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Proceedings Of The Cuny Games Conference 6.0, Robert O. Duncan, Joseph Bisz, Christina Boyle, Kathleen Offenholley, Maura A. Smale, Carolyn Stallard, Deborah Sturm

Publications and Research

The CUNY Games Network is an organization dedicated to encouraging research, scholarship and teaching in the developing field of games-based learning. We connect educators from every campus and discipline at CUNY and beyond who are interested in digital and non-digital games, simulations, and other forms of interactive teaching and inquiry-based learning. These proceedings summarize the CUNY Games Conference 6.0, where scholars shared research findings at a three-day event to promote and discuss game-based pedagogy in higher education. Presenters could share findings in oral presentations, posters, demos, or play testing sessions. The conference also included workshops on how to modify existing …

Beneficial Endophytic Bacterial Populations Associated With Medicinal Plant Thymus Vulgaris Alleviate Salt Stress And Confer Resistance To Fusarium Oxysporum, Osama Aballa Abdelshafy Mohamad, Jin-Bao Ma, Yong-Hong Liu, Daoyuan Zhang, Shao Hua, Shirkant Bhute, Brian P. Hedlund, Wen-Jun Li, Li Li

Life Sciences Faculty Research

As a result of climate change, salinity has become a major abiotic stress that reduces plant growth and crop productivity worldwide. A variety of endophytic bacteria alleviate salt stress; however, their ecology and biotechnological potential has not been fully realized. To address this gap, a collection of 117 endophytic bacteria were isolated from wild populations of the herb Thymus vulgaris in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah of North Sinai Province, Egypt, and identified based on their 16S rRNA gene sequences. The endophytes were highly diverse, including 17 genera and 30 species. The number of bacterial species obtained from root tissues was …

Modeling Post-Fire Successional Trajectories Under Climate Change In Interior Alaska Using Landis Ii, Shelby A. Weiss

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Alaska boreal forest ecosystems are experiencing a greater frequency of wildfire relative to the region’s historic fire regime. These increases in fire frequency, as well as annual burned area, increase the probability of forests re-burning within shorter intervals than were experienced historically. Such changes to the fire regime have the potential to shift successional trajectories in this ecosystem. To better understand potential changes in vegetation composition following short-interval, repeat fires, we are using LANDIS-II, a forest landscape model, to simulate changes in forest composition in response to climate change and increasing fire frequency. This seminar will include a description of …

Model Sensitivity To Topographic Uncertainty In Meso- And Microtidal Marshes, Karim Alizad, Stephen C. Medeiros, Madeline R. Foster-Martinez, Scott C. Hagen

Faculty Publications

Light detection and ranging (Lidar) derived digital elevation models are widely used in modeling coastal marsh systems. However, the topographic error in these models can affect simulations of marsh coverage and characteristics. We investigated the relevance and impact of this error in micro- and mesotidal systems. Lidar-derived and RTK-adjusted topography were each used in a dynamic marsh model, and the resulting marsh coverages were examined. For two microtidal sites (Apalachicola, FL, USA, and Grand Bay, MS, USA) using solely lidar-derived topography, the model produced Cohen Kappa values of 0.1 for both estuaries when compared with National Wetland Inventory data indicating …

The Changing Patterns In Grasslands And Soil Fertility Along The Eastern Eurasian Steppe Transect Across China–Mongolia–Russia, Xiangyang Hou, Leonid Ubugunov, S. Tserendash, Haijun Chen, Wenjun Han, Xiangjun Yun, Ding Yong, Wang Zhen, Lei Ji

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

This paper analyses the adaptation and change in species along the north-south Eastern Eurasian Steppe Transect across China – Mongolia – Russia and considers the implications for climate change and management. The plant community diversity, above-ground biomass, N:P ratios of community and of dominant species, soil N (nitrogen), soil P (phosphorus) and AP (available phosphorus) contents were studied along a 1400 km north-south transect. The main findings were: (1) the community diversity and productivity decreased with the increase in latitude and a significant negative correlation was found between the many plant characteristics and latitude (P < 0.05) – decreasing diversity, biomass and N:P ratios; (2) soil AP content was lowest in Inner Mongolia, whereas no significant change in soil total P with latitude was found in China-Mongolia-Russia transect, a significant positive correlation was detected between the soil nutrient (N and AP) and latitude (P < 0.05); (3) a significant positive correlation was evident between plant community P content and soil AP content (P < 0.01), but a negative correlation was found between community N:P ratio and soil AP content (P < 0.05). The soil AP content can be used as a soil properties indicator to reflect the plant communities P content and N: P ratio. It is suggested that greater human activities in Inner Mongolia may be an important factor affecting soil AP content, community N:P and plant growth.

'How To' Guide For Synthesizing Nerrs Marsh Monitoring Data, David M. Burdick

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

The purpose of this guide is to provide a user-friendly and informative guide on ‘How to’ synthesize salt marsh data from theNational Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRs). In this guide, we outline and detail the steps taken from requesting/cataloguing data to summarizing these data through visual and statistical analysis. These methods can be used at a single or multiple site(s) as well as over multiple years. Though this guide is specific to NERRs and focuses on plant community data, it may also be useful for other monitoring parameters and programs to guide protocol design and analyses. Here, we conduct a …

Toward A Method Of Collaborative, Evidence-Based Response To Desertification, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Joel R. Brown, Jason W. Karl, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Kris M. Havstad

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Over generalized narratives about how desertified ecosystems will respond to restoration actions may result in wasted resources, missed opportunities, or accelerated degradation. Evidence-based collaborative adaptive management (CAM) could solve this problem by providing site-specific information that is trusted by users and enables learning opportunities. Although calls for CAM are increasing, many recommendations remain abstract and difficult to operationalize in specific projects. We review some general challenges for managing desertification in rangelands and draw upon recommendations in the recent literature to develop a 6-step method of CAM to address desertification. The method draws upon our ongoing experiences and makes novel connections …

Tactical Themes For Rangeland Research, Kris M. Havstad, Deb P. C. Peters, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Dawn Browning, Jason W. Karl, Darren James, Scott Schrader

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The problems threatening the conservation and management of rangeland, over one-half of the world’s terrestrial surfaces, are significant and growing. Current assessments of drivers and externalities shaping these problems have resulted in strategies intended to result in sustainable development of these lands and their resources. However, how can individual scientists and individual research programs support the needed strategies and goals? What can we realistically contribute and accomplish? We believe that technology can connect individual scientists and their science to the problems manifest in rangelands over the world, in a more rapid exchange than has occurred in the past. Recognition of …

Sea Wrack Delivery And Accumulation On Islands: Factors That Mediate Marine Nutrient Permeability, Sara B. Wickham, Nancy Shackelford, Chris T. Darimont, Wiebe Nijland, Luba Y. Reshitnyk, John D. Reynolds, Brian M. Starzomski

Biogeography and Ecological Opportunity Collection

Sea wrack provides an important vector of marine-derived nutrients to many terrestrial environments. However, little is known about the processes that facilitate wrack transport, deposition, and accumulation on islands. Three broad factors can affect the stock of wrack along shorelines: the amount of potential donor habitat nearby, climatic events that dislodge seaweeds and transfer them ashore, and physical characteristics of shorelines that retain wrack at a site. To determine when, where, and how wrack accumulates on island shorelines, we surveyed 455 sites across 101 islands in coastal British Columbia, Canada. At each site, we recorded wrack biomass, species composition, and …

The Nutritional Status Of Children Living Within Institutionalized Care: A Systematic Review, Emily Delacey, Cally Tann, Nora Groce, Maria Kett, Michael Quiring, Ethan Bergman, Caryl Garcia, Marko Kerac

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Background. There are an estimated 2.7 million children living within institutionalized care worldwide. This review aimed to evaluate currently available data on the nutrition status of children living within institutionalized care.

Methods. We searched four databases (Pubmed/Medline, CINHAL Plus, Embase and Global Health Database) for relevant articles published from January 1990 to January 2019. Studies that included information on anthropometry or micronutrient status of children living within institutionalized care were eligible for inclusion. The review is registered on PROSPERO: CRD42019117103.

Results. From 3,602 titles screened, we reviewed 98 full texts, of which 25 papers were eligible. Two (8%) studies reported …

Are Humans Natural? Part 4: Human-Nature Relational Values Through Time, Nathan Ruhl, Sirena Pimenta

Open Educational Resources

This activity assumes students have a background in evolutionary theory, so students without such a background should have additional instruction prior to conducting this part of the activity. Consider a discussion of mechanisms that drive evolution, including genetic drift, natural selection, and gene flow. Evolution is a change in gene frequencies in a population over the course of several generations.

Genes are the genetic code controlling many individual characteristics or traits, so the frequency at which genes occur dictates, in large part, the frequency at which individual characteristics or traits exist in a population. The frequency of a gene can …

Engaging Faculty In Preparing Students For Non-Academic Environmental Careers, Carmen R. Cid, Mark W. Brunson

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

As a biology major at New York University, I was introduced to ecology in a course that bused the class out of New York University's Greenwich Village campus every weekend, to investigate biodiversity patterns in nearby forests and wetlands. After a day crossing bogs and walking through forests, I would take the subway home, hip boots in hand, reflecting on how the day's activities connected to my routine city life. Engaging others in understanding the city connections to adjacent habitats became my life's work. As Dean of Arts and Sciences at a public liberal arts university, I encourage faculty and …

Incorporating Wildlife Connectivity Into Forest Plan Revision Under The United States Forest Service's 2012 Planning Rule, Matthew A. Williamson, Tyler G. Creech, Gunnar Carnwath, Beverly Dixon, Virginia Kelly

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

The United States Forest Service promulgated new planning regulations under the National Forest Management Act in 2012 (i.e., the Planning Rule). These new regulations include the first requirements in U.S. public land management history for National Forests to evaluate, protect, and/or restore ecological connectivity as they revise their land management plans. Data and resource limitations make single-species, functional connectivity analyses for the myriad species that occur within the 78 million ha the Forest Service manages implausible. We describe an approach that relies on freely available data and generic species, virtual species whose profile consists of ecological requirements designed to reflect …

Bird Community Monitoring At Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, Status Report 2001–2018, David G. Peitz, Kathleen A. Kull

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

In 2001, the Heartland I&M Network initiated breeding bird surveys on Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, to assess the ecological integrity of the preserve’s habitat. Birds are an important component of ecosystems and can serve as good indicators of habitat change in an ecosystem. In the 17 years of bird surveys at the preserve (2001 to 2018, excluding 2003), there were 2,089 plot visits and 119 different bird species recorded, 96 of which have the potential to breed within the preserve. These 96 species represent approximately 81% of the total species one would reasonably expect to have breeding …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, February 2020, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 1. Issue 1

In this issue:

Dean’s Update P.1
Awards & Recognition P.2
Upcoming Events | Research P.3
Fundraising | Celebration of Life P.4
Student Jobs & Internships P.5

Biogeographic Patterns In Members Of Globally Distributed And Dominant Taxa Found In Port Microbial Communities., Ryan B Ghannam, Laura G. Schaerer, Timothy M. Butler, Stephen M Techtmann

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

We conducted a global characterization of the microbial communities of shipping ports to serve as a novel system to investigate microbial biogeography. The community structures of port microbes from marine and freshwater habitats house relatively similar phyla, despite spanning large spatial scales. As part of this project, we collected 1,218 surface water samples from 604 locations across eight countries and three continents to catalogue a total of 20 shipping ports distributed across the East and West Coast of the United States, Europe, and Asia to represent the largest study of port-associated microbial communities to date. Here, we demonstrated the utility …

Host Population Genetics And Biogeography Structure The Microbiome Of The Sponge Cliona Delitrix, Cole Easson, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, Robert W. Thacker, Jose Lopez

Biology Faculty Articles

Sponges occur across diverse marine biomes and host internal microbial communities that can provide critical ecological functions. While strong patterns of host specificity have been observed consistently in sponge microbiomes, the precise ecological relationships between hosts and their symbiotic microbial communities remain to be fully delineated. In the current study, we investigate the relative roles of host population genetics and biogeography in structuring the microbial communities hosted by the excavating sponge Cliona delitrix. A total of 53 samples, previously used to demarcate the population genetic structure of C. delitrix, were selected from two locations in the Caribbean Sea and …

Regional Forest Volume Estimation By Expanding Lidar Samples Using Multi-Sensor Satellite Data, Bo Xie, Chunxiang Cao, Min Xu, Barjeece Bashir, Ramesh P. Singh, Zhibin Huang, Xiaojuan Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate information regarding forest volume plays an important role in estimating afforestation, timber harvesting, and forest ecological services. Traditionally, operations on forest growing stock volume using field measurements are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recently, remote sensing technology has emerged as a time-cost efficient method for forest inventory. In the present study, we have adopted three procedures, including samples expanding, feature selection, and results generation and evaluation. Extrapolating the samples from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning is the most important step in satisfying the requirement of sample size for nonparametric methods operation and result in accuracy improvement. Besides, mean decrease Gini …

Insights About Diversity Of Tetrabothriidae (Eucestoda) Among Holarctic Alcidae (Charadriiformes): What Is Tetrabothrius Jagerskioeldi?, Eric P. Hoberg, Kaylen Marie Soudachanh

MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity

Tetrabothriid cestodes are characteristic helminths that infect species of seabirds globally. We begin with the exploration of the diversity of tapeworms of the genus Tetrabothrius Rudolphi, 1819 (Eucestoda: Tetrabothriidae), some of which are distributed among seabirds of the family Alcidae (Charadriiformes) at boreal to higher latitudes of Holarctic seas. During the course of 2 decades of field inventory from 1975 through the early 1990s (in addition to earlier collections assembled by Robert L. Rausch and colleagues in Alaska initiated in the late 1940s), an extensive series of tapeworm specimens attributable to species of Tetrabothrius was recovered from seabirds across the …

Biogeographic Study Of Human Gut-Associated Crassphage Suggests Impacts From Industrialization And Recent Expansion, Tanvi P/ Honap, Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan, Stephanie L. Schnorr, Andrew T. Ozga, Christina Warinner, Cecil M. Lewis Jr.

Anthropology Faculty Research

CrAssphage (cross-assembly phage) is a bacteriophage that was first discovered in human gut metagenomic data. CrAssphage belongs to a diverse family of crAss-like bacteriophages thought to infect gut commensal bacteria belonging to Bacteroides species. However, not much is known about the biogeography of crAssphage and whether certain strains are associated with specific human populations. In this study, we screened publicly available human gut metagenomic data from 3,341 samples for the presence of crAssphage sensu stricto (NC_024711.1). We found that crAssphage prevalence is low in traditional, hunter-gatherer populations, such as the Hadza from Tanzania and Matses from Peru, as compared to …

Disentangling Population History And Character Evolution Among Hybridizing Lineages, Sean P. Mullen, Nicholas W. Vankuren, Wei Zhang, Sumitha Nallu, Evan B. Kristiansen, Qiqige Wuyun, Kevin Liu, Ryan I. Hill, Adriana D. Briscoe, Marcus R. Kronforst, Matthew Hahn

Pacific Faculty Work

Understanding the origin and maintenance of adaptive phenotypic novelty is a central goal of evolutionary biology. However, both hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting can lead to genealogical discordance between the regions of the genome underlying adaptive traits and the remainder of the genome, decoupling inferences about character evolution from population history. Here, to disentangle these effects, we investigated the evolutionary origins and maintenance of Batesian mimicry between North American admiral butterflies (Limenitis arthemis) and their chemically defended model (Battus philenor) using a combination of de novo genome sequencing, whole-genome resequencing, and statistical introgression mapping. Our results suggest that balancing selection, …

Reiterpreting The Territory-Fragmentation Through Creating Cultural Promenadecase Study: Possibility To Reinterpret Zokak El-Blat District, Maged Youssef, Sarah Abou Shahine

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

"This paper focuses on tools and actions of urban planning that help the creation, enhancement, transformation or revitalization of cultural identity and historical meaning of central public spaces that suffer from urban disruption or fragmentation. This work uses the case study of a well-known district, Zokak el Blat, in Beirut, Lebanon, which has undergone noticeable changes in terms of morphology of the urban fabric as well as disparities in functionality. According to these facts, this district has a high potential for defining a strong central dynamic zone, where local character is reinforced, which creates a sort of fragmentation and discontinuity …

Interactive Playscapes: Explorative Design And Robotic Fabrication Techniques, Chadi El Khoury, Rasha Sukkarieh

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

This research focuses on material-based practices and explorations by utilizing the carbon fiber fabric performance characteristics as a significant driver in the design and fabrication strategies. While the integrative aspects of computational design have been extensively used for the inclusion of environmental, manufacturing, or economic considerations, material information should be similarly employed as a generative driver. The paper describes and evaluates a full-scale prototype of installation for social play actuated in the heart of Beirut city, hence integrating material research with methodologies optimizing fabrication techniques for complex, performance-driven structures. The introduction of carbon fiber composites into the construction sector defines …

Heritage Cities After Wars: Between Tradition And Innovation - A Case Study Of Beirut In Lebanon, Mary Felix

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Urban heritage is one of the most important aspects that identify a city’s history and evolution. Rebuilding cities after war is a concept that takes into consideration several aspects of maintaining a visual memory of urban heritage. A proper understanding of heritage aspects and elements should be considered in new extensions and the redesigning of old parts of cities, especially after wars. Beirut in Lebanon is one of the Middle Eastern cities that have been rehabilitated and rebuilt successfully after suffering from several wars. This research discusses and analyses conservation approaches that have been used in old parts of Beirut …

Organic Matter Is A Mixture Of Terrestrial, Autochthonous, And Wastewater Effluent In An Urban River, Julia E. Kelso, Michelle A. Baker

Ecology Center Publications

Terrestrially derived organic matter (OM) is known to dominate the OM pool in reference watersheds. Urban watersheds are known to receive large OM loads compared to reference watersheds, but the proportion of terrestrial, autochthonous, and anthropogenic (e.g., wastewater effluent) sources of OM in urban watersheds remains unknown. Organic matter was identified as a pollutant of concern in the Jordan River, an urban river in the Salt Lake Basin, U.S.A. Our objective was to identify autochthonous, terrestrial, and anthropogenic sources of three size-classes of OM to the Jordan River to inform OM reduction strategies within the watershed. Samples of coarse particulate …

Estimating Crude Protein Concentration Of A Grass Sward Using Spectral Measurements, Joseph L. Moyer, Chuyuan Wang, Bohua Ling, Kevin P. Price

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

While measurement of forage mass (FM) is fundamental to evaluating sward productivity, its forage quality determines the value for grazing. Optical sensing devices have varying potential for estimating forage characteristics. Instruments such as the Greenseeker®, which measures normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) have been related to various characteristics, but are confounded with canopy traits (Biewer et al. 2009). Simultaneous readings of NDVI and FM were used to separate their contributions to sward crude protein CP using multiple regression (Moyer et al. 2010).

Relationships in swards of tall fescue (Lolium arundinacium Schreb.) were poorer than in other species, …

Comparison Of Two Methods For Measuring Sea Surface Temperature When Surfing, Robert J. W. Brewin, Tyler Cyronak, Philip Bresnahan, Andreas J. Andersson, Jon Richard, Katherine Hammond, Oliver Billson, Lee De Mora, Thomas Jackson, Dan Smale, Giorgio Dall'olmo

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Nearshore coastal waters are among the most dynamic regions on the planet and difficult to sample from conventional oceanographic platforms. It has been suggested that environmental sampling of the nearshore could be improved by mobilising vast numbers of citizens who partake in marine recreational sports, like surfing. In this paper, we compared two approaches for measuring sea surface temperature (SST), an Essential Climate Variable, when surfing. One technique involved attaching a commercially-available miniature temperature logger (Onset UTBI-001 TidbiT v2) to the leash of the surfboard (tether connecting surfer and surfboard) and the second, attaching a surfboard fin (Smartfin) that contained …

Anoxic Conditions Maintained High Phosphorus Sorption In Humid Tropical Forest Soils, Yang Lin, Avner Gross, Christine S. O'Connell, Whendee L. Silver

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The strong phosphorus (P) sorption capacity of iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) minerals in highly weathered, acidic soils of humid tropical forests is generally assumed to be an important driver of P limitation to plants and microbial activity in these ecosystems. Humid tropical forest soils often experience fluctuating redox conditions that reduce Fe and raise pH. It is commonly thought that Fe reduction generally decreases the capacity and strength of P sorption. Here we examined the effects of 14 d oxic and anoxic incubations on soil P sorption dynamics in humid tropical forest soils from Puerto Rico. Contrary to the …

Remote Sensing Monitoring Of Vegetation Dynamic Changes After Fire In The Greater Hinggan Mountain Area: The Algorithm And Application For Eliminating Phenological Impacts, Zhibin Huang, Chunxiang Cao, Wei Chen, Min Xu, Yongfeng Dang, Ramesh P. Singh, Barjeece Bashir, Bo Xie, Xiaojuan Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Fires are frequent in boreal forests affecting forest areas. The detection of forest disturbances and the monitoring of forest restoration are critical for forest management. Vegetation phenology information in remote sensing images may interfere with the monitoring of vegetation restoration, but little research has been done on this issue. Remote sensing and the geographic information system (GIS) have emerged as important tools in providing valuable information about vegetation phenology. Based on the MODIS and Landsat time-series images acquired from 2000 to 2018, this study uses the spatio-temporal data fusion method to construct reflectance images of vegetation with a relatively consistent …

Preliminary Contributions Toward A Revision Of The Ant Genus Temnothorax Mayr(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) From Pakistan, Muhammad Tariq Rasheed, Imran Bodlah, Yusupov Zalimkhan Magomedovich, Ammara Gull E Fareen, Muhammad Adnan Bodlah, Matthew Prebus, Aijaz Ahmad Wachkoo

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Temnothorax pakistanensis sp. n., a new ant species from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the Himalayan range of Pakistan is described based on the worker caste and queen. An identification key and distribution map of the known Pakistani Temnothorax is presented. Summaries of the taxonomic history and biology of the three Temnothorax species of Pakistan is included.