Digital Commons Network^™

Agricultural Intensification And Urbanization Negatively Impact Soil Nematode Richness And Abundance: A Meta-Analysis, Satyendra K. Pothula, Parwinder Grewal, Robert M. Auge, Arnold M. Saxton, Ernest C. Bernard

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Human activity has extensively transformed the land surface by agricultural intensification and urbanization. In soil, nematodes are the most abundant invertebrates. The effect of human interventions was assessed on overall richness, overall abundance, richness and abundance of nematodes of each trophic group and colonizer-persister (c-p) guild by comparing urban, agriculture and disturbed grassland (DGL) with natural grassland (NGL) and forest ecosystems. Meta-analyses were conducted to generate quantitative summaries from 111 published articles that met the inclusion criteria, 91 expressed data in grams and 20 expressed data in cm3. Results from data expressed per 100 g of soil indicated that overall …

The Ellis Island Effect: Invasive Species In The Mid-Atlantic, Paul A.X. Bologna

Sustainability Seminar Series

Global invasions of marine species often follow human migration pathways and primary commerce routes. Exploration, immigration, and commerce to the United States has created hot spots for invasive species to become established. In particular, Ellis Island served as a primary spot for European immigrants over the last century. During the last 3 years, we have documented for the first time four non-native hydrozoans in New Jersey using molecular techniques.

Gonionemusvertens, Moerisiainkermanica, and Bougainvilliatriestinahave origins potentially linked to the Mediterranean indicating a potential group invasion from that region. Aequoreaaustralisis a Pacific hydrozoan whose origin pathway is yet unknown, but has now …

Factors Influencing Ranchers’ Intentions To Manage For Vegetation Heterogeneity And Promote Cross-Boundary Management In The Northern Great Plains, Maggi S. Sliwinski, Mark E. Burbach, Larkin A. Powell, Walter H. Schacht

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Most private grasslands in the Great Plains are managed with the goal to optimize beef production, which tends to homogenize rangeland habitats. The subsequent loss of vegetation heterogeneity on private lands is detrimental to ecosystem function. However, conservation planners should understand the factors that lead to variation in management of rangelands. We used a mail survey targeted to ranchers in counties with intact rangeland in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska in 2016 to examine factors predicted to be related to attitudes about strategies leading to heterogeneity such as innovativeness and low risk aversion, and intended behaviors associated with creation …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Forensically Significant Blow Flies Of Los Angeles County, California, United States (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Royce T. Cumming

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

Forensic entomology although not a commonly used discipline in the forensic sciences, does have its niche and when used by investigators is respected in crinimolegal investigations (Greenberg and Kunich, 2005). With many species of forensically significant insects being regionally specific, it is often difficult for forensic entomologists to as confidently translate regionally specific studies across drastically differing geographic regions (Brundage, et al., 2011).

The purpose of this study is to help create a better temporal and geographic distributional understanding of the blow fly species present in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Twenty-five locations from four ecoregions (coastal mountains, urban, …

Isolation And Characterization Of A Novel Terpenoid From The Needles Of Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus), And Its Potential Relation To Climate Change, Samantha Hack

Honors Theses

Climate changes is one of the most serious threats facing the future of our planet, and with is we will see drastic changes to water levels global temperatures, and atmospheric conditions. Modeling future atmospheric conditions is crucial if we are to plan for and mitigate the consequences of climate change – while important, these models will not be useful to future scientists unless various parameters, such as BVOC emission to the atmosphere, are accounted for and included in computer models. Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) are predicted to be a major component of future climax forests as their abundance increases …

An Underground Radio Wave Propagation Prediction Model For Digital Agriculture, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

Underground sensing and propagation of Signals in the Soil (SitS) medium is an electromagnetic issue. The path loss prediction with higher accuracy is an open research subject in digital agriculture monitoring applications for sensing and communications. The statistical data are predominantly derived from site-specific empirical measurements, which is considered an impediment to universal application. Nevertheless, in the existing literature, statistical approaches have been applied to the SitS channel modeling, where impulse response analysis and the Friis open space transmission formula are employed as the channel modeling tool in different soil types under varying soil moisture conditions at diverse communication distances …

The Transesterification Of Hickory Nuts Into Biodiesel Fuel, Hannah Trauger, Madilynn Dewell, Jahida A. Mendoza

Undergraduate Research Conference

• Biodiesel fuels can be produced from a fat and an alcohol via transesterification

• Hickory nuts have a high fat content (~60 % by weight)

• Can nuts from shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) be used to produce a biodiesel fuel using existing acidcatalyzed transesterification methods?

Longitudinal Study Of Lanana Creek, Bayler Barnes, Jackson T. Ortiz, Trace Washburn

Undergraduate Research Conference

A longitudinal study was done to collect data on the various conditions of LananaCreek in Nacogdoches, Texas over a seven week span from September 14 to November 2, 2018. The part of the creek studies is a 3.5 mile stretch from East Austin Street to Hoya Soccer Complex, mostly located on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. There were 6 different testing sites selected along this expanse. Collection of samples was performed by the General Chemistry I Honors class as part of the laboratory experience. Once collected, the samples were transported back to the lab for testing. The …

The Effects Of Climate Change And Forest Disturbances On Terpene Production Of White Pine (Pinus Strobus) And Red Pine (Pinus Resinosa) In Northern Michigan, Troy Dehagen

Honors Theses

The secondary impacts that climate change may have on the interactions between forests and the atmosphere through forest disturbances is of increasing interest as the climate continues to change. Anthropogenic climate change, which is a direct result of coal and fossil fuel emissions, is likely to impact forest ecology through increased temperatures and extreme precipitation events, thus increasing the frequency and severity of climate-induced forest disturbances. Forest disturbances may have a secondary impact on the production and emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) within forests. In the presence of oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) produced from fossil fuel …

La Gota Que Colma La Caguama: Cummulative Tensions Transformed Into The Defense Of Water, Anthony J. Meluso

Geography ETDs

Making water management decisions is often where dreams and visions about potential futures are constructed and contested (Swengedouw 2015). However, in a globalized world, it is not well understood how people can challenge dominant paradigms to shape desirable futures when they are also complicit in, and dependent on existing structures (Arts & Buizer 2009; Emery, Perks, & Bracken 2013: Kleinschmit, Böcher, & Giessen 2009). This project examines a brewery conflict in the Mexicali Valley that provides an example of how protesters were able to challenge dominant assumptions about water management in a complex, globalized environment. I draw on Laclau’s (2005) …

Reduced-Impact Logging For Climate Change Mitigation (Ril-C) Can Halve Selective Logging Emissions From Tropical Forests, Anand Roopsind

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Selective logging causes at least half of the emissions from tropical forest degradation. Reduced-impact logging for climate (RIL-C) is proposed as a way to maintain timber production while minimizing forest damage. Here we synthesize data from 61 coordinated field-based surveys of logging impacts in seven countries across the tropics. We estimate that tropical selective logging emitted 834 Tg CO₂ in 2015, 6% of total tropical greenhouse gas emissions. Felling, hauling, and skidding caused 59%, 31%, and 10% of these emissions, respectively. We suggest that RIL-C incentive programs consider a feasible target carbon impact factor of 2.3 Mg emitted per …

Evaluating A New Algorithm For Satellite-Based Evapotranspiration For North American Ecosystems: Model Development And Validation, Bassil El Masri, Abdullah F. Rahman, Danilo Dragoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Highlights

• We developed an algorithm to estimate evapotranspiration based solely on satellite data.

• Our model is able to track the seasonal changes in the flux tower observations.

• The errors in the model ET output were lower than the MODIS ET product.

• The modeled and observed ET strong relationship implies that our model has the potential to be applied to different ecosystems.

Abstract

We introduce a different operational approach to estimate 8-day average daily evapotranspiration (ET) using both routinely available data and the Penman-Monteith (P-M) equation for canopy transpiration and evaporation of intercepted water and Priestley and Taylor for soil evaporation. …

Growth, Condition, And Trophic Relations Of Stocked Trout In Southern Appalachian Mountain Streams, Jesse R. Fischer, Thomas J. Kwak, H. Jared Flowers, W. Gregory Cope, Jacob M. Rash, Douglas A. Besler

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Stream trout fisheries are among the most popular and valuable in the United States, but many are dependent on hatcheries to sustain fishing and harvest. Thus, understanding the ecology of hatchery‐reared trout stocked in natural environments is fundamental to management. We evaluated the growth, condition, and trophic relations of Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis, Brown Trout Salmo trutta, and Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss that were stocked in southern Appalachian Mountain streams in western North Carolina. Stocked and wild (naturalized) trout were sampled over time (monthly; September 2012–June 2013) to compare condition and diet composition and to evaluate temporal dynamics of trophic …

The Firece Green Fire: Vol. 9 Issue 22, Wofford College Environmental Studies Program

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

Vaquita Face Extinction From Bycatch. Comment On Manjarrez-Bringas, N. Et Al., Lessons For Sustainable Development: Marine Mammal Conservation Policies And Its Social And Economic Effects., Karl W. Flessa, Luis Calderon-Aguilera, Carlos E. Cintra-Buenrostro, David L. Dettman, Gregory P. Dietl, David H. Goodwin, David K. Jacobs, Michal Kowalewski, Steven M. Nelson, Kirsten Rowell, Bernard R. Schone, Jansen A. Smith, Francisco Zamora-Arroyo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We are among the scientists who have documented the environmental and ecological changes to the Upper Gulf of California following the reduction in the Colorado River’s flow. We object to any suggestion that our research supports Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusion that the decline in the Colorado River’s flow is the reason for the decline in the population of the endangered vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus). Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusions are incongruent with their own data, their logic is untenable, their analyses fail to consider current illegal fishing practices, and their recommendations are unjustified and misdirected. Vaquita face extinction because of bycatch, …

Notes And Discussion Piece: Status Of The Topeka Shiner In Iowa, Clay L. Pierce, Nicholas T. Simpson, Alexander P. Bybel, Courtney L. Zambory, Michael J. Weber, Kevin J. Roe

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Topeka shiner Notropis topeka is native to Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota and has been federally listed as endangered since 1998. Our goals were to determine the present distribution and qualitative status of Topeka shiners throughout its current range in Iowa and characterize the extent of decline in relation to its historic distribution. We compared the current (2016–2017) distribution to distributions portrayed in three earlier time periods. In 2016–2017 Topeka shiners were found in 12 of 20 HUC10 watersheds where they occurred historically. Their status was classified as stable in 21% of the HUC10 watersheds, possibly …

Effect Of Environmental Conditions On Biomass Of Symplocarpus Foetidus, Christy Lemay

Student Scholar Showcase

Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage) is an obligate wetland plant that occurs sporadically in wetlands throughout Virginia. Its life cycle is well studied with flowers budding in late January to early February through a process known as thermogenesis that heats the soil surrounding the plant. Pollination of fruits by flies and distribution of fruits/seeds through wildlife. Leaves appear in March with full growth above ground by early May. The leaves die back by July. Reproduction and distribution is sensitive to disturbance and environmental factors such as soil moisture, hydrology, and seed distribution. We collected environmental data in eight designated wetland plots …

Board Invited Review: Prospects For Improving Management Of Animal Disease Introductions Using Disease-Dynamic Models, Ryan S. Miller, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Management and policy decisions are continually made to mitigate disease introductions in animal populations despite often limited surveillance data or knowledge of disease transmission processes. Science-based management is broadly recognized as leading to more effective decisions yet application of models to actively guide disease surveillance and mitigate risks remains limited. Disease-dynamic models are an efficient method of providing information for management decisions because of their ability to integrate and evaluate multiple, complex processes simultaneously while accounting for uncertainty common in animal diseases. Here we review disease introduction pathways and transmission processes crucial for informing disease management and models at the …

Reduction Of Amine Emissions From An Aqueous Amine Carbon Dioxide Capture System Using Charged Colloidal Gas Aphrons, Xiaobing Li, Jesse G. Thompson, Kunlei Liu

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty Patents

The present invention includes a system and process to reduce amine mist emissions (or MEA) from carbon capture systems using colloidal gas aphrons (CGA), and includes a method for separating and recovering an amine solvent (e.g., in the form of entrained droplets/mist and/or fine aerosol particles) from a carbon dioxide scrubbed flue gas stream exiting a carbon capture system (e.g., oil-fired power plants, coal-fired power plants, and/or natural gas combined cycle plants).

Building A Better Batture: A Regional Recreational Enhancement Around The Morganza To The Gulf Levee, Taylor N. Fehmel

LSU Master's Theses

Twenty-five years ago, the existing flood protection levees along the Louisiana coastline were removed and construction was started by Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District on a new project called ‘Morganza to the Gulf’ or MTG. This project was undertaken to construct a new flood protection levee system around Louisiana in the communities in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish. The MTG Levee is one of the first coastal projects in Louisiana to incorporate a risk-based analysis for a double levee system containing both local parish drainage levees and future storm surge levees of MTG. It was designed to protect approximately 250,000 people …

Hour-Level Resolution On Consumption Pattern Of Substance Abuse, Jarrett Mauk, Rhiannon Huffines, Brittney Nelson, Tara Croft, Bikram Subedi

Scholars Week

Conventional survey-based approaches of determining the consumption statistics of drugs in communities are suffered from non-response biases, and typically underestimate the actual consumption. Time and cost-intensive conventional approaches, therefore, can’t be utilized to determine high-resolution temporal variability in drug consumption. In this study, the temporal trend of consumption of 10 illicit and 26 prescribed neuropsychiatric drugs was determined at hour-level resolution utilizing wastewater-based epidemiology. The hourly composite raw wastewater (every 10 minutes) samples were collected for three consecutive days in a typical week (total of 72 samples), analyzed for target drug residues using UPLC-MS/MS, and back-calculated the consumption rate of …

Delineation Of Ohio River Flood Zones In Ballard County Using Remote Sensing, Nathan Rister

Scholars Week

The purpose of this study was to use remote sensing to map flood zones in Ballard County as it correlates to the Ohio River flood gauges. This will help Wildlife managers to know which areas are most likely to be flooded by simply looking at river gauges and prevent them to having to check which areas are flooded in person. By using this technique wildlife managers will be able to save time and resources as well as better manage wildlife areas along the Ohio River.

Monitoring Lesser Known Harmful Algal Blooms On The Oregon Coast, Taylor Dodrill, Tawnya D. Peterson, Matthew Hunter, Micah Rogers

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Ocean warming has expanded the niche of harmful algal blooms (HABs), including HABs previously believed to pose little risk of shellfish contamination in the Pacific Northwest. Monitoring efforts in Washington and California have demonstrated that Dinophysis spp. is a HAB of emerging concern and has been linked to diarrhetic shellfish poisoning events. However, quantitative monitoring for Dinophysis spp. on the Oregon Coast has been limited. This analysis provides a preliminary characterization of risk that Dinophysis spp. poses to shellfish consumers in Oregon. Furthermore, we assess the predator-prey interaction between Dinophysis spp. and its prey, Mesodinium rubrum, to determine whether …

Contrasting Local And Long-Range-Transported Warm Ice-Nucleating Particles During An Atmospheric River In Coastal California, Usa, Andrew C. Martin, Gavin Cornwell, Charlotte M. Beal, Forest Cannon, Sean Reilly, Bas Schaap, Dolan Lucero, Jessie Creamean, F. Martin Ralph, Hari T. Mix, Kimberly Prather

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) have been found to influence the amount, phase and efficiency of precipitation from winter storms, including atmospheric rivers.Warm INPs, those that initiate freezing at temperatures warmer than -10°C, are thought to be particularly impactful because they can create primary ice in mixed-phase clouds, enhancing precipitation efficiency. The dominant sources of warm INPs during atmospheric rivers, the role of meteorology in modulating transport and injection of warm INPs into atmospheric river clouds, and the impact of warm INPs on mixed-phase cloud properties are not well-understood. In this case study, time-resolved precipitation samples were collected during an atmospheric river …

Seasonal Salinization Decreases Spatial Heterogeneity Of Sulfate Reducing Activity, Valerie A. Schoepfer, Amy J. Burgin, Terry D. Loecke, Ashley M. Helton

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Evidence of sulfate input and reduction in coastal freshwater wetlands is often visible in the black iron monosulfide (FeS) complexes that form in iron rich reducing sediments. Using a modified Indicator of Reduction in Soils (IRIS) method, digital imaging, and geostatistics, we examine controls on the spatial properties of FeS in a coastal wetland fresh-to-brackish transition zone over a multi-month, drought-induced saltwater incursion event. PVC sheets (10 - 15 cm) were painted with an iron oxide paint and incubated vertically belowground and flush with the surface for 24 h along a salt-influenced to freshwater wetland transect in coastal North Carolina, …

Sulitest®: A Mixed-Method, Pilot Study Of Assessment Impacts On Undergraduate Sustainability-Related Learning And Motivation, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

A United Nations international collaboration between the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) resulted in the creation of Sulitest® (aka Sustainability Literacy Test) an open, online training and assessment tool freely available to higher education institutions globally. This study analyzes the effectiveness of the newly developed Sulitest® to not only measure sustainability literacy of higher education student populations, but also act as a catalyst for boosting affective learning outcomes by: (a) generating interest in sustainability-related issues, (b) improving sustainability-related understandings, and (c) enhancing students’ interests in the subject matter. In order to do …

Leveraging Image Analysis For High-Throughput Plant Phenotyping, Sruti Das Choudhury, Ashok Samal, Tala Awada

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The complex interaction between a genotype and its environment controls the biophysical properties of a plant, manifested in observable traits, i.e., plant’s phenome, which influences resources acquisition, performance, and yield. High-throughput automated image-based plant phenotyping refers to the sensing and quantifying plant traits non-destructively by analyzing images captured at regular intervals and with precision. While phenomic research has drawn significant attention in the last decade, extracting meaningful and reliable numerical phenotypes from plant images especially by considering its individual components, e.g., leaves, stem, fruit, and flower, remains a critical bottleneck to the translation of advances of phenotyping technology into genetic …

Using Groundwater Modeling To Assess Groundwater And Stream Connectivity In A River Restoration Application, John Joseph Lunzer

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Historic placer mining operations along the Middle Fork John Day River (MFJD) north of Galena, Oregon have left the MFJD channel straightened, incised and lacking in riverbed structure. This lack of riverbed structure makes this stretch of the MFJD poor habitat for trout and migrating salmon. In order to restore this stretch of the MFJD to better serve aquatic species, Inter-Fluve Inc. (IF), United States Forest Service (USFS) and The Freshwater Trust (TFT) will be performing restoration to both the MFJD channel as well as Bear Creek, a tributary of the MFJD. The proposed restoration work will consist of re-routing …

Guided Alligator Tours Or Raccoon Schooling (Gators), Paul List

Senior Theses

In my two main internships during college, I worked closely with two very different animals: raccoons and alligators. Additionally, I gained experience in presenting educational programs during my internship at Fripp Island, where my most common program was our Gator Walk. For my thesis project, I built upon my experience in interpretive programming, drawing on my experience with alligators and raccoons to develop a unique educational program to present at Congaree National Park. This report will describe the process of developing this program as well as it’s implementation and outcomes. In addition, it includes a review of scholarly literature on …

A Pedagogical Framework For The Design And Utilization Of Place-Based Experiential Learning Curriculum On A Campus Farm, Julia L. Angstmann, Amber J. Rollings, Grant A. Fore, Brandon H. Sorge

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Campus agriculture projects are increasingly being recognized as spaces impactful to student engagement and learning through curricular and co-curricular programming; however, most campus farm activities are limited to agriculture or sustainability programs and/or co-curricular student clubs. Thus, campus farms are largely underutilized in the undergraduate curriculum, marking a need to explore the efficacy and impact of engaging a diverse array of disciplinary courses in the rich social, environmental, and civic context of local sustainable agriculture. The Farm Hub program presented here incentivizes instructors to refocus a portion of existing course content around the topic of local, sustainable agriculture, and reduces …