Digital Commons Network^™

Forest Management Scenarios In A Changing Climate: Trade-Offs Between Carbon, Timber, And Old Forest, Robert M. Scheller, Megan K. Creutzburg, Melissa S. Lucash, Stephen D. Leduc, Mark G. Johnson

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Balancing economic, ecological, and social values has long been a challenge in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, where conflict over timber harvest and old-growth habitat on public lands has been contentious for the past several decades. The Northwest Forest Plan, adopted two decades ago to guide management on federal lands, is currently being revised as the region searches for a balance between sustainable timber yields and habitat for sensitive species. In addition, climate change imposes a high degree of uncertainty on future forest productivity, sustainability of timber harvest, wildfire risk, and species habitat. We evaluated the long-term, landscape-scale trade-offs …

Removal Of Organic Micro-Pollutants From Water Using Sewage Sludge Based Composite Adsorbents, Rui Ding

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Millions of tons of sewage sludge, waste oil sludge and fish waste are produced annually, and improper treatment/disposal of these wastes have resulted in numerous environmental issues. On the other hand, these wastes are rich in organic materials, metals, and inorganic minerals and could be sustainable resources if utilized properly. The main purpose of this dissertation study was, therefore, to convert these wastes into composite adsorbents, and then use these adsorbents to remove various types of organic pollutants, emerging organic contaminants in particular, from wastewater and drinking water sources.

It is hypothesized that a hydrophobic carbon phase in the composite …

Roosevelt, Naturally, Duane G. Jundt

Northwestern Review

This essay examines the outpouring of works on Theodore Roosevelt the conservationist and hunter since the publication of Douglas Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior in 2009. It provides brief reviews of several books, including children’s books, and an episode of a television documentary series. It also looks at two museum exhibitions and a play that deal with Roosevelt and conservation. The essay emphasizes the centrality that many of the works give to the connection between Roosevelt’s environmental ethos and his hunting. Under review are Douglas Brinkley, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America; R.L. Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt: …

Effects Of Litter On Seedling Emergence And Seed Persistence Of Three Common Species On The Loess Plateau In Northwestern China, Rui Zhang, Xiaowen Hu, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin, Yanrong Wang

Biology Faculty Publications

Litter accumulation resulting from land use change (enclosure) is one of the key variables influencing seedling recruitment and consequently the regeneration of plant populations and seed persistence in the soil seed bank. A better understanding of the effects of litter on seed germination and seedling emergence is crucial for developing a new set of indicators for grassland ecosystem health and for grassland management policy. We investigated the effects of seed position in litter and amount of litter covering the seed on seedling emergence and seed persistence of three common species on the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. Seed position beneath …

Daphnia Inhibits The Emergence Of Spatial Pattern In A Simple Consumer-Resource System, Gustavo S. Betini, Tal Avgar, Kevin S. Mccann, John M. Fryxell

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Spatial self-organization can occur in many ecosystems with important effects on food web dynamics and the maintenance of biodiversity. The consumer-resource interaction is known to generate spatial patterning, but only a few empirical studies have investigated the effect of the consumer on resource distribution. Here we report results from a large aquatic mesocosm experiment used to investigate the effect of the consumer Daphnia magna on the distribution of its resource, the green algae Chlorella vulgaris. We maintained large tanks with capacity for 26 ,000 L with either algae or both algae and Daphnia in different temperature conditions. We found that …

Cover Crops And Tillage Management For Enhanced Sustainability In Corn/Soybean Production In The Mississippi Delta Region Of Arkansas, David Scott Patton

Student Theses and Dissertations

A field experiment was established during 2014 in Northeast Arkansas to evaluate the benefits of cover crop and tillage management for enhanced yield and soil quality. Cover crop management included cereal rye, wheat and crimson clover, and a winter fallow. Tillage management included tillage and no-tillage. In the 2015 and 2016 seasons yield was not significantly changed by different tillage treatments. Cover crop out yielded no cover crop at the A-State site in the 2016 season. Organic matter and active carbon were significantly influenced by tillage treatments. Physical and biological properties were significantly increased with cover crops compared with no …

Habitat And Community Associations And The Population Dynamics Of A Temporary Coral-Reef Fish Ectoparasite, John Michael Artim

Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral reef is habitat constructed by the scleractinian coral after which the habitat is named. While scleractinian coral colonies are often meters in extent, they are composed of small individual organisms—typically on the scale of millimeters across. Coral reefs that include an abundance of many coral species support a diverse abundance of fish and conspicuous invertebrate life. These macro constituents of coral reefs—coral colonies, reef fish and conspicuous invertebrates—have been the primary focus for much of the existing body of coral reef ecology research. One of the inconspicuous and understudied coral reef invertebrate constituents are gnathiid isopod fish parasites. These …

The Palos Verdes Kelp Restoration Project, Tom Ford

Faculty Pub Night

No abstract provided.

Diet Composition Of Age-0 Fishes In Created Habitats Of The Lower Missouri River, Trevor A. Starks, James M. Long

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Channelization of the Missouri River has greatly reduced the availability of shallow water habitats used by many larval and juvenile fishes and contributed to imperilment of floodplain-dependent biota. Creation of small side channels, or chutes, is being used to restore shallow water habitat and reverse negative environmental effects associated with channelization. In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collected early life stages of fishes from constructed chutes and nearby unrestored shallow habitats at six sites on the Missouri River between Rulo, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri. We compared the diets of two abundant species of fishes …

Effects Of Initial Aquifer Conditions On Economic Benefits From Groundwater Conservation, T. Foster, N. Brozovic, A. P. Butler

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Worldwide, there is growing recognition of the need to reduce agricultural groundwater use in response to rapid rates of aquifer depletion. To date, however, few studies have evaluated how benefits of conservation vary along an aquifer’s depletion pathway. To address this question, we develop an integrated modeling framework that couples an agro-economic model of farmers’ field-level irrigation decisionmaking with a borehole-scale groundwater flow model. Unique to this framework is the explicit consideration of the dynamic reductions in well yields that occur as an aquifer is depleted, and how these changes in intraseasonal groundwater supply affect farmers’ ability to manage production …

A Six Thousand-Year Record Of Climate And Land-Use Change From Mediterranean Seagrass Mats, Lourdes Lopez-Merino, Nieves Colas-Ruiz, Maria Adame, Oscar Serrano, Antonio Cortizas, Miguel-Angel Mateo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica maintains a biodiverse ecosystem and it is a world-wide important carbon sink. It grows for millennia, accumulating organic-rich soils (mats) beneath the meadows. This marine habitat is protected by the European Union; however, it is declining rapidly due to coastal development. Understanding its response to disturbances could inform habitat restoration, but many environmental impacts predate monitoring programs (years).
This research explores the palaeoecological potential of Posidonia mats to reconstruct six thousand years of environmental change that could have affected Posidonia meadows and, in turn, left an imprint on the mats.
Palynological, microcharcoal, magnetic susceptibility and …

Nitrogen Sustainability: Impediments To Action And Communication, Eric E. Jorgensen

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

“Sustainability” is widely used to imply the presence of explicit consideration of environmentally friendly needs and that high societal-value is placed on those needs. However, it is abundantly clear after 30 years that talking about sustainability and achieving it are two entirely different things. The core concept underlying sustainability is that current human practices and activities be conducted so as to not degrade prospects for future generations. With nitrogen, conflicts about sustainability in-theory and sustainability in-practice are close to the surface because of nitrogen’s central role in food production and economic activity. Measures of nitrogen inputs commonly range as high …

Climate And Water Resources In The Carolinas: Approaches To Applying Global Climate Change Information To Local Decisions, Kirsten Lackstrom, Gregory J. Carbone, Daniel L. Tufford, Aashka Patel

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

A wide range of resource managers, community planners, and other stakeholders are increasingly asking for information regarding how climate change will affect South Carolina’s freshwater and coastal resources. They are interested in using this information for decisions related to infrastructure design, water system planning, vulnerability assessments, and ecosystem management. While climate change data, projections, and related information are also becoming increasingly available, many uncertainties around future climate change and its potential impacts often hinder its application. Furthermore it is often not available in a format or at a scale that is easily translated to local- and regional resource management decisions. …

Hydro-Meteorologic Assessment Of October 2015 Extreme Precipitation Event On Santee Experimental Forest Watersheds, South Carolina, Devendra M. Amatya, Charles A. Harrison, Carl C. Trettin

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

The extreme precipitation event on October 3-4, 2015, likely resulting from the convergence of a persistent deep easterly flow, the continuous supply of moisture, the terrain, and the circulation associated with Hurricane Joaquin off the eastern Atlantic Coast (http://cms.met.psu. edu/sref/severe/2015/04Oct2015.pdf) resulted in extreme and prolonged flooding in many parts of South Carolina. We present the precipitation amounts and intensities observed at four gauges on the USDA Forest Service Santee Experimental Forest (SEF) watersheds during this extreme event in conjunction with the antecedent conditions for 5 days prior to the event. All four rain gauges recorded 24-hr maximum rainfall of 340 …

Sdstate Sustainability Newsletter: Vol. 1 Issue 1, Jennifer Mclaughlin

SD State Sustainability Newsletter

Contents:
Meet the Sustainability Specialist
Recycling Sees Change on Campus
Coal...No More
Sustainability Tidbits

Nanoscale Measurement Of Trace Element Distributions In Spartina Alterniflora Root Tissue During Dormancy, Huan Feng, Yu Qian, J. Kirk Cochran, Qingzhi Zhu, Wen Hu, Hanfei Yan, Li Li, Xiaojing Huang, Yong S. Chu, Houjun Liu, Shinjae Yoo, Chang Jun Liu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper reports a nanometer-scale investigation of trace element (As, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, S and Zn) distributions in the root system Spartina alterniflora during dormancy. The sample was collected on a salt marsh island in Jamaica Bay, New York, in April 2015 and the root was cross-sectioned with 10 μm resolution. Synchrotron X-ray nanofluorescence was applied to map the trace element distributions in selected areas of the root epidermis and endodermis. The sampling resolution was 60 nm to increase the measurement accuracy and reduce the uncertainty. The results indicate that the elemental concentrations in the epidermis, outer …

Factors Affecting Snowy Plover Chick Survival In A Managed Population, Stephen J. Dinsmore, Eleanor P. Gaines, Scott F. Pearson, David J. Lauten, Kathleen J. Castelein

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Understanding survival of precocial chicks in the period immediately following hatching has important conservation implications because population growth is often sensitive to post-hatching survival. We studied federally threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) broods at the northern limit of their range in coastal Oregon (n ¼ 1,157) and Washington (n ¼ 84) from 1991 to 2011 in an attempt to understand seasonal, annual, and spatial patterns of chick survival. In Oregon, plover chick survival increased with age, varied between sites, and was greater at sites with predator management. The mean probability of surviving from hatch to fledging at 28 …

Evaluating Simplistic Methods To Understand Current Distributions And Forecast Distribution Changes Under Climate Change Scenarios: An Example With Coypu (Myocastor Coypus), Catherine S. Jarnevich, Nicholas E. Young, Trevor R. Sheffels, Jacoby Carter, Mark D. Sytsma, Colin Talbert

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Invasive species provide a unique opportunity to evaluate factors controlling biogeographic distributions; we can consider introduction success as an experiment testing suitability of environmental conditions. Predicting potential distributions of spreading species is not easy, and forecasting potential distributions with changing climate is even more difficult. Using the globally invasive coypu (Myocastor coypus [Molina, 1782]), we evaluate and compare the utility of a simplistic ecophysiological based model and a correlative model to predict current and future distribution. The ecophysiological model was based on winter temperature relationships with nutria survival. We developed correlative statistical models using the Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling …

Water Current, Volume 49, No. 1, Winter 2017

Water Current Newsletter

WRAP meets at Ferguson House

Water tour to Central Platte River basin June 27-29

Precipitation Data, Xuefeng Michael Chu Ph.D, Kendall Grimm, Mohsen Tahmasebi Nasab, Ning Wang, Mohammad Hadi Bazrkar, Lan Zeng, Matt Lee, Jamal Ghauri, Dillon Ekholm, Jackie Arntson, Libby Kruse, Jared Swanberg

Datasets

Ten precipitation stations were set up to collect precipitation data (including rainfall/snowfall and snow depth measurements) across 6 USGS HUC10 watersheds. The heated tipping bucket rain gauge was utilized to obtain precipitation measurements. The heating mechanism engaged when temperatures were below freezing and thawed frozen precipitation to acquire measurements year-round (Heated Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge, Hydrological Services America). The data accuracy is within +/- 3% even with high rainfall intensities due to the integrated syphon mechanism which controls the release of precipitation into the tipping bucket (TB3 Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge, Hydrological Services America). The data were originally collected at …

Coral Bleaching And The Effect Of Disturbances On The Damselfish Community On Lizard Island, Australia, Alejandra Munoz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral reefs are characterized by their dynamic ecological processes that supports a high diversity through the recruitment of marine species and temporal disturbances that can have positive effects on the system. In the face of global climate change however, coral reefs face intense coral bleaching and increased degradation as they may begin to have less time to recover between bleaching events in the near future. Little is known on the long term effects of coral bleaching and habitat degradation on reef fish communities and much less is known about the mechanisms that bring about changes to reef fish assemblages.

This …

Can Community Structure Track Sea-Level Rise? Stress And Competitive Controls In Tidal Wetlands, Lisa M. Schile, John Callaway, K M. Suding, N M. Kelly

Environmental Science

Climate change impacts, such as accelerated sea-level rise, will affect stress gradients, yet impacts on competition/stress tolerance trade-offs and shifts in distributions are unclear. Ecosystems with strong stress gradients, such as estuaries, allow for space-for-time substitutions of stress factors and can give insight into future climate-related shifts in both resource and nonresource stresses. We tested the stress gradient hypothesis and examined the effect of increased inundation stress and biotic interactions on growth and survival of two congeneric wetland sedges, Schoenoplectus acutus and Schoenoplectus americanus. We simulated sea-level rise across existing marsh elevations and those not currently found to reflect …

Long-Term Analysis Of The Asynchronicity Between Temperature And Precipitation Maxima In The United States Great Plains, Paul Flanagan, Jeffrey B. Basara, Xiangming Xiao

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Agriculture is a critical industry to the economy of the Great Plains (GP) region of North America and sensitive to change in weather and climate. Thus, improved knowledge of meteorological and climatological conditions during the growing season and associated variability across spatial and temporal scales is important. A distinct climate feature in the GP is the asynchronicity (AS) between the timing of temperature and precipitation maxima. This study investigated a long-term observational data set to quantify the AS and to address the impacts of climate variability and change. Global Historical Climate Network Daily (GHCN-Daily) data were utilized for this study; …

Complex Variation In Habitat Selection Strategies Among Individuals Driven By Extrinsic Factors, Edward J. Raynor, Hawthorne L. Beyer, John M. Briggs, Anthony Joern

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding behavioral strategies employed by animals to maximize fitness in the face of environmental heterogeneity, variability, and uncertainty is a central aim of animal ecology. Flexibility in behavior may be key to how animals respond to climate and environmental change. Using a mechanistic modeling framework for simultaneously quantifying the effects of habitat preference and intrinsic movement on space use at the landscape scale, we investigate how movement and habitat selection vary among individuals and years in response to forage quality–quantity tradeoffs, environmental conditions, and variable annual climate. We evaluated the association of dynamic, biotic forage resources and static, abiotic landscape …

The Roles Of Ecology, Behavior And Effective Population Size In The Evolution Of A Community., C.M. Hung, S. Drovetski, R. M. Zink

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Ecology Of Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover In Relation To Platte River Hydrology And Sandbar Dynamics, Jason M. Farnsworth, David M. Baasch, Chadwin B. Smith, Kevin L. Werbylo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Investigations of breeding ecology of interior least tern (Sternula antillarum athalassos) and piping plover (Charadrius melodus) in the Platte River basin in Nebraska, USA, have embraced the idea that these species are physiologically adapted to begin nesting concurrent with the cessation of spring floods. Low use and productivity on contemporary Platte River sandbars have been attributed to anthropomorphically driven changes in basin hydrology and channel morphology or to unusually late annual runoff events. We examined distributions of least tern and piping plover nest initiation dates in relation to the hydrology of the historical central Platte River …

Temporal Migration Shifts In The Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population Of Whooping Cranes (Grus Americana) Across North America, Joel G. Jorgensen, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Birds are altering the phenology of critical life history events, including migration, in response to the effects of global climate change. Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) are one of the most critically endangered birds in the world. Their remnant population, referred to as the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population, numbers between 300-400 individuals and migrates between the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast and north-central Canada twice each year. Previous analyses suggested Whooping Crane migration was temporally constant in spring and fall. New analyses of observations spanning 1942-2016 show Whooping Crane migration is now occurring earlier in spring by approximately 22 days …

Drivers Of Nitrogen Transfer In Stream Food Webs Across Continents, B. C. Norman, M. R. Whiles, S. M. Collins, A. S. Flecker, S. K. Hamilton, S. L. Johnson, E. J. Rosi-Marshall, L. R. Ashkenas, W. B. Bowden, C. L. Crenshaw, T. Crowl, W. K. Dodds, R. O. Hall, R. El-Sabaawi, N. A. Griffiths, E. Marti, W. H. Mcdowell, S. D. Peterson, H. M. Rantala, T. Riis, K. S. Simon, J. L. Tank, S. A. Thomas, D. Von Schiller, J. R. Webster

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Studies of trophic-level material and energy transfers are central to ecology. The use of isotopic tracers has now made it possible to measure trophic transfer efficiencies of important nutrients and to better understand how these materials move through food webs. We analyzed data from thirteen ¹⁵N-ammonium tracer addition experiments to quantify N transfer from basal resources to animals in headwater streams with varying physical, chemical, and biological features. N transfer efficiencies from primary uptake compartments (PUCs; heterotrophic microorganisms and primary producers) to primary consumers was lower (mean: 11.5%, range:100%). Total N transferred (as a rate) was greater in streams …

Partitioning Assimilatory Nitrogen Uptake In Streams: An Analysis Of Stable Isotope Tracer Additions Across Continents, J. L. Tank, E. Martí, T. Riis, D. Von Schiller, A. J. Reisinger, W. K. Dodds, M. R. Whiles, L. R. Ashkenas, W. B. Bowden, S. M. Collins, C. L. Crenshaw, T. A. Crowl, N. A. Griffiths, N. B. Grimm, S. K. Hamilton, S. L. Johnson, W. H. Mcdowell, B. M. Norman, E. J. Rosi, K. S. Simon, S. A. Thomas, J. R. Webster

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Headwater streams remove, transform, and store inorganic nitrogen (N) delivered from surrounding watersheds, but excessive N inputs from human activity can saturate removal capacity. Most research has focused on quantifying N removal from the water column over short periods and in individual reaches, and these ecosystem-scale measurements suggest that assimilatory N uptake accounts for most N removal. However, cross-system comparisons addressing the relative role of particular biota responsible for incorporating inorganic N into biomass are lacking. Here we assess the importance of different primary uptake compartments on reach-scale ammonium (NH₄⁺-N) uptake and storage across a wide range …

Tolerance: The Forgotten Child Of Plant Resistance, Robert K. D. Peterson, Andrea C. Varella, Leon G. Higley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Plant resistance against insect herbivory has greatly focused on antibiosis, whereby the plant has a deleterious effect on the herbivore, and antixenosis, whereby the plant is able to direct the herbivore away from it. Although these two types of resistance may reduce injury and yield loss, they can produce selection pressures on insect herbivores that lead to pest resistance. Tolerance, on the other hand, is a more sustainable pest management strategy because it involves only a plant response and therefore does not cause evolution of resistance in target pest populations. Despite its attractive attributes, tolerance has been poorly studied and …