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Fine Scales, Broad Consequences: Drivers And Effects Of Microclimatic Variation In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Jordan Rebecca Stark

Theses - ALL

Climate is highly variable at scales that are not captured by most weather and climate models due to local effects of topography and living systems. This variation in microclimate has been noted for many decades but has been difficult to incorporate into quantitative understanding of ecological systems and processes due to the large amount of data and complex models required to adequately describe fine-scale patterns across complex landscapes. In recent years, models of thermal microclimate variation have been developed using low-cost temperature sensors, but few of these models have been used to predict the effects of microclimatic variation on ecological …

An Instructional Guide To Environmental Campaigns For K-12 Schools, Erin Mccarty

University Honors Theses

Evidence suggests environmental education can correlate with both short- and long-term behavioral changes, but existing research on the effectiveness of popular environmental education tactics show mixed results. Qualitative research was used in this study to assess student engagement and behavioral change within the context of environmental education campaigns. Ideally, students exposed to environmental campaigns become more informed on environmental issues and adjust their behavior to align with the campaign’s objectives. However, only a portion of environmental campaigns have these desired effects on their students. Based on a preliminary literature review, I anticipated the defining catalyst on post-campaign behavioral engagement would …

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 …

Progressive Destabilization And Triggering Mechanism Analysis Using Multiple Data For Chamoli Rockslide Of 7 February 2021, Wenfei Mao, Lixin Wu, Ramesh P. Singh, Yuan Qi, Busheng Xie, Yingjia Liu, Yifan Ding, Zilong Zhou, Jia Li

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A catastrophic rockslide occurred on 7 February 2021 in Chamoli area in the high Himalaya. In the absence of field data, multiple satellites data of decade span have been used to investigate and understand the progressive destabilization of rockslide body. A 3D geometric model was developed using geospatial information about geology, terrain, and ice cover to understand the triggering mechanism. Several causes are uncovered as: the pronounced long-term change of land surface temperature facilitated local permafrost degradation and led to ice cover shrinking since 2010; the occurrence of ice avalanche nearby in 2016 accompanying with sidewall-to-bedrock fracturing enhanced the ice …

Weather And Climate Research At The Kentucky Climate Center Based On Mesonet Observations, Brittany Pekara, Eric Rappin

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The Kentucky Mesonet is a great asset for the Commonwealth of Kentucky in a multitude of ways, from real-time storm monitoring to building a detailed climate record. A detailed climate record is essential as causality between observations and extreme weather can be identified, making it a great tool in an evolving climate system. The climate record being developed at the 75+ Kentucky Mesonet observation stations consists of approximately 75 indices that reflect frequency, extremes, range, duration, trends of precipitation, droughts, and extreme temperatures. Calculations are done for daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, bi-annual, and annual aggregation periods. Tools will also be …

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 …

Soil Moisture Dependent Runoff In A Dryland Region: An Investigation Of The Role Of Antecedent Conditions, Monitoring, And Modeling Strategies, Gerhard Schoener

Civil Engineering ETDs

Approximately 30% of the Earth’s land surface is characterized as arid or semiarid, including much of the western United States. Accurate runoff predictions are important for informed watershed management, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas. Infiltration excess overland flow is the dominant mechanism for runoff generation in many dryland basins, and event-based infiltration or loss models are commonly used to estimate runoff. However, predictions are associated with considerable uncertainty due to the role antecedent soil moisture, an initial condition that must be set by the modeler. The objectives of my research were to (1) evaluate the impact of antecedent soil moisture …

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 …

Unbuilding: How Deconstruction Is Saving The Planet By Giving Building Materials A Second Life, Diana M. Ducroz

Capstones

In 2018, more than 600 million tons of construction and demolition (C&D) waste was generated in the United States, more than twice the volume of ordinary trash created by American households and businesses. Even though 80-95% of this concrete, asphalt, steel, wood, drywall, glass and brick can be reused, repurposed or recycled, a quarter of it – or 145 million tons in 2018 – ends up in landfills. Thirty million tons of wood alone – often sturdy, irreplaceable old-growth lumber – is being trashed every year.

Now, a budding ‘build reuse’ movement, made up of environmentalists, architects, historic preservationists, city …

Request For Change (Rfc) To The Final Butte Reduction Works (Brw) Smelter Area Mine Waste Remediation And Contaminated Groundwater Hydraulic Control Site Phase Iii Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) (Rfc-Brw-2021-03), Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

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 …

Epa Region 8 Qa Document Review Crosswalk, Nikia Greene

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft Residential Metals Abatement Program Quality Assurance Project Plan (Non-Residential Parcels - Indoor Dust), Elsie King, Christopher Berg, Thomas J. Beckman

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Residential Metals Abatement Program Quality Assurance Project Plan (Non-Residential Parcels - Indoor Dust), Environmental Resource Management (Erm), Elsie King, Christopher Berg, Thomas J. Beckman

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

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 ± …

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 …

Electric Vehicle Integration In San Francisco, Lisa Farmos

Master's Projects and Capstones

California’s Executive Order N-79-20 requires all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California to be zero-emissions by 2035. Electric vehicles (EVs) are the primary alternative fuel solution. However, there are widespread barriers to ownership, particularly for those in lower socioeconomic classes. A literature review of barriers to EV ownership shows the primary barrier is insufficient overnight charging infrastructure. Geospatial data of EV charging infrastructure and 2020 census tract data were used to map average income versus EV charging infrastructure in San Francisco. Data maps confirm the literature review findings: there is a positive correlation between income and EV charging …

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

News Items

No abstract provided.

Replication Data For: Experimental And Numerical Study Of Evaporation From Wavy Surfaces By Coupling Free Flow And Porous Media Flow, Bo Gao, Kathleen Smits

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets - Archive

The macroscale roughness of the soil surface has significant influences on the mass/energy interactions between the subsurface and the atmosphere during evaporation. However, most previous works only consider evaporation behavior from flat surfaces. Based on experimental and numerical approaches, the goal of this work is to provide a framework for the understanding of the mechanisms of evaporation from irregular soil surfaces at representative elementary volume scale. A coupling free flow-porous media flow model was developed to describe evaporation under nonisothermal conditions. For simplicity, sinusoidal-type wavy surfaces were considered. To validate this modeling approach, an experiment using an open-ended wind tunnel …

Replication Data For: Evaporation From Undulating Soil Surfaces Under Turbulent Airflow Through Numerical And Experimental Approaches, Bo Gao, Kathleen Smits, John Farnsworth

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets - Archive

Evaporation from undulating soil surfaces is rarely studied due to limited modeling theory and inadequate experimental data linking dynamic soil and atmospheric interactions. The goal of this paper is to provide exploratory insights into evaporation behavior from undulating soil surfaces under turbulent conditions through numerical and experimental approaches. A previously developed and verified coupled free flow and porous media flow model was extended by incorporating turbulent airflow through Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The model explicitly describes the relevant physical processes and the key properties in the free flow, porous media, and at the interface, allowing for the analysis of coupled exchange …

Replication Data For: Effect Of Varying Atmospheric Conditions On Methane Boundary-Layer Development In A Free Flow Domain Interfaced With A Porous Media Domain, C. T.K.K. Deepagoda, Kathleen Smits

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets - Archive

Mitigation of atmospheric emission of methane from leaky underground infrastructure is important for controlling the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas burden. Overexposure to methane may also cause occupational health problems in indoor/outdoor environments at the local scale. Subsurface soil conditions (e.g. soil heterogeneity) affect methane migration in soils while near-surface atmospheric boundary conditions (e.g. wind and temperature) affect off-site emissions across the soil-atmosphere interface. This study investigated the above-surface methane concentration boundary-layer development under different soil conditions (homogenous and layered) and atmospheric boundary controls (wind and temperature). A series of controlled bench-scale experiments was conducted using an open-loop boundary-layer wind tunnel …

Replication Data For: Thermal Conductivity Of Binary Sand Mixtures Evaluated Through Full Water Content Range, Benjamin Wallen, Kathleen Smits

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets - Archive

A soil's grain-size distribution affects its physical and hydraulic properties; however, little is known about its effect on soil thermal properties. To better understand how grain-size distribution affects soil thermal properties, specifically the effective thermal conductivity, a set of laboratory experiments was performed using binary mixtures of two uniform sands tightly packed with seven different mixing fractions over the full range of saturation. For each binary mixture, the effective thermal conductivity, λ, capillary pressure, hc, and volumetric water content, θ, were measured. Results demonstrated that the λ–θ relationship exhibited distinct characteristics based on the percentage of fine- and coarse-grained sands. …

Replication Data For: Characterization Of Grain-Size Distribution, Thermal Conductivity, And Gas Diffusivity In Variably Saturated Binary Sand Mixtures, C. T.K.K. Deepagoda, Kathleen Smits

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets - Archive

Characterization of differently textured porous materials, as well as different volumetric porous media mixtures, in relation to mass and heat transport is vital for many engineering and research applications. Functional relations describing physical (e.g., grain-size distribution, total porosity), thermal, and gas diffusion properties of porous media and mixtures are necessary to optimize the design of porous systems that involve heat and gas transport processes. However, only a limited number of studies provide characterization of soil physical, thermal, and gas diffusion properties and the functional relationships of these properties under varying soil water contents, especially for soil mixtures, complicating optimization efforts. …

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.

Plastic Recycling Is Inefficient And Expensive, Clark S. Adomaitis

Capstones

Plastics production and incineration contributes more than 850 million metric tons to the emissions that are causing climate change. Emissions are growing at a moment when scientists and world leaders are in agreement that they need to dramatically decrease. Environmentalists say that plastic production makes up 4.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. New plastic plants opening in the U.S. do not line up with emission reduction goals.

At the end of plastics’ lives, a lot of what we’re putting into our recycling bins isn’t getting recycled. In fact, only 18% of trash from New York City homes is actually recycled. …