Digital Commons Network^™

On Renewable Energy And Climate, Trump Voters Stand Apart, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Larry Hamilton discusses the results of pre- and post-election Polar, Environment, and Science surveys carried out by Carsey School researchers in August and November–December 2016, asking people about their general views on climate change and renewable energy. Almost three-fourths of Americans surveyed said that renewable energy should be a higher national priority than more drilling for oil. About two-thirds agree with the scientific consensus that humans are changing Earth’s climate. Priority for renewable energy development and recognition of human-caused climate change are majority opinions within every voter group except Trump supporters. On renewable energy, the reality …

2016 Progress Report — New Grant No. Na15nos4000200, Larry A. Mayer, Noaa-Unh Joint Hydrographic Center (Jhc/Ccom)

Progress Reports

Report Period: 01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016

2016 Progress Report — Old Grant No. Na10nos4000073, Larry A. Mayer, Noaa-Unh Joint Hydrographic Center (Jhc/Ccom)

Progress Reports

Report Period: 01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016

Applying Population And Community Ecology Theory To Advance Understanding Of Belowground Biogeochemistry, Robert W. Buchkowski, Mark A. Bradford, A. Stuart Grandy, Oswald J. Schmitz, William R. Wieder

Faculty Publications

Approaches to quantifying and predicting soil biogeochemical cycles mostly consider microbial biomass and community composition as products of the abiotic environment. Current numerical approaches then primarily emphasise the importance of microbe–environment interactions and physiology as controls on biogeochemical cycles. Decidedly less attention has been paid to understanding control exerted by community dynamics and biotic interactions. Yet a rich literature of theoretical and empirical contributions highlights the importance of considering how variation in microbial population ecology, especially biotic interactions, is related to variation in key biogeochemical processes like soil carbon formation. We demonstrate how a population and community ecology perspective can …

Carsey Perspectives: To Dig, Or Not To Dig?, Tom W. Haines

Carsey Publications

In this Carsey Perspectives brief, author Tom Haines details the ongoing review of federal coal leasing and reflects on its implications for the country’s effort to meet carbon emissions targets in the face of climate change. Haines walked 50 miles across Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the site of most federal coal production, and uses that on-the-ground research, as well as additional reporting, to form an analysis of the scope of the program and the role of federal coal going forward.

University Of New Hampshire Graduate Course Catalog, 2017-2018, University Of New Hampshire

Graduate Catalog

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Socio-Ecological Dimensions Of Agricultural Expansion In New Hampshire, Jennifer Wilhelm

Doctoral Dissertations

Forest ecosystems and agriculture represent coupled socio-ecological systems that are shaped by human activity. The extensification of agriculture (expansion of food production on the landscape) can cause significant changes in land use, and can contribute to the degradation of biodiverse ecosystems and the services these systems provide. Yet the need to increase food production capacity, either through agricultural intensification or extensification, continues to rise. In this dissertation, I address the critical issue of agricultural extensification from several angles.

The first chapter assesses agricultural expansion through the lens of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) through systematic review of the literature. I …

Effects Of Alien Shrubs On Caterpillars And Shrubland-Dependent Passerines Within Three Transmission Line Rights-Of-Way In Southeastern New Hampshire, Matthew Tarr

Doctoral Dissertations

By altering plant species composition and reducing plant species richness, invasion of non-native (alien) plants can reduce caterpillar abundance in bird habitats and simplify the bird community, but whether these cascading effects of alien plants extend further to affect bird productivity has not been quantified. This study is the first to quantify how reduced caterpillar abundance associated with alien plant invasion affects the reproductive success of a breeding passerine, the common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas trichas). The study was conducted in three transmission line rights-of-way where plant composition in yellowthroat territories was dominated by a near monoculture of alien shrubs (“ALIEN” …

Nitrogen Dynamics And Retention In The River Network Of A Tropical Forest, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico, Richard Brereton

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation identifies gaps in the scientific understanding of nutrient cycling, particularly nitrogen (N) cycling, in streams and riparian zones of tropical montane forests, and addresses several of those gaps with original field-based research using study watersheds in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico as the model system. The Luquillo Mountains have features typical of mature montane tropical forests, such as high background N concentrations in streams and groundwater relative to streams in other biomes. As a USDA Forest Service Experimental Forest, the Luquillo Mountains are accessible to researchers and have abundant monitoring and experimental datasets from which to build …

Unraveling Short-Term Variations In Tidewater Glacier Flow: Insights From Terrestrial Radar Interferometric Studies, Ryan Cassotto

Doctoral Dissertations

Tidewater glaciers are fast-flowing valley glaciers that advect ice from the interior of ice sheets to the ocean. Processes along the submarine boundaries of tidewater glacier termini can trigger a dynamic response in glacier ice that can impact stability along the terminus. Predictions of 21st century sea level rise require a comprehensive understanding of tidewater glacier dynamics over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Perturbations to the calving front, such as iceberg calving, tidal modulations, changes in proglacial ice mélange strength and rigidity, and the subglacial discharge of meltwater occur on time-scales that exceed temporal resolution of satellite measurements; …

Effects Of Agricultural Practices On Soil Communities And Their Associated Ecosystem Services, Lesley W. Atwood

Doctoral Dissertations

To maximize crop yields, commodity crop production systems typically rely on inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation; simplification of crop rotations (e.g., monocultures); and strategic use of soil disturbance (e.g., tillage, cultivation, etc.). While these practices are intended to optimize the soil conditions for crop development and reduce spatial and temporal variability in crop yield, they also impact soil biological diversity and the important agroecosystem services soil communities provide. Identification of management practices that are less prone to causing undesirable changes in the soil food web community are central to improving the sustainability of our agricultural systems. In this dissertation, …

Srs Feature: Two Stars From The Other Side Of The Globe Explore Globe To Chart Their Futures, C. Ralph Adler, Globe U.S. Coordination Office

Publications and Media

No abstract provided.

Simultaneous Measurements Of Soil Moisture And Streamflow In Small Catchments Reveal Varied Coupling Across Sites, Seasons, And Timescales, Brian Timothy Godbois

Master's Theses and Capstones

Soil moisture is an important component in the interaction of terrestrial and aquatic systems, as it may play a role in regulating streamflow and the delivery of nutrients from soils to streams. There are few studies that collect in situ soil moisture and stream discharge data simultaneously at the same location across different land uses at a fine enough temporal resolution to understand processes at sub-daily timescales. I examined the relationship between soil moisture and streamflow over varying timescales using concurrent, high temporal frequency (one hour) in situ measurements of soil volumetric water content and stream discharge at five headwater …

Where Is The North Pole? An Election-Year Survey On Global Change, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Carsey Publications

To explore public knowledge and perceptions about climate change, University of New Hampshire researchers conducted the first Polar, Environment, and Science (POLES) survey in August 2016. A random sample of U.S. adults were asked for their views regarding science, climate change, sources of information, current problems, and possible solutions. In addition, the survey tested basic geographical knowledge related to polar regions, such as whether the United States has a significant population living in the Arctic, and what respondents know about the location of the North Pole.

In this brief, author Lawrence Hamilton reports that fewer than one in five Americans …

Flood Realities, Perceptions, And The Depth Of Divisions On Climate, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Cameron P. Wake, Joel N. Hartter, Thomas G. Safford, Alli J. Puchlopek

Sociology

Research has led to broad agreement among scientists that anthropogenic climate change is happening now and likely to worsen. In contrast to scientific agreement, US public views remain deeply divided, largely along ideological lines. Science communication has been neutralised in some arenas by intense counter-messaging, but as adverse climate impacts become manifest they might intervene more persuasively in local perceptions. We look for evidence of this occurring with regard to realities and perceptions of flooding in the northeastern US state of New Hampshire. Although precipitation and flood damage have increased, with ample news coverage, most residents do not see a …

Patterns And Predictors Of Recent Forest Conversion In New England, Alexandra M. Thorn, Jonathan R. Thompson, Joshua S. Plisinski

New Hampshire EPSCoR

New England forests provide numerous benefits to the region’s residents, but are undergoing rapid development. We used boosted regression tree analysis (BRT) to assess geographic predictors of forest loss to development between 2001 and 2011. BRT combines classification and regression trees with machine learning to generate non-parametric statistical models that can capture non-linear relationships. Based on National Land Cover Database (NLCD) maps of land cover change, we assessed the importance of the biophysical and social variables selected for full region coverage and minimal collinearity in predicting forest loss to development, specifically: elevation, slope, distance to roads, density of highways, distance …

Wildfire, Climate, And Perceptions In Northeast Oregon, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel N. Hartter, Barry D. Keim, Angela E. Boag, Michael W. Palace, Forrest R. Stevens, Mark J. Ducey

Sociology

Wildfire poses a rising threat in the western USA, fueled by synergies between historical fire suppression, changing land use, insects and disease, and shifts toward a drier, warmer climate. The rugged landscapes of northeast Oregon, with their historically forest- and resource-based economies, have been one of the areas affected. A 2011 survey found area residents highly concerned about fire and insect threats, but not about climate change. In 2014 we conducted a second survey that, to explore this apparent disconnect, included questions about past and future summertime (fire season) temperatures. Although regional temperatures have warmed in recent decades at twice …

Was December Warm? Family, Politics, And Recollections Of Weather, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Mary D. Lemcke-Stampone

Carsey Publications

In 2015 New Hampshire experienced its warmest December on record. The temperature exceeded twentieth century average temperatures by a wider margin than for any month in historical records dating back to 1895. In February 2016, as part of an ongoing study of environmental perceptions, the Granite State Poll asked state residents whether they thought the recent December had been generally colder, warmer, or about average for that month. Only 63 percent remembered it had been above average. The remainder of the winter set a new warmth record as well, so in April 2016 another Granite State Poll asked residents about …

Improved Ecosystem Indicator Tools For Water Qualitymanagement – Genomic Analysis Of Periphyton To Identifystressors, Alison Watts, W. Kelly Thomas

NH Water Resources Research Center Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Natural Dams And Biogeochemistry At The River Network Scale: Implications For Water Quality, Denise Burchsted, Christopher Brehme, Mark B. Green, Jennifer M. Jacobs, Wil Wollheim

NH Water Resources Research Center Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sustainability Science Graduate Students As Boundary Spanners, Spencer R. Meyer, Vanessa R. Levesque, Karen H. Bieluch, Michelle L. Johnson, Bridie Mcgreavy, Stacia Dreyer, Hollie Smith

Faculty Publications

Graduate training in sustainability science (SS) focuses on interdisciplinary research, stakeholder-researcher partnerships, and creating solutions from knowledge. But becoming a sustainability scientist also requires specialized training that addresses the complex boundaries implicit in sustainability science approaches to solving social-ecological system challenges. Using boundary spanning as a framework, we use a case study of the Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI) at the University of Maine to explicate key elements for graduate education training in SS. We used a mixed-methods approach, including a quantitative survey and autoethnographic reflection, to analyze our experiences as SSI doctoral students. Through this research, we identified four essential …

Arctic Air Pollution: Challenges And Opportunities For The Next Decade, S. R. Arnold, K. S. Law, C. A. Brock, J. L. Thomas, S. M. Starkweather, K. Von Salzen, A. Stohl, S. Sharma, M. T. Lund, M. G. Flanner, T. Petaja, H. Tanimoto, J. Gamble, Jack E. Dibb, M. Melamed, N. Johnson, M. Fidel, V. P. Tynkkynen, A. Baklanov, S. Eckhardt

All Materials

The Arctic is a sentinel of global change. This region is influenced by multiple physical and socio-economic drivers and feedbacks, impacting both the natural and human environment. Air pollution is one such driver that impacts Arctic climate change, ecosystems and health but significant uncertainties still surround quantification of these effects. Arctic air pollution includes harmful trace gases (e.g. tropospheric ozone) and particles (e.g. black carbon, sulphate) and toxic substances (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that can be transported to the Arctic from emission sources located far outside the region, or emitted within the Arctic from activities including shipping, power production, and …

Clean Water For Less Integrated Planning Reduces The Cost Of Meeting Water Quality Goals In New Hampshire, Alison W. Watts, Robert Roseen, Paul E. Stacey, Renee Bourdeau, Theresa Walker

Carsey Publications

Rising populations and increased development in New Hampshire coastal communities have led to a decline in water quality in the Great Bay Estuary. Responding effectively and affordably to new federal permit requirements for treating and discharging stormwater and wastewater will require innovative solutions from communities in the area. The Water Integration for Squamscott-Exeter (WISE) project developed an integrated planning framework through which the coastal communities of Exeter, Stratham, and Newfields could significantly reduce the cost of meeting permit requirements. In this brief, authors Alison Watts, Robert Roseen, Paul Stacey, Renee Bourdeau, and Theresa Walker report that integrated planning could save …

The Ecologist's Field Guide To Sequence-Based Identification Of Biodiversity, Simon Creer, Kristy Deiner, Serita D. Frey, Dorota Porazinska, Pierre Taberlet, W. Kelley Thomas, Caitlin Potter, Holly M. Bik

Faculty Publications

The past 100 years of ecological research has seen substantial progress in understanding the natural world and likely effects of change, whether natural or anthropogenic. Traditional ecological approaches underpin such advances, but would additionally benefit from recent developments in the sequence-based quantification of biodiversity from the fields of molecular ecology and genomics. By building on a long and rich history of molecular taxonomy and taking advantage of the new generation of DNA sequencing technologies, we are gaining previously impossible insights into alpha and beta diversity from all domains of life, irrespective of body size. While a number of complementary reviews …

Mobilizing The Power Of Higher Education To Tackle The Grand Challenge Of Sustainability: Lessons From Novel Initiatives, David D. Hart, James L. Buizer, Jonathan A. Foley, Lewis E. Gilbert, Lisa J. Graumlich, Anne R. Kapuscinski, Jonathan G. Kramer, Margaret A. Palmer, David R. Peart, Linda Silka

New Hampshire EPSCoR

No abstract provided.

Observational Evidence For The Convective Transport Of Dust Over The Central United States, C. A. Corr, L. D. Ziemba, Eric M. Scheuer, B. E. Anderson, A. J. Beyersdorf, G. Chen, E. Crosbie, R. H. Moore, M. Shook, K. L. Thornhill, E. Winstead, R. P. Lawson, M. C. Barth, J. R. Schroeder, D. R. Blake, Jack E. Dibb

All Materials

Bulk aerosol composition and aerosol size distributions measured aboard the DC-8 aircraft during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry Experiment mission in May/June 2012 were used to investigate the transport of mineral dust through nine storms encountered over Colorado and Oklahoma. Measurements made at low altitudes (<5 km mean sea level (MSL)) in the storm inflow region were compared to those made in cirrus anvils (altitude > 9 km MSL). Storm mean outflow Ca2+ mass concentrations and total coarse (1 µm < diameter < 5 µm) aerosol volume (Vc) were comparable to mean inflow values as demonstrated by average outflow/inflow ratios greater than 0.5. A positive relationship between Ca2+, Vc, ice water content, and large (diameter > 50 µm) ice particle number concentrations was not evident; thus, the influence of ice shatter on these measurements was assumed small. Mean inflow aerosol number concentrations calculated over a diameter range (0.5 µm < diameter < 5.0 µm) relevant for proxy ice nuclei (NPIN) were ~15–300 times higher than ice particle concentrations for all storms. Ratios of predicted interstitial NPIN (calculated as the difference between inflow NPIN and ice particle concentrations) and inflow NPIN were consistent with those calculated for Ca2+ and Vc and indicated that on average less than 10% of the ingested NPIN were activated as ice nuclei during anvil formation. Deep convection may therefore represent an efficient transport mechanism for dust to the upper troposphere where these particles can function as ice nuclei cirrus forming in situ.

2015 Unh/Noaa Joint Hydrographic Center Performance And Progress Report, Larry A. Mayer, Noaa-Unh Joint Hydrographic Center (Jhc/Ccom)

Progress Reports

Report Period: 01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015

2015 Unh/Noaa Joint Hydrographic Center Performance And Progress Report — Executive Summary, Larry A. Mayer, Noaa-Unh Joint Hydrographic Center (Jhc/Ccom)

Progress Reports

Report Period: 01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015

The Skunkwork Of Ecological Engagement, John Ackerman, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Bridie Mcgreavy, Leah Sprain

New Hampshire EPSCoR

Ecological engagement is about attending to the possibilities of dwelling in a place; skunkwork is a way of orienting this dwelling. Skunkwork refers to creative, self-coordinated, collective work in informal spaces of learning and reminds us that ecologically attuned work in the world can promote unexpected, yet collectively desired, change. In this essay, we describe how we used skunkwork to orient our ecological engagement in two workshops on ‘community resilience.’ In both workshops, Boulder Creek became our commonplace, with its history of flooding and abatements as well as one city’s planning and management of crisis and sustainability. We draw from …

The Greening Of Faith: God, The Environment, And The Good Life (20th Anniversary Edition), John E. Carroll, Paul Brockelman, Mary Westfall

University of New Hampshire Press: Open Access Books

The recent release of Pope Francis’s much-discussed encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, has reinforced environmental issues as also moral and spiritual issues. This anthology, twenty years ahead of the encyclical but very much in line with its agenda, offers essays by fifteen philosophers, theologians, and environmentalists who argue for a response to ecology that recognizes the tools of science but includes a more spiritual approach—one with a more humanistic, holistic view based on inherent reverence toward the natural world. Writers whose orientations range from Buddhism to evangelical Christianity to Catholicism to Native American …