Digital Commons Network^™

Developing Novel Molecular Detection Techniques For Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges Tsugae), Meg Sanders

Masters Theses

Hemlock forests in eastern North America face a deadly threat: the invasive insect, hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae. Early detection of this pest remains a key focus for management groups to ensure rapid response to control and stop the spread of HWA. In Chapter II, our goals were to develop an affordable, easy-to-use trap that is compatible with airborne eDNA sampling techniques and assess its efficiency as a monitoring tool for HWA. We tested three potential trap designs (i.e., passive trap, funnel trap, and motorized trap) against a standard sticky trap. Our passive, funnel, and motorized traps estimated …

Linking Migration To Community Resilience In The Receiving Basin Of A Large-Scale Water Transfer Project, Anna Erwin, Zhao Ma, Ruxandra Popovici, Emma Patricia Salas O’Brien, Laura Zanotti, Chelsea A. Silva, Eliseo Zeballos Zeballos, Jonathan Bauchet, Nelly Ramírez Calderón, Glenn Roberto Arce Larreah

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Large-scale water transfer projects (LWTPs) transfer water to urban and agricultural areas. The Majes-Siguas canal, established in 1983, is an LWTP that created a thriving agricultural area through irrigating the Majes district in the Atacama Desert of Peru. Like other LWTP receiving basins, the project has attracted an influx of migrants who work on the farms. At the same time, the Majes LWTP is the district’s only source of water and has an aging infrastructure which presents significant risks. While many studies critically analyze the consequences of LWTPs in water supply basins, few evaluate the resilience of communities living in …

Ecological Risk Assessment For The State-Wide Small Pelagic Scalefish Resource, S. Blazeski, J. Norriss, K. A. Smith, M. Hourston

Fisheries Research Reports

In July 2021, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development convened an ecological risk assessment (ERA) of the fisheries that access the State-wide Small Pelagic Scalefish Resource. The ERA considered the potential ecological impacts of the West Coast Purse Seine Fishery, South Coast Purse Seine Fishery, Purse Seine Development Zones and the recreational fishers who catch small pelagic scalefish. The assessment evaluated the impact of each fishing sector/method on all relevant retained and bycatch species, endangered, threatened and protected species, habitats and the broader environment.

Experiment And Simulation Platform For Oasis-Desert Symbiotic Relationship (Odp), Yan Li, Xinjun Zheng, Yuguang Wang, Guiqing Xu, Ran Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Junggar Basin is a typical arid inland region in the northern temperate zone of the Earth. The surrounding high mountains form runoff, which flows into the basin and develops oasis. Oasis and desert are interdependent. Oasis needs to leach out its naturally accumulated salts through drainage. This drainage provides water and nutrients to desert vegetation. Desert vegetation, in turn, provides an ecological protection for oasis. Hence, oasis and desert have a symbiotic relationship. With excessive exploitation of land and water resources with water-saving technologies, salts cannot be leached out of the oasis region anymore. As a result, the groundwater level …

A Literature Review Of Wetland Treatment Systems Used To Treat Runoff Mixtures Containing Antibiotics And Pesticides From Urban And Agricultural Landscapes, Emily R. Nottingham, Tiffany L. Messer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Wetland treatment systems are used extensively across the world to mitigate surface runoff. While wetland treatment for nitrogen mitigation has been comprehensively reviewed, the implications of common-use pesticides and antibiotics on nitrogen reduction remain relatively unreviewed. Therefore, this review seeks to comprehensively assess the removal of commonly used pesticides and antibiotics and their implications for nitrogen removal in wetland treatment systems receiving non-point source runoff from urban and agricultural landscapes. A total of 181 primary studies were identified spanning 37 countries. Most of the reviewed publications studied pesticides (n = 153) entering wetlands systems, while antibiotics (n = 29) had …

Poor Acclimation To Experimental Field Drought In Subalpine Forest Tree Seedlings, Alex Goke, Patrick H. Martin

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

The ability of tree species to acclimate and tolerate projected increases in drought frequency and intensity has fundamental implications for future forest dynamics with climate change. Inquiries to date on the drought tolerance capacities of tree species, however, have focused almost exclusively on mature trees with scant in situ work on seedlings, despite the central role that regeneration dynamics play in forest responses to changing conditions. We subjected naturally established seedlings of co-dominant subalpine conifer species (Abies lasiocarpa and Picea engelmannii) in the southern Rocky Mountains to 2 years of in situ summer precipitation exclusion, simulating summer drought …

Distribution, Abundance And Natural Enemies Of The Invasive Tomato Leafminer, Tuta Absoluta (Meyrick) In Kenya, G. Kinyanjui, F. M. Khamis, F. L.O. Ombura, E. U. Kenya, S. Ekesi, S. A. Mohamed

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) has become a serious menace to sustainable production of tomato in Kenya. A survey was conducted between April 2015 and June 2016 to determine its distribution, abundance, infestation, and damage levels on tomato, and associated natural enemies. Trap counts of T. absoluta moths were recorded in all surveyed 29 counties, which indicated its nationwide distribution irrespective of altitude. Tuta absoluta was present in both open fields and greenhouses. The highest moth/trap/day was 115.38 ± 15.90. Highest leaf infestation was 92.22% and the highest number of mines and larvae per leaf were 3.71 ± 0.28 and 2.16 ± …

Joint Management Of Upland & Aquatic Habitat For The California Red-Legged Frog & California Tiger Salamander, Kyle E. Verblaauw

Master's Projects and Capstones

As federally and state protected amphibians, the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) and the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) are recipients of ample management focus. Both species face a variety of threats, including habitat loss and alteration, introduction of non-native species, spread of disease, and effects of climate change. While management plans for the California tiger salamander and California red-legged frog exist, they frequently do not consider both species in tandem and often contain multiple shortcomings. This document aims to address the shortfalls of current management by providing practical recommendations for jointly managing the upland and …

Sustainable Irrigation Based On Co-Regulation Of Soil Water Supply And Atmospheric Evaporative Demand, Jingwen Zhang, Kaiyu Guan, Bin Peng, Ming Pan, Wang Zhou, Chongya Jiang, Hyungsuk Kimm, Trenton E. Franz, Robert F. Grant, Yi Yang, Daran R. Rudnick, Derek M. Heeren, Andrew E. Suyker, William L. Bauerle, Grace L. Miner

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Irrigation is an important adaptation to reduce crop yield loss due to water stress from both soil water deficit (low soil moisture) and atmospheric aridity (high vapor pressure deficit, VPD). Traditionally, irrigation has primarily focused on soil water deficit. Observational evidence demonstrates that stomatal conductance is co-regulated by soil moisture and VPD from water supply and demand aspects. Here we use a validated hydraulically-driven ecosystem model to reproduce the co-regulation pattern. Specifically, we propose a plant-centric irrigation scheme considering water supply-demand dynamics (SDD), and compare it with soil-moisture-based irrigation scheme (management allowable depletion, MAD) for continuous maize cropping systems in …

Magnitude And Uncertainty Of Nitrous Oxide Emissions From North America Based On Bottom-Up And Top-Down Approaches: Informing Future Research And National Inventories, R. Xu, Hanqin Tian, N. Pan, R. L. Thompson, J. G. Canadell, E. A. Davidson, C. Nevison, W. Winiwarter, H. Shi, S. Pan, J. Chang, P. Ciais, Shree Dangal, A. Ito, R. B. Jackson, F. Joos, R. Lauerwald, S. Lienert, T. Maavara, D. B. Millet, P. A. Raymond, P. Regnier, F. N. Tubiello, N. Vuichard, K. C. Wells, C. Wilson, J. Yang, Y. Yao, S. Zaehle, F. Zhou

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We synthesized N₂O emissions over North America using 17 bottom-up (BU) estimates from 1980– 2016 and five top-down (TD) estimates from 1998 to 2016. The BU-based total emission shows a slight increase owing to U.S. agriculture, while no consistent trend is shown in TD estimates. During 2007–2016, North American N₂O emissions are estimated at 1.7 (1.0–3.0) Tg N yr⁻¹ (BU) and 1.3 (0.9–1.5) Tg N yr⁻¹ (TD). Anthropogenic emissions were twice as large as natural fluxes from soil and water. Direct agricultural and industrial activities accounted for 68% of total anthropogenic emissions, 71% of …

Characterization Of Landfill Leachate For Enhanced Metal Recovery, Hanna Fulford, Amisha Shah, Inez Hua, Nadezhda Zyaykina, Lori Hoagland, Alejandro Rodriguez Sanchez, Umut Bicim

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Landfills contain a trove of valuable materials, such as critical, precious, and rare earth metals, that are integral to the United State’s economy and national security. The leachate that filters through landfills picks up these materials, which allows for the possibility of recovery. For this research, samples will be analyzed from landfills throughout the Midwestern United States to provide a baseline on water quality constituents, elements present, and microbial activity. Preliminary data for this study was acquired by analyzing samples of landfill leachate from a landfill in northern Indiana. pH readings indicate that the leachate is slightly basic. It also …

Ecological Exposure And Effects Of Microplastics In Crabs Along The Pacific Coast, Dorothy A. Horn

Dissertations and Theses

Microplastics have been documented across the global oceans as an ubiquitous pollutant. Found in the water column, sediment, shorelines, estuaries, freshwater streams and rivers along with terrestrial soils, flora and fauna. The continuous input of plastic waste into the marine environment doesn't seem to be slowing as the amount of plastic created each year increases globally.

This study investigated (1) the effects of microplastic ingestion in the indicator species, the Pacific mole crab (Emerita analoga), testing the predator avoidance behavior, reproductive output and parasitism effects when an adult female gravid crab had ingested microplastics (2) adult mortality, hatching …

Odu Research Is Showcased In ‘Waters Rising’ Exhibition At The Chrysler Museum Of Art, Amber Kennedy

News Items

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Final Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites – Field Sampling And Investigation Plan (Fsp) Bres No. 154 – Clark Mill Tailings Ne, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Sediment Budgets For Small Salinized Agricultural Catchments In Southwest Australia And Implications For Phosphorus Transport, Robert J. Wasson, David Weaver

Natural Resources Research Articles

Examples of sediment budgets are needed to document the range of budget types and their controls. Sediment budgets for three small agricultural catchments (7.6 to 15.6 km2) in southwestern Australia are dominated by channel and gully erosion, with sheet and rill erosion playing a subordinate role. Erosion was increased by clearing naturally swampy valley floors and hillslopes for agriculture and grazing, and episodic intense rainstorms. The proportion of sediment from channel and gully erosion in the sediment budget appears to be determined by the depth of alluvial fills. Dryland salinization caused by clearing native vegetation has connected hillslopes to channels …

Identification And Characterization Of Forest Fire Risk Zones Leveraging Machine Learning Methods, Joshua Balson, Matt Chinchilla, Cam Lu, Jeff Washburn, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

Across the United States, record numbers of wildfires are observed costing billions of dollars in property damage, polluting the environment, and putting lives at risk. The ability of emergency management professionals, city planners, and private entities such as insurance companies to determine if an area is at higher risk of a fire breaking out has never been greater. This paper proposes a novel methodology for identifying and characterizing zones with increased risks of forest fires. Methods involving machine learning techniques use the widely available and recorded data, thus making it possible to implement the tool quickly.

The Effects Of Hydrologic Heterogeneity On Harmful Algal Blooms In Freshwater Reservoir, Lake Sinclair, Georgia, Margaret Blackledge

Biology Theses

Aquatic habitats are frequently studied after a major water quality problem like the occurrence of an algal bloom. In this study, A proactive rather than a reactive response was considered, where the complexity of conditions conducive to uncontrolled cell growth were studied before a bloom took place by sampling regularly. This study aimed to monitor water quality by monthly sampling of algal communities for approximately one year. As the base of the aquatic food web, algae are a highly diverse group of organisms with varying sensitivity to physical and chemical changes in the environment. Four shallow sites were monitored at …

Assessing The Potential For Lightning-Induced Damage In Commercial Broiler Houses In Mississippi And Alabama, Matthew R. Rowland

Theses and Dissertations

Modern broiler houses are expensive to build, maintain, and insure. Protecting them from extreme weather events is a major concern to producers, integrators, and insurance companies. Lightning strikes can cause catastrophic fires and electrical damage and can lead to costly bird losses. A greater understanding of the impact of lightning on the commercial broiler industries of MS and AL is needed. The objectives of this research were collection of baseline resistance data for broiler houses and equipment in both states, and mapping lightning strike densities across MS and AL, evaluating annual, monthly, seasonal, and diurnal patterns. 63.5% of surveyed broiler …

Ten Simple Rules For Creating A Scientific Web Application, Jessica L. Burnett, Renee Dale, Chung-Yi Hou, Gabriela Palomo-Muoz, Kaitlin Stack Whitney, Steve Aulenbach, Robert Sky Bristol, Denis Valle, Tristan P. Wellman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The use of scientific web applications (SWApps) across biological and environmental sciences has grown exponentially over the past decades or so. Although quantitative evidence for such increased use in practice is scant, collectively, we have observed that these tools become more commonplace in teaching, outreach, and in science coproduction (e.g., as decision support tools). Despite the increased popularity of SWApps, researchers often receive little or no training in creating such tools. Although rolling out SWApps can be a relatively simple and quick process using modern, popular platforms like R shiny apps or Tableau dashboards, making them useful, usable, and sustainable …

Understanding How Changes In Precipitation Intensity Will Affect Vegetation In The Western U.S., Cristina Chirvasa

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Precipitation events are becoming more intense as the atmosphere warms, but it remains unclear how precipitation intensification will affect plant growth in arid and semiarid ecosystems. There is conflicting evidence suggesting that larger precipitation events may either increase or decrease plant growth. Here, we report the growth responses of herbaceous and woody plants to experimental manipulations of precipitation intensity in a cold, semi-arid ecosystem in Utah, USA. In this experiment, precipitation was collected and redeposited as fewer, larger events with total annual precipitation kept constant across treatments. Results from the first two growing seasons revealed that more intense events ‘pushed’ …

Element Contamination In Port Everglades – Preparing For Ecological Impacts, Laura White

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Port dredging is of economic importance worldwide but its impacts to the marine environment through the remobilization of elemental contaminants are not well understood. A massive deepening and widening of Port Everglades, Florida, will begin in 2023. Contaminated sediment disturbed during the dredging process could be released and prove to be harmful to three coral reef tracks located beginning 1.5 miles away from the port. This study focused on identifying and quantifying 14 different trace elements: arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), tin (Sn), …

Modeling Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Large-Scale Intensive Cropping Systems In The Southern Amazon, Ciniro Costa Jr., Gillian L. Galford, Michael T. Coe, Marcia Macedo, Kathijo Jankowski, Christine S. O'Connell, Christopher Neill

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer use is rapidly intensifying on tropical croplands and has the potential to increase emissions of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N₂O). Since about 2005 Mato Grosso (MT), Brazil has shifted from single-cropped soybeans to double-cropping soybeans with maize, and now produces 1.5% of the world's maize. This production shift required an increase in N fertilization, but the effects on N₂O emissions are poorly known. We calibrated the process-oriented biogeochemical DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model to simulate N₂O emissions and crop production from soybean and soybean-maize cropping systems in MT. After model validation with …

Assessment Of Heavy Metal Pollution In The Seawater Of Hadhramout Coastal Area, Yemen, Nabil Abdo Al-Shwaf, Mohammed Abdulla Al-Wosabi, Hisham Mohammed Nagi, Nada Sheikh Mol-Aldwila

Hadhramout University Journal of Natural & Applied Sciences

Hadhramout is considered as the industrial and commercial center for fishing in Yemen. Accordingly, Yemen food security depends highly on maritime products of Hadhramout. Consequently, any severe contamination caused by industrial activities would have direct or indirect negative impact on the sea life and marine environment. Seawater samples were collected from Hadhramout Governorate coastal area Yemen. Five sampling locations were selected to conduct the present study. The samples were taken on a seasonal basis from Augusts of 2013 until May 2014. Twenty seawater samples were collected from the five areas (Ras sharma, Burum, AL-Mukalla, AL-Sheher and Arryidah) at Hadhramout coastal …

Applying Integrative Systematics To Long-Standing Species Boundary Questions In The Zoanthidea, Annika Markovich

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The study of systematics has been around for over 200 years. Some recent systematic studies have shifted to the idea of genetic barcoding for identification and classification. This shift is notably present in the cnidarian order Zoanthidea. Systematists have employed genetic barcoding exclusively for the classification of these animals resulting in taxonomic uncertainty. A prominent Mediterranean species complex (Parazoanthus axinellae) is at the center of these taxonomic issues. Recently two color-morpho-types: “slender” yellow and “stocky” orange have been used to differentiate modern P. axinellae specimens, advancing the uncertainty associated with this complex. This lack of taxonomic identity becomes …

Windblown Transport Of Toxic Metals In Airborne Particulate Matter Near The Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine On Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, Savannah S. Larosa-Lopresti

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Abandoned uranium mines across the U.S. disproportionately affect indigenous communities who suffer numerous intergenerational health consequences from chronic exposure to toxic metal mixtures. The Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine on Laguna Pueblo in west-central New Mexico was designated a Superfund Site in 2013 and exposure risks from inhalation of toxic metals in airborne particulate matter are of concern for the local tribal communities. This research aims to examine atmospheric parameters driving windblown transport of respirable particulate matter in the region, to determine concentrations of heavy metals including U, V, Pb, and As due to the link with potential health risks, and to …

Irrigation Systems Management, Dean E. Eisenhauer, Derrel L. Martin, Derek M. Heeren, Glenn J. Hoffman

Open Educational Resources: Textbooks

Like most textbooks, this book grew out of our desire to have written material that matches the educational needs of both the students and the instructor of a college course, in this case a course entitled Irrigation Systems Management. The book is the culmination of course notes which have been in development and use for nearly 30 years.

The emphasis of this book is on the management of irrigation systems that are used for agricultural crop production. There are two distinct components of the book, starting with the soil-water-plant-atmosphere system and how soil water should be managed to achieve the …

Soil Microbial Community Dynamics In Response To Prescribed Extreme Fires Following Juniperus Virginiana Invasion In The Loess Canyons Of Nebraska, Julie A. Fowler

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In Nebraska and other regions of the Great Plains, the conifer Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar) is converting grasslands to dense woodlands. This is driven by the interacting drivers of fire suppression, altered grazing regimes, climate change and other anthropogenic factors, impacting the provisioning of ecosystem services. This vegetation state transition modifies water resource regulation and biogeochemical cycles leading to altered edaphic properties including soil microbial community composition. To restore these grasslands and control J. virginiana spread, prescribed extreme burns are implemented as a management tool through local prescribed burn associations. We hypothesized that the alternative state transition to dense J. …

Rhizobium Symbiotic Capacity Shapes Root-Associated Microbiomes In Soybean, Yuanhui Lu, Bin Ma, Wenfeng Chen, Klaus Schlaeppi, Matthias Erb, Erinne Stirling, Lingfei Hu, Entao Wang, Yunzeng Zhang, Kankan Zhao, Zhijiang Lu, Shudi Ye, Jianming Xu

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Root-microbiome interactions are of central importance for plant performance and yield. A distinctive feature of legumes is that they engage in symbiosis with N₂-fixing rhizobia. If and how the rhizobial symbiotic capacity modulates root-associated microbiomes are still not yet well understood. We determined root-associated microbiomes of soybean inoculated with wild type (WT) or a noeI mutant of Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens USDA 110 by amplicon sequencing. UPLC-MS/MS was used to analyze root exudates. The noeI gene is responsible for fucose-methylation of Nod factor secreted by USDA 110 WT strain. Soybean roots inoculated with the noeI mutant showed a significant decrease …

Constraints To Waterfowl Hunting By Hunters And Anglers In The Central United States, Matthew P. Hinrichs, Matthew P. Gruntorad, Julia A. Nawrocki, Mark P. Vrtiska, Mark A. Pegg, Christopher J. Chizinski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Waterfowl hunting participation has been on the decline since the mid‐1980s. We used a web‐based survey to better understand waterfowl hunting constraints (i.e., factors that limit or prohibit participation and enjoyment in leisure activities) among hunters and anglers that hunted or did not hunt waterfowl in the central United States. Forty‐eight constraint items were condensed into 10 constraint factors: Rules and Regulations, Waterfowl Identification, Cost, Waterfowl Hunting Skills, Land Access and Permissions, Interference by Other Hunters, Travel, Social, Waterfowl Populations, and Views of Others. We observed significant effects of both state of residence and activity type (i.e., frequent waterfowl hunters, …

A Physiological Signal Derived From Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Quantifies Crop Physiological Response To Environmental Stresses In The U.S. Corn Belt, Hyungsuk Kimm, Kaiyu Guan, Chongya Jiang, Guofang Miao, Genghong Wu, Andrew Suyker, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Carl J. Bernacchi, Christopher M. Montes, Joseph A. Berry, Xi Yang, Christian Frankenberg, Min Chen, Philipp Köhler

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) measurements have shown unique potential for quantifying plant physiological stress. However, recent investigations found canopy structure and radiation largely control SIF, and physiological relevance of SIF remains yet to be fully understood. This study aims to evaluate whether the SIF-derived physiological signal improves quantification of crop responses to environmental stresses, by analyzing data at three different spatial scales within the U.S. Corn Belt, i.e. experiment plot, field, and regional scales, where ground-based portable, stationary and space-borne hyperspectral sensing systems are used, respectively. We found that, when controlling for variations in incoming radiation and canopy structure, crop …