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Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

Ecosystem Services Of Urban Tree Canopy For The Mitigation Of Climate Change: Measuring Carbon Sequestration And Understory Temperature Reduction Of Knoxville’S Urban Forest, Tyler Hounshell

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

In the future, the city of Knoxville, Tennessee will be impacted by climate warming due to anthropogenic climate change. Yet, the ecosystem services provided by urban tree canopy in Knoxville’s urban forest can help mitigate the effects of climate warming. In addition to improving air quality, regulating water flow, and reducing noise pollution, Knoxville’s urban forest serves as a carbon sink and sequesters carbon dioxide on an annual basis. Utilizing methods for calculating carbon sequestration by trees in urban and suburban settings developed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the sequestration potential and its uncertainty is calculated until the year …

Fire Monitoring Handbook

United States National Park Service: Publications

Fire is a powerful and enduring force that has had, and will continue to have, a profound influence on National Park Service (NPS) lands. Fire management decisions within the National Park Service require information on fire behavior and on the effects of fire on park resources. With good reason, the public is holding park management increasingly accountable, especially in the area of fire management. Federal and state agencies are instituting progressively more stringent guidelines for burning, monitoring, and evaluation. The impetus behind these guidelines and the purpose of this handbook are to ensure that management objectives are being met, to …

A New Method To Reconstruct Quantitative Food Webs And Nutrient Flows From Isotope Tracer Addition Experiments, Andrés López-Sepulcre, Matthieu Bruneaux, Sarah M. Chinn, Rana W. El-Sabaawi, Alexander S. Flecker, Steven A. Thomas

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding how nutrients flow through food webs is central in ecosystem ecology. Tracer addition experiments are powerful tools to reconstruct nutrient flows by adding an isotopically enriched element into an ecosystem and tracking its fate through time. Historically, the design and analysis of tracer studies have varied widely, ranging from descriptive studies to modeling approaches of varying complexity. Increasingly, isotope tracer data are being used to compare ecosystems and analyze experimental manipulations. Currently, a formal statistical framework for analyzing such experiments is lacking, making it impossible to calculate the estimation errors associated with the model fit, the interdependence of compartments, …

Water Quality Degradation From Dam Removal: Impact On An Urban River System In Central Virginia, Wrenn Cleary

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Dam removal in the United States is an increasingly common practice as dams built decades ago begin to experience structural issues or environmental changes necessitating this action. In Lynchburg, Virginia, College Lake, an 18 Ha reservoir, was briefly overtopped during strong storms during August 2018 causing minor damage to the dam. In response, the City of Lynchburg deemed it necessary to drain the lake to protect property owners downstream fearing complete dam failure. During assessment to determine the best practice for dam removal, College Lake remained drained for 12 weeks as debate to conclusively determine a best course of action …

Habitat Modification On An Urban High School Campus, Nickolas John Davros Ii

Graduate Theses

Biodiversity is in a crisis worldwide, driven by the negative effects from urbanization. Ecosystems are being destroyed in favor of urban areas and natural resources are diminishing. Stormwater management has gained an elevated importance and its associated infrastructure could help counter the loss of biodiversity. Freshwater within urban areas is critical for organisms. Anthropogenic ponds can act as refuge habitats within a blue network and have become a hotspot for ecological research. Using principles of reconciliation ecology, the effects on biodiversity were assessed following the conversion of a stormwater basin on an urban high school in Charlotte, NC. A before-and-after …

Tri-State Mining District, Ecological System, And Human Health: Systematic Literature Review Analysis, Jihyun Jane Min

Posters

Objective: Although extensive research exists on corrosive environments in the Tri-State Mining District (TSMD), there has been a lack of research on how such harmful effects in the TSMD could affect residents living in those areas. However, quite recently, such research regarding relationships between the health conditions of low-income residents and toxic elements in TSDM began to grow. Therefore, the increase of empirical studies means greater complexity of the findings that require a more intricate understanding.

Methods: To meet the necessity of the study, this research was conducted by an extensive systematic review of the literature on the harmful effects …

A Social–Ecological Odyssey In Fisheries And Wildlife Management, Andrew K. Carlson, William W. Taylor, Melissa R. Cronin, Mitchell J. Eaton, Mark A. Kaemingk, Andrea J. Reid, Ashley Trudeau

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Aldo Leopold, famous ecologist and “father” of North American wildlife management, once said, “These are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land” (Leopold 1947). Ever prescient, Leopold recognized that natural resource management is fundamentally about humans and their relationship with nature well before conservation became an established way of thinking, much less the bedrock of entire professions. Similarly, amid the Green Revolution to increase agricultural production, in part, through widespread use of pesticides, renowned environmentalist and journalist Rachel Carson noted that we are all “a part of nature, …

Dreissena In The Great Lakes: Benthic Community Impacts And Facilitation, Sonya C. Bayba

Great Lakes Center Masters Theses

Non-native invasive Dreissena mussels have altered the flow of energy in numerous freshwater systems by diverting nutrients from pelagic to littoral benthic food-webs, thus reducing primary production available to deep offshore benthos. Though the effect of the nearshore-dwelling Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel) on benthos has been studied thoroughly, little is known about the deep, offshore impacts of Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (quagga mussel). In the last two decades, quagga mussels have displaced zebra mussels in shallow Great Lakes regions and colonized previously uninhabited offshore lake regions. It is likely that the spread of quagga mussels into deep profundal areas has resulted …

The Microscopic Threat With A Macroscopic Impact: Microplastics Along The Southeast Florida Reef Tract, Emma Wightman

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Microplastics have been found in large quantities in marine water samples and biota around the world. These microplastics, when present in the marine environment, decrease water quality and negatively impact marine life. This research quantified and classified marine plastic pollution along the Southeast Florida Reef Tract (SEFRT), in order to understand how this plastic is entering the ocean and the scope of the microplastic contamination in the northern SEFRT. Surface and bottom water samples were collected at 7 sites along the SEFRT for 6 months, filtered, and microscopically analyzed for microplastic content and composition using Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR). Classification …

A Floristic Survey Of Andalusia: A Historic Preservation Site In Baldwin County, Georgia, William Pharr

Biology Theses

A survey of the vascular plants of Andalusia, a historic preservation site located along Highway 441 north of Milledgeville in Baldwin County, Georgia, was conducted between August 2018 and February 2020. The site was the late home of esteemed author, Flannery O’Connor, and resides along the Georgia fall line, making it a historically significant area that could yield a unique plant community convergence, as well as rare endemic species. This floristic inventory provides baseline data on the species and plant communities of Andalusia for use in future studies regarding the flora of this area. A total of 191 vascular species …

Assessing Predictors Of Harmful Algal Blooms In The Western Lake Erie Basin., Katherine M. Weigle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been a recurring issue in the Western Lake Erie Basin for more than a decade, despite policies implemented to improve the water quality of the Great Lakes. HABs describe algae that can be harmful to both ecosystem function and human health. The Western Lake Erie Basin, in particular, experiences Microcystis aeruginosa blooms in the summer months due to a multitude of factors leading to increased phosphorus and nitrogen loads in the contributing watersheds. In this study, lake water surface temperature, land cover, river discharge, and precipitation were examined as potential triggers for the occurrence and …

Integrating National Ecological Observatory Network (Neon) Airborne Remote Sensing And In-Situ Data For Optimal Tree Species Classification, Victoria M. Scholl, Megan E. Cattau, Maxwell B. Joseph, Jennifer K. Balch

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurately mapping tree species composition and diversity is a critical step towards spatially explicit and species-specific ecological understanding. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a valuable source of open ecological data across the United States. Freely available NEON data include in-situ measurements of individual trees, including stem locations, species, and crown diameter, along with the NEON Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) airborne remote sensing imagery, including hyperspectral, multispectral, and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data products. An important aspect of predicting species using remote sensing data is creating high-quality training sets for optimal classification purposes. Ultimately, manually creating training data …

Microplastic Prevalence In Four Oregon Rivers Along A Rural To Urban Gradient Applying A Cost-Effective Validation Technique, Amy Valine, Ashley Peterson, Dorothy Horn, Kaegan M. Scully‐Engelmeyer, Elise F. Granek

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microplastics are ubiquitous in our environment and are found in rivers, streams, oceans, and even tap water. Riverine microplastics are relatively understudied compared to those in marine ecosystems. In Oregon, we sampled eight sites along four freshwater rivers spanning rural to urban areas to quantify microplastics. Plankton tow samples from sites along the Columbia, Willamette, Deschutes, and Rogue Rivers were analyzed using traditional light microscopy for initial microplastic counts. Application of Nile Red dye to validate microplastics improved microplastic identification, particularly for particles (Wilcox Test; p‐value=0.001). Nile Red‐corrected microfiber abundance was correlated with human population within five kilometers of the …

Year Long Water Quality Analysis Of White Horn Brook, Kevin Dyer

Senior Honors Projects

KEVIN DYER (Marine Biology)

Year-long Analysis of the Water Quality of White Horn Brook

Sponsor: Thomas Boving (Geological Sciences)

Water is the foundation for all life on earth and is the most vital resource on this planet. Despite this, oceans and waterways all over the world are being polluted and exploited in ways detrimental to their fundamental hydrologic functions. For instance, excess nitrate levels can lead to eutrophication which gives rise to harmful algae blooms. Low pH can cause the breakdown of CaCO3 exoskeletons of organisms, such mollusks. High temperature variations are major stressors to living things and can cause …

Identification And Quantification Of Black Carbon Particulates In Urban River Sediments Involving A Multi-Tiered Analytical Approach, Anastasia Figueroa

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Black Carbon (‘BC’) is routinely defined as the residual carbon fraction resulting from the incomplete combustion of biomass and/or biofuels (Agarwal et al. 2011). BC is best described as spectrum of carbonaceous combustion by-products, encompassing partially combusted, charred plant tissues, to highly graphitized soot (Shrestha et al. 2010). The highly condensed aromatic structures which exist in the BC matrix are largely responsible for its resistance to further biological or chemical degradation, as well as, its efficient sorption properties in soils and sediments (Forbes et al., 2006; Shrestha et al., 2010). Using a multi-tiered geochemical approach, quantification of BC was coupled …

Ferrate(Vi) For Wastewater Treatment : Phosphorus Removal, Lei Zheng

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Phosphorus (P) is a major nutrient present in municipal wastewater. Without proper treatment and management, residual P in treated wastewater finally enters into natural receiving water bodies. Nutrient pollution resulting from excessive P, together with the other nutrient, i.e. nitrogen (N), is a leading cause of eutrophication, a ubiquitous U.S. water quality issue. An overgrowth of algae during eutrophication brings extremely adverse impacts on the water quality. The algal bloom can rapidly deplete dissolved oxygen, lead to the death of aquatic life, increase water turbidity, and cause taste and odor issues. Moreover, some harmful algal boom can produce toxins to …

The Spatial Economics Of Clean Energy In New Jersey, Anthony J. Bevacqua

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Clean energy policy is critically important in driving reductions of greenhouse gases and mitigating climate change. As clean energy technologies improve over time and interact with social systems and broader energy markets, there is a need for innovative environmental management that supports development of new clean energy policy. Understanding where these technologies may be deployed, quantifying the anticipated benefits, and mitigating risks are required for successful policy optimization. With these considerations in mind, this dissertation explores geothermal heat pumps (GHP), solar photovoltaics, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). We call upon spatial economics to investigate these topics by incorporating …

Record Fledging Count From A Seven-Egg Clutch In The Cooper’S Hawk (Accipiter Cooperii), Robert N. Rosenfield, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Ann Riddle-Berntsen, Evan Kuhel

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Cooper’s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) typically lay 3–5 eggs per clutch, rarely 6 eggs, and there are 2 accounts of 7-egg clutches and 1 record of a maximum 8-egg clutch for the species. Brood sizes of 3–5 young are common and the previous maximum brood count is 6 young. However, in 2019, we found an urban nest in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, with 7 eggs that resulted in a record high of 7 fledglings. We genetically confirmed that the attending male sired all the offspring and the attending female laid all 7 eggs. Larger body size of the tending adults …

An Analysis Of Groundwater Quality As Sampling Networks Age: The Gaps In Groundwater Monitoring, Angela Leone

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Groundwater management is an important facet of protecting this important resource. One way that we ensure proper groundwater management is through the regular, long-term monitoring of groundwater wells at waste management sites throughout the country. This study investigates potential changes to groundwater quality attributed to degradation of well construction materials rather than impacts to aquifers from wastes. This assessment was completed using a data analysis of groundwater trends at closed landfill sites. An analysis of fifty-five sites was completed and three sites met our criteria for suitable data history. Due to the lack of suitable data, a more thorough investigation …

Effects Of Light, Nutrients, And Salts On Microbial Biofilm Productivity And Detrital Processing In Aquatic Mesocosms, Bethanie Brooke Howard-Parker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities associated with urbanization, agriculture, and resource extraction continue to increase to support increasing needs of the growing population. These activities increase the amounts of pollutants entering freshwater streams and put aquatic ecosystems at structural and functional risk. Aquatic microbes play an important role in detrital processing in streams as a key linkage in moving carbon from detrital stocks into aquatic food webs. My research investigates the effects of light, nutrients, and salts on detrital microbes and decomposition in freshwaters using a mesocosm approach. In chapter one, I modified a current priming effect (PE) hypothesis model to include light …

Chefs' Perceptions Of Zero Waste Cooking In Restaurants, Josephine Reardon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine chefs’ perceptions and practices relative to current and potentially future efforts to decrease food waste. Through qualitative inquiry, this research aims to identify food waste reduction practices in Northwest Arkansas restaurants; chef’s perceptions of these practices and zero waste cooking; the impact these practices have on successfully implementing sustainability; and the biggest challenges in reducing food waste in restaurants. The results of this study will assist chefs and restaurant owners by providing guidance on practices easily utilized in restaurants currently.

An interview protocol, with five sections, was conducted with ten chefs at …

Design Of A Shallow-Aero Ebb And Flow Hydroponics System And Associated Educational Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Julie Halveland

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tri Cycle Farms, whose main mission is to reduce food insecurity in their community, is a non- profit urban farm in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The “Tri” in their name refers to the three parts of their foundation: giving a third of their yield to volunteers, giving a third to local food pantries, and selling a third to sustain the farm and demonstrate the economy of local food production. They want to expand on the third part and have a vision of building a hydroponic greenhouse with the intention that it will create more crops to sell and give, as well as …

Charismatic Predators In Modern Africa: Spotted Hyena (Crocuta Crocuta) And Human Coexistence In The Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana, Jazmin Castillo

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

Increasing human populations has led researchers to investigate the impacts of high human population density and its impact on carnivore populations. Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) hold a unique place in African ecosystems due to being a very successful top predator with an adaptable diet whereas other top predators, like the African lion, are rapidly decreasing in abundance. We investigated past and current spotted hyena abundance within the Northern Tuli Game Reserve to better aid in wildlife management. Spotted hyenas showed no significant difference in the change in population abundance throughout the different years of the study (2008-2016). Spotted …

Recreational Activity Dynamics At Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, Olivia A. Darugna

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

Many parks and protected areas are managed for a dual purpose to conserve ecological systems and to provide wildlife-compatible recreational opportunities for visitors. Managing parks and protected areas to meet this dual goal entails progressive management approaches that incorporate information about social and ecological components of these systems. Current management regimes focus heavily on the ecological component with little or no information concerning the social component of parks and protected areas. Incorporating social information is essential for understanding and accounting for social conflicts and ecological impacts that result from a diversity of recreational activities. We examined recreational activities at Valentine …

Sustainable Wastewater Treatment In The American South, Caroline Miles

Master's Theses

Aging infrastructure and changing social and environmental conditions are two factors that are currently pushing wastewater treatment towards more sustainable methods. This thesis investigates what sustainable treatment technologies are being used in the American South through a focused sample of six cities across the region: Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The study assesses the types of sustainable treatment technology utilized at each facility, the perspectives of wastewater professionals about the technology, and the economic and environmental sustainability of each facility. Data was collected through direct observations on tours of the facilities, …

Can Desert Mosses Hide From Climate Change? The Ecophysiological Importance Of Habitat Buffering & Water Relations To A Keystone Biocrust Moss In The Mojave Desert, Theresa Ann Clark

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Empirical and observational studies suggest a keystone biocrust moss, Syntrichia caninervis, may be sensitive to future climate change in the American Southwest due to its uniquely sensitive water relations that appear particularly challenged during summer hydration-desiccation cycles. However, the potential mitigating roles of habitat buffering, acclimatization, and winter recovery on the vulnerability of this species remain largely unexplored. I investigated potential abiotic and biotic resiliency factors driving summer stress resistance and recovery in S. caninervis along present-day aridity gradients in the Mojave Desert to strengthen the climate change vulnerability assessment for this species common to biocrusts of North America, northern …

Irrigation Design In Montana: Accommodating Varying Water Accessibility Across The Continental Divide., John Garrett Lampson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The design work performed in this project was conducted over two summers (2018, 2019) of internship experience with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) across the state of Montana. The first summer’s design work was based out of Glendive, MT, in Dawson County, approximately 50 kilometers from the North Dakota border. The second summer was in Missoula, MT, in Missoula County, near the Idaho border. The two areas differ significantly in topography, weather, and water availability with the main separating geographic influence being the Rocky Mountains.

This paper focuses on the design process and requirements for two farms located outside …

Remediation Of Crude Petroleum Oil-Water Emulsions Using Microalgae, Mohamed Shafi

Civil and Environmental Theses

Crude petroleum oil spills are among the most important organic contaminations, which result from uncontrolled releases and spillages during transportation or storage. The separated oils on that accumulate on top of the water can be removed by various conventional skimming methods. However, the emulsified portions that remain within the water phase are more difficult to remove and pose significant threats to the environment and could tamper the tertiary treatment in a wastewater treatment plant. Biological treatment, using bacteria, have proven to be an effective method in the removal of the emulsified oils. However, the biomass produced in this case does …

Boundary, Costs And Trade-Offs In Reserve Design Systems, Justus Hurd

Honors Theses

Due to limitations in funding and natural resources, it is infeasible to construct perfect reserve systems for large populations of critical species. For this project, our objective is to formulate a reserve design model that minimizes the distance between reserve sites meeting a threshold of biodiversity features subject to a species coverage constraints. Coupled with other spatial characteristics including reserve size and configuration, the boundary of a reserve system is of key importance. While positive area effects are gained when selecting additional sites, negative boundary length effects are also experienced. For example, it is costly to implement and maintain boundary …