Digital Commons Network^™

Can Ocean Modeling Help Predict Where Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles Wash Up?, Mikayla L. Twiss

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

White Sharks As A Novel Threat To Sea Otter Populations In California, Kimberly S. Schmutz

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Feeding Ecology Of Invasive Lionfish In Southeast Florida, Ruchao Qian

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Endangered Whale Species In A Pristine Environment: Pollutant Concentrations Indicative Of A Problem?, Briana R. Coulter

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

No Evidence Of Fine Scale Thermal Adaption In Green Turtles, Taylor Apter

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

New Intervention Method For Halting Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, Samantha Buckley

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning Provides A Much-Needed Solution For Marine Mammal Protection, Shaman Patel

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Ghost Fishing In Coral Reef Ecosystems, Katherine E. Meurer

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Could Impact Narwhal Consumption By Killer Whales, Mykenzee L. Munaco

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Fishing Industry And Misidentification Leading To Angel Sharks Decline, Gretchen M. Spencer

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Flamboyant Cuttlefish: Camouflage Tactics And Colorful Behavior, Shaquilla M. Hamlett

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Distribution Of Polar Bear Dens In The Canadian Arctic, Brice Schrenkel

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Use Of Multiple Environment Variety Trials Data To Simulate Maize Yields In The Ogallala Aquifer Region: A Two Model Approach, Vaishali Sharda, Mesfin Mekonnen, Chittaranjan Ray, Prasanna H. Gowda

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

With a long-term goal to optimize use of groundwater in the Ogallala Aquifer Region (OAR) to sustain food production systems, this study was conducted to calibrate Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) and AquaCrop crop modeling platforms to simulate maize production at a regional scale using historic datasets. Calibration of the models with local crop growth data and crop management practices is important, but usually this in-season crop growth information is not available. This study determined the possibility of using maize variety trial data for the evaluation of the CSM-Crop Estimation through Resources and Environmental Synthesis-Maize and AquaCrop models …

Computational Assessment Of Aortic Valve Function And Mechanics Under Hypertension, Saurav Kadel

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD), the most common valvular heart disorder, is associated with complications such as stroke, heart attack, aortic aneurysm, left ventricular hypertrophy, and ultimately death. While hypertension has been identified as a major risk factor for CAVD, the mechanisms by which it may promote calcification are still unknown. Given the sensitivity of valvular tissue to mechanical stress alterations, the hemodynamic abnormalities linked to hypertension may play a role in the development of CAVD. Further, the effects of hypertension on the left ventricular functionality and coronary flow resistance remain largely uninvestigated. Hence, the objectives of this thesis were …

The Hydrostatics And Hydrodynamics Of Prominent Heteromorph Ammonoid Morphotypes And The Functional Morphology Of Ammonitic Septa, David Joseph Peterman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Ammonoid cephalopods have chambered shells that regulated buoyancy. The morphology of their shells strongly influenced the physical properties acting on these animals during life. Heteromorph ammonoids, which undergo changes in coiling throughout ontogeny, are the focus of this dissertation. The biomechanics of these cephalopods are investigated in a framework involving functional morphology, paleoecology, and possible modes of life. Constructional constraints were investigated for the marginally-corrugated septal walls within the chambered ammonoid shell. These constraints governed the positive relationship between septal complexity and terminal size. Furthermore, increased septal complexity facilitated liquid retention via surface tension. More complex septa would have increased …

Measuring The Occurrence Of Antibiotics In Surface Water Adjacent To Cattle Grazing Areas Using Passive Samplers, Nasrin Naderi Beni, Daniel D. Snow, Elaine D. Berry, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Tiffany Messer, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

A wide variety of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals are used in livestock production systems and residues passed to the environment, often unmetabolized, after use and excretion. Antibiotic residuesmay be transported frommanure-treated soils via runoff and are also capable of reaching surface and groundwater systems through a variety of pathways. The occurrence and persistence of antibiotics in the environment is a concern due to the potential for ecological effects and proliferation of environmental antibiotic resistance in pathogenic organisms. In the present study, the occurrence and seasonal variation of 24 commonly-used veterinary antibiotics was evaluated in surface water adjacent to several livestock …

Dredging Activity And Associated Sound Have Negligible Effects On Adult Atlantic Sturgeon Migration To Spawning Habitat In A Large Coastal River, Matthew Balazik, Michael Barber, Safra Altman, Kevin Reine, Alan Katzenmeyer, Aaron Bunch, Greg Garman

Rice Rivers Center Research

Dredging is considered a major threat/impedance to anadromous fish migrating to spawning habitat. Due to the perceived threat caused by dredging, environmental windows that restrict dredge operations are enforced within many rivers along the east coast. However, it is generally unknown how anadromous fish react to encountering an active dredge during spawning migrations. Atlantic sturgeon (ATS) are an endangered, anadromous species along the Atlantic slope of North America. To determine if and how an active dredge may affect ATS spawning migration, a Vemco Positioning System array was deployed around an active hydraulic-cutterhead dredge that adult ATS must traverse to reach …

Similar Bird Communities Across Grazing Systems In The Nebraska Sandhills, M. Sliwinski, L.A. Powell, W. Schacht

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arkansas Bulletin Of Water Research - Issue 2020, Erin Scott, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research

The Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research is a publication of the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC). This bulletin is produced in an effort to share water research relevant to Arkansas water stakeholders in an easily searchable and aesthetically engaging way. This is the third publication of the bulletin and will be published annually. The submission of a paper to this bulletin is appropriate for topics at all related to water resources, by anyone conducting water research or investigations. This includes but is not limited to university researchers, consulting firms, watershed groups, and other agencies. Prospective authors should read the “Introduction …

A Systematic Review Of Participatory Scenario Planning To Envision Mountain Social-Ecological Systems Futures, Kelly A. Hopping

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mountain social-ecological systems (MtSES) provide crucial ecosystem services to over half of humanity. However, populations living in these highly varied regions are now confronted by global change. It is critical that they are able to anticipate change to strategically manage resources and avoid potential conflict. Yet, planning for sustainable, equitable transitions for the future is a daunting task, considering the range of uncertainties and the unique character of MtSES. Participatory scenario planning (PSP) can help MtSES communities by critically reflecting on a wider array of innovative pathways for adaptive transformation. Although the design of effective approaches has been widely discussed, …

Changes In Students’ Mental Models From Computational Modeling Of Gene Regulatory Networks, Jenny Dauer, Heather E. Bergan-Roller, Gretchen P. King, Mckenzie Kjose, Nicholas Galt, Tomas Helikar

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background: Computational modeling is an increasingly common practice for disciplinary experts and therefore necessitates integration into science curricula. Computational models afford an opportunity for students to investigate the dynamics of biological systems, but there is significant gap in our knowledge of how these activities impact student knowledge of the structures, relationships, and dynamics of the system. We investigated how a computational modeling activity affected introductory biology students’ mental models of a prokaryotic gene regulatory system (lac operon) by analyzing conceptual models created before and after the activity.

Results: Students’ pre-lesson conceptual models consisted of provided, system-general structures (e.g., activator, repressor) …

Genetic Analysis Of Snow Leopard Population Employing Next Generation Sequencing For Its Improved Conservation And Management, Safia Janjua

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are an enigmatic, high-altitude species whose challenging habitat, low population densities and patchy distribution have presented challenges for scientists studying its biology, population structure, and genetics. To address these important ecological, conservation, and evolutionary questions, scientists are tailoring laboratory and computational methods to better extract the information from non-invasive samples, only available source of DNA for this species. These samples with very low quantity and quality of DNA, present unique methodological challenges. ddRAD-seq, one of next generation sequencing method is used here to develop reference sequence library for snow leopard using five blood samples from Mongolian …

Advancement Of Predictive Modeling Of Zeta Potentials (Ζ) In Metal Oxide Nanoparticles With Correlation Intensity Index (Cii), Andrey A. Toropov, Natalia Sizochenko, Alla P. Toropova, Danuta Leszczynska, Jerzy Leszczynski

Articles

It was expected that index of the ideality of correlation (IIC) and correlation intensity index (CII) could be used as possible tools to improve the predictive power of the quantitative model for zeta potential of nanoparticles. In this paper, we test how the statistical quality of quantitative structure-activity models for zeta potentials (ζ, a common measurement that reflects surface charge and stability of nanomaterial) could be improved with the use of these two indexes. Our hypothesis was tested using the benchmark data set that consists of 87 measurements of zeta potentials in water. We used quasi-SMILES molecular representation to take …

Gateways-Nd: Demonstrating Institutional Change In Stem Teaching And Learning Within North Dakota State University, J.M.D. Motsenbacher, E. A. Berg, J. Ladbury, R. Reichenbach, M. Hanson, P. Kelter, L. Montplaisir, J. Nyachwaya

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Ires Track I: Usa-China: International Research Experience For Native American Students In Iot-Enabled Environmental Monitoring Technologies., J. Wang, J.M.D. Motschenbacher

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Competitiveness Of Rosa Multiflora In Varying Plant Communities And Light Regimes Compared With Co-Habiting Native Species, Nathan Wilkes, Andrew Vandertuig, David Dornbos

Summer Research

Multifora rose is an invasive shrub with small white flowers and many small thorns designed to keep out any predators. This invasive weed was introduced from Japan, Korea, and eastern China in the late 1800’s used as rootstock for ornamental roses (Ohio Invasive Plants Council, 2010). These hardy plants were widely promoted in the 1930’s as “living fences” throughout much of the Northeast and Midwestern U.S to confine livestock, to conserve soil and to provide wildlife with habitat (Steavenson, 1946). As of 1993, MR was declared a noxious weed in many Midwestern states (Rhoades and Block, 2011; Amrine, 2002). It …

Using Climate To Explain And Predict West Nile Virus Risk In Nebraska, Kelly Smith, Andrew Tyre, Jeff Hamik, Michael Hayes, Yuzhen Zhou, Li Dai

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

We used monthly precipitation and temperature data to give early warning of years with higher West Nile Virus (WNV) risk in Nebraska. We used generalized additive models with a negative binomial distribution and smoothing curves to identify combinations of extremes and timing that had the most influence, experimenting with all combinations of temperature and drought data, lagged by 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months. We fit models on data from 2002 through 2011, used Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) to select the best‐fitting model, and used 2012 as out‐of‐sample data for prediction, and repeated this process for each successive year, …

Whitepaper: Understanding Land-Atmosphere Interactions Through Tower-Based Flux And Continuous Atmospheric Boundary Layer Measurements, Manuel Helbig, Tobias Gerken, E Beamesderfer, D D. Baldocchi, T Banerjee, S C. Biraud, N A. Brunsell, S P. Butterworth, W S. Chan, A R. Desai, J D. Fuentes, D Y. Hollinger, N Klijun, M Mauder, K A. Novick, J M. Perkins, C Rey-Sanchez, R L. Scott, B Seyednasrollah, P C. Stoy, R C. Sullivan, J Vilà-Guerau De Arellano, S Wharton, C Yi, A D. Richardson

Libraries

Executive summary

● Target audience: AmeriFlux community, AmeriFlux Science Steering Committee & Department of Energy (DOE) program managers [ARM/ASR (atmosphere), TES (surface), and SBR (subsurface)]

● Problem statement: The atmospheric boundary layer mediates the exchange of energy and matter between the land surface and the free troposphere integrating a range of physical, chemical, and biological processes. However, continuous atmospheric boundary layer observations at AmeriFlux sites are still scarce. How can adding measurements of the atmospheric boundary layer enhance the scientific value of the AmeriFlux network?

● Research opportunities: We highlight four key opportunities to integrate tower-based flux measurements with continuous, …

Ms Environmental Biology Capstone Project, Bradley Hamilton

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

• Chapter 1 - Literature Review: Hunting as a Management Tool for the Invasive Eurasian-Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
• Chapter 2 - Grant Proposal: Impacts of the Invasive Eurasian-Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) on the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) in Northeastern Colorado
• Chapter 3 - Journal Manuscript: High Elevations and Cold Temperatures Influence American Pika (Ochotona princeps) Distributions in the White River National Forest
• Chapter 4: Resolving Refugee-Elephant Conflict in Bangladesh via Education and Rebuilding

The Importance Of Understanding Trophic Transfer In Top Marine Predators Due To An Increase In Plastic Production, Annika M. Markovich

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.