies, Zhihua Liu, Hongshi He, Wenru Xu, Yu Liang, Jiaojun Zhu, Geoff G. Wang, Wei Wei, Zifa Wang, Yongming Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Between 2000 and 2020, global wildfires contributed to approximately 7.32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accounting for about 18.5% of CO2 emissions released from fossil fuels. Forest fires alone contributed to around 20% of these wildfire emissions, approximately 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2. Due to climate change and human activities, carbon emissions from forest fires are on the rise. For example, the 2023 Canadian fires have emitted 1.268 billion metric tons of CO2 up to August 29th. Despite the simultaneous increase in forest area and volume, the frequency and extent of forest fires have significantly decreased …

Nutritional Challenges Of Substituting Farmed Animals For Wild Fish In Human Diets, Sebastian A. Heilpern, Rafael M. Almeida, Kathryn J. Fiorella, Alexander S. Flecker, Demetra Williams, Peter B. Mcintyre

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Wild fisheries provide billions of people with a key source of multiple essential nutrients. As fisheries plateau or decline, nourishing more people will partially rely on shifting consumption to farmed animals. The environmental implications of transitions among animal-sourced foods have been scrutinized, but their nutritional substitutability remains unclear. We compared concentrations of six essential dietary nutrients across >5000 species of wild fishes, aquaculture, poultry and livestock species, representing >65% of animals consumed globally. Wild fishes are both more nutrient-dense and variable than farmed animals; achieving recommended intake of all nutrients with farmed species could require consuming almost four times more …

Microbial Community Function And Bacterial Pathogen Composition In Pit Latrines In Peri-Urban Malawi., Savanna K. Smith, Benjamin B. Risk, Rochelle H. Holm, Elizabeth Tilley, Petros Chigwechokha, Drew Capone, Joe Brown, Francis L. De Los Reyes Iii

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Despite the widespread global reliance on pit latrines as improved sanitation systems, the decomposition of waste within pit latrines is poorly understood. One area needing elucidation is the characterization and function of microbial communities within pit latrines. To address this gap, we characterized the microbial communities of 55 lined pit latrines at three sampling layers from two communities in peri-urban Malawi. The microbial communities of the fecal sludge samples were analyzed for beta diversity, pathogen presence, and functional profiling. Household surveys were conducted and used to compare microbial community patterns to household characteristics and pit latrine use patterns. Compared to …

Pfas Screening And Protein Absolute Quantitation By Mass Spectrometry, Hao Chen

Sustainability Seminar Series

In collaboration with Prof. Mengyan Li at NJIT, we recently developed a rapid analytical method for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) using nano-electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry (Nano-ESI-HRMS), which was recently published in Water Research, 2022, 219, 118542. This method was applied to aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) and wastewater samples collected from three local wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The method exhibited high sensitivity with lower limits of detection (LODs) of 3.2~36.2 ng/L for 22 target PFAS analytes. In AFFF formulations, Nano-ESI-HRMS enabled the first-time detection of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMS), perfluoroethyl cyclohexanesulfonate (PFECHS), 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonyl amido sulfonic acid (6:2 FTSAS-SO2), N …

Applications Of Medico-Legal Entomology: Using Insects For Forensic And Environmental Investigations, Denise Gemmellaro

Sustainability Seminar Series

Forensic entomology is the application of entomology (the study of insects and arthropods) to forensic investigations. Medico-legal entomology focuses on those groups of insects that are attracted to decomposing organic matter. Dr. Gemmellaro’s work is mainly focused on medico-legal entomology. Once a dead body is exposed to the elements, insects will shortly locate the body and will colonize it by laying eggs on it; one of the major groups of colonizers is the true fly family of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Blow fly females need a decomposing body to lay their eggs; the eggs will hatch into maggots and the …

Land Education And Young People Working Toward Salamander: Collective Well-Being In Response To Bioindicators Of Socioenvironmental Justice, Rachael Arens, Ricardo Martinez

Democracy & Education

Our planet is facing many environmental challenges, including climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitat, and pollution, while many of our populations are also experiencing marginalization due to poverty, race, gender, language, ability, and environmental injustices. Environmental hazards and policies often impact those in society who are most at-risk, creating a need for an environmental education (EE) movement that encourages students to challenge and regain control of a system that impacts them. Teachers can implement a reflection tool known as the SALAMANDER Collective Well-Being in Response to Bioindicators of Socioenvironmental Justice Framework to prompt students and other educators to place …

Use And Effectiveness Of Wildlife Exits Designed For Ocelots And Other Mesocarnivores On A South Texas Highway, Zarina N. Sheikh, Jamie E. Langbein, Kevin W. Ryer, Md Saydur Rahman, Christopher A. Gabler, John H. Young Jr., Richard Kline

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Movement is a key component of survival and reproduction, often causing wildlife to cross heavily trafficked highways, resulting in road mortalities by oncoming vehicles. Fencing and crossing structures are commonly regarded as effective mitigation structures to reduce these mortalities. In south Texas, ten wildlife exits (WE) were installed along State Highway 100 in conjunction with existing mitigation structures to provide the US endangered ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), a medium-sized spotted wild cat, a safe option to escape the right of way (ROW). The objectives of this study were to determine the effectiveness and species usage and to estimate the …

Vulnerability Of Elevation-Restricted Endemic Birds Of The Cordillera De Talamanca (Costa Rica And Panama) To Climate Change, Zhen Lui, Luis Sandoval, Lauren B. Sherman, Andrew M. Wilson

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Animals endemic to tropical mountains are known to be especially vulnerable to climate change. The Cordillera de Talamanca (Costa Rica and Panama) is a geographically isolated mountain chain and global biodiversity hotspot, home to more than 50 endemic bird species. We used eBird community science observations to predict the distributions of a suite of 48 of these endemic birds in 2006–2015, and in 2070, under four climate change scenarios. Species distributions were predicted using program Maxent, incorporating elevation, satellite derived habitat data, and WorldClim climate variables. Model fit, as assessed by Area under the Receiver Operator Curve (AUC), was very …

Widespread Dominance Of Methane Ebullition Over Diffusion In Freshwater Aquaculture Ponds, Renske J. E. Vroom, Sarian Kosten, Rafael M. Almeida, Raquel Mendonça, Ive S. Muzitano, Icaro Barbosa, Jonas Nasário, Ernandes S. Oliveira Junior, Alexander S. Flecker, Nathan Barros

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

An ever-increasing demand for protein-rich food sources combined with dwindling wild fish stocks has caused the aquaculture sector to boom in the last two decades. Although fishponds are potentially strong emitters of the greenhouse gas methane (CH₄), little is known about the magnitude, pathways, and drivers of these emissions. We measured diffusive CH₄ emissions at the margin and in the center of 52 freshwater fishponds in Brazil. In a subset of ponds (n = 31) we additionally quantified ebullitive CH₄ fluxes and sampled water and sediment for biogeochemical analyses. Sediments (n = 20) were …

Conserving Nature's Chorus: Local And Landscape Features Promoting Frog Species Richness In Farm Dams, Martino E. Malerba, Jodi J L Rowley, Peter I. Macreadie, James Frazer, Nicholas J. Wright, Nayyar Zaidi, Asef Nazari, Dhananjay Thiruvady, Don A. Driscoll

Climate Science Research Articles

Habitat loss is a key factor in the ongoing freshwater biodiversity crisis. A promising way to help tackle the rapid decline in freshwater biodiversity is to improve the potential for artificial wetlands to provide habitat for aquatic wildlife. Farm dams (also known as agricultural ponds) are among the most abundant waterbodies in agricultural landscapes and can act as “oases” against droughts for many species. Despite their prominent role in agriculture, predictive models to evaluate their ecological potential are yet to emerge. Here we use a continental-scale data set of 104,013 audio recordings from citizen scientists to identify and locate 107 …

Addressing The Challenges Of Establishing Quality Wastewater Or Non- Sewered Sanitation-Based Surveillance, Including Laboratory And Epidemiological Considerations, In Malawi., Rochelle H. Holm, Ruth Nyirenda, Ted Smith, Petros Chigwechokha

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Learning from clinical laboratories, wastewater or environmental (including non-sewered sanitation) environmental microbiology laboratories can be established in resource-limited settings that focus on pathogen detection and pandemic prevention. Transparent discussions on the laboratory challenges and adaptations required for this can help meet the future requirements of health research and surveillance. This report aims to describe the challenges encountered when setting up a wastewater or environmental laboratory for multipathogen surveillance in Malawi, a resource-limited setting, as well as the lessons learnt. We identified nine unifying themes: what to monitor, human resource capacity, indicators of data quality, equipment availability, supply of consumable goods, …

Curriculum Design Of Artificial Intelligence And Sustainability In Secondary School, Jinyi Cai, Mei-Po Kwan, Chunyu Hou, Dong Liu, Yeung Yam

I-GUIDE Forum

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing numerous sectors with its transformative power, while at the same time, there is an increasing sense of urgency to address sustainability challenges. Despite the significance of both areas, secondary school curriculums still lack comprehensive integration of AI and sustainability education. This paper presents a curriculum designed to bridge this gap. The curriculum integrates progressive objectives, computational thinking competencies and system thinking components across five modules—awareness, knowledge, interaction, empowerment and ethics—to cater to varying learner levels. System thinking components help students understand sustainability in a holistic manner. Computational thinking competencies aim to cultivate computational thinkers to guide …

A Spatiotemporal Synthesis Of High-Resolution Salinity Data With Aquaculture Applications, Dong Liang, Jeremy M. Testa, Cassie Gurbisz, Lora A. Harris

I-GUIDE Forum

Technological advancement and the desire to better monitor shallow habitats in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States led to the initiation of several high-resolution monitoring programs such as ConMon (short for “Continuous Monitoring”) measuring oxygen, salinity, and chlorophyll-a at a 15-minute frequency. These monitoring efforts have yielded an enormous volume of data and insight into the condition of the tidal water of the Bay. But this information is underutilized in documenting the fine-scale variability of water quality, which is critical in identifying the link between water quality and ecological responses, partly due to the challenges in integrating monitoring data collected …

The Influence Of Effluent: Exploring How Wastewater Effluent Impacts Ísafjörður, Iceland, Madi Bennett-Wells

Iceland: Climate Change and The Arctic

Wastewater effluent is of growing concern in communities without proper wastewater treatment plans in place. This study examines the effects that wastewater discharge has on water quality in various communities through field research and an accompanying literature review. Water quality parameters (pH and temperature) were used to determine the impact effluent has on the local harbor, Pollurinn, in Ísafjörður, Iceland. Results showed that there was a statistical significance between pH and the area of study, while temperature was more varied; these results signify that effluent has the biggest impact on the area immediately surrounding the effluent pipe. The literature review …

The Uses And Limitations Of Citizen Science For Monitoring The Australian Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias Taurus) Population, Leah Corckran

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

iNaturalist is a citizen science photographic database, which is an underutilized resource in photographic identification research studies. Grey nurse sharks are critically endangered and there is a lack of knowledge regarding the estimated population size, longevity, and interactions with fisheries of this species off the coasts of Australia. To determine how photos submitted to iNaturalist can be used in Carcharias taurus conservation, the photographs were evaluated on a number of criteria including: location, date, visibility of spot patterns, visible sex characteristics, and visible injuries. In total, 814 photographs of grey nurse sharks were obtained from the iNaturalist database. Only 23.2% …

Les Pollinator Habitat, Chloe Herbert, Dillon Richert, Melissa Landis

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2023

A poster titled LES Pollinator Habitat for client Lincoln Electric System (C. Herbert and D. Richert with M. Landis).

Water Current, Volume 55, No. 3, Fall 2023

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 10 No. 2, John Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

Stephen J. Gould’s prophetic piece, “The Golden Rule: A Proper Scale for Our Environmental Crisis”, noted that, “Patience enjoys a long pedigree of favor”, which he elaborated, “usually involves a deep understanding of the fundamental principle… rarely grasped in daily life – the effects of scale.” Scientists observe changes incessantly, in dimensions and time, from microscopic conditions of cellular biology to the inconceivable distances of galaxies and their influences on Earth.

Effects Of Changing Climate Extremes And Vegetation Phenology On Wildlife Associated With Grasslands In The Southwestern United States, Tyler G. Creech, Matthew A. Williamson, Steven E. Sesnie, Esther S. Rubin, Daniel R. Cayan, Erica Fleishman

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Assessments of the potential responses of animal species to climate change often rely on correlations between long-term average temperature or precipitation and species' occurrence or abundance. Such assessments do not account for the potential predictive capacity of either climate extremes and variability or the indirect effects of climate as mediated by plant phenology. By contrast, we projected responses of wildlife in desert grasslands of the southwestern United States to future climate means, extremes, and variability and changes in the timing and magnitude of primary productivity. We used historical climate data and remotely sensed phenology metrics to develop predictive models of …

On The Rocks, Below The Rocks: A Study Of Intertidal Life In The Low, Middle And High Zones Of The Puerto Cabuyal – Punta San Clemente Marine Reserve During An El Niño Event, Juliana M. Ferrer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The rocky intertidal zone is one of the most difficult environments for organisms to survive in due to its harsh biotic and abiotic conditions. As such, it is also one of the best indicators of climate change and an important barrier to beach erosion. This study looked at the rocky intertidal zone of the Puerto Cabuyal-Punta San Clemente Marine Reserve in the Manabí province of Ecuador, with a focus on observing and identifying the organisms found in the area. Data was collected along 30 m transects at varying elevations along the shore using quadrants of two sizes: 50x50 cm for …

Soil Succession: Short And Long-Term Impacts Of Grazing On Soil Properties In A Tropical Montane Cloud Forest, June Curtis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in South America, causing long-lasting alterations to the continent's landscape and ecology. Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) are a rare ecosystem particularly vulnerable to the effects of land conversion to pasture, a process which has implications ranging from biodiversity loss to soil degradation. Grazing is known to significantly alter soils' physical structure through processes of compaction and erosion as well as significant additions of organic matter. Silvopasture, or the integration of pasture and forest, has emerged as an alternative to traditional grazing practices with the hope of mitigating environmental and soil degradation. …

Community Complexity Of A Pollination Network: Analysis Of Plant-Pollinator Interactions In The Eastern Ecuadorian Cloud Forest, Anisa López-Ruiz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Global declines in pollinators and temporal/spatial mismatches between plants and pollinators threaten the integrity of plant-pollinator networks. Ecological network analysis provides a powerful framework for understanding the dynamics of plant-pollinator networks and measures of community complexity that can help inform areas of priority in conservation. This study observed a plant-pollinator network in a secondary forest close to the Río Zuñac Reserve in the eastern Ecuadorian cloud forest to identify assemblages of plants and pollinators and evaluate measures of community complexity, including specialization and nestedness. Flowering plants were identified and observed along a 1.2 km transect, and floral visitors to these …

Friends In High Places: Establishing Pollination Networks For The Páramos Of Central Ecuador, Emma Diaz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Well-known for being a global biodiversity hotspot, the Andean Páramos hosts a unique array of floristic diversity seen nowhere else in the world (Luteyn, n.d.). With the resiliency of this ecosystem dependent on the successful reproduction of these plants, it is crucial to understand the pollination network which sustains them. Modern-day research has outlined networks in the Chilean, Venezuelan, and Argentinean Páramos, but one has yet to be defined for Ecuador, despite being the suspected home to nearly half of floristic diversity in the Páramos (Arroyo et al., 1985; Pelayo et al., 2021; Medan et al., 2023; Caranqui et al., …