Digital Commons Network^™

A Novel Method For Determination Of Ammonium Isotope Ratios With Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Rebecca J. Chmiel

Honors Theses

Nitrogen (¹⁵N) isotope tracer studies are an invaluable tool for understanding the rate of N transformations in the environment. A mechanistic understanding of N cycling is critical to management of excess N availability in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Conventional methods for measuring ¹⁵N:¹⁴N of dissolved inorganic nitrogen species are time consuming and require large sample volumes. Here, we present a technique for measuring ¹⁵N:¹⁴N in ammonium (NH₄⁺) using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). NH₄⁺ present in small volumes of sample (3 ml) is complexed with phenol via …

Crops And Controversy: Industry’S Role In The Gmo Debate, Carina Wallack

Honors Theses

The use of genetically modified crops (also called GM crops, genetically modified organisms, or GMOs for short) has become a highly contested issue. New genetic modification technologies offer a variety of advantages for improving agricultural efficiency. However, some scientists argue that the safety testing conducted thus far does not provide enough information and worry about possible health and ecological risks. Private industry sponsors a great deal of research on genetically modified crops. As the international controversy regarding the use of GMOs has unfolded, the very companies responsible for commercializing genetically modified crops have gained substantial influence in the resulting scientific …

America's National Parks And The Anthropocene: Addressing The Present To Accommodate The Future In Acadia National Park, Sophie A. Swetz

Honors Theses

In 2000, atmospheric chemist, Paul J. Crutzen, and limnologist, Eugene Stoermer, formally proposed the idea of “the Anthropocene,” a new geologic epoch in which humans are the dominant force shaping the Earth. To claim the Anthropocene's existence is to declare that human actions have altered the Earth in such a way that geologic indicators render it a distinct epoch in the stratification of geologic time. This new epoch emerges as a consequence of increased technological development employed to accommodate an anthropocentric human existence. That is, rapid advancements in technology have driven the transformation from a primarily naturally controlled planet to …

!Patagonia Sin Represas! Hydropower Development And The Competing Spheres Of Power In Argentine And Chilean Patagonia, Joseph Mac Bell

Honors Theses

The central question of this research thesis is: How have public-private partnerships to develop hydropower been shaped by competing forces in corporate, state, and civil society and how have these forces impacted the HidroAysén and the Represas Patagonias projects in Chile and Argentina, respectively? This thesis focuses on the competing discourses of the corporate, state, and civil society, along with their relative strengths, weaknesses, degrees of risk taking and risk sharing, and the level of public and private investment. As of December 2017, the HidroAysén project in Chilean Patagonia has been indefinitely halted, but on the other side of the …

Biochemical Variation In Caribbean Sponges Of The Genus Aplysina, Sarah L. Criddle

Honors Theses

Sponges are among the simplest multicellular organisms, consisting of groupings of cells with similar functions rather than true tissues. Nonetheless, sponges are ecologically significant in many marine environments, including coral reefs. They are sedentary organisms that feed by filtration from the water column, which contributes to the numerous roles they play on coral reefs, including upkeep of the reef, production of usable energy, and recycling of nutrients. Like all multicellular organisms, sponges are made up of biologically significant macromolecules. These macromolecules provide the energy for the sponge, and their relative concentrations determine how sponges can store and access the energy …

From Love Canal To The Flint Water Crisis: Government, Public Opinion, And Environmental Crises, Sarah Hughey

Honors Theses

After the rise of the modern-day environmental movement, environmentalism in the United States focused more and more on issues and crises related to the areas in which people lived and to the aspects that impacted public health. In particular, the crisis at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York during the late 1970s and early 1980s provided a starting point to the awareness and activism of modern environmental history. Recently, an environmental crisis related to drinking water occurred in Flint, Michigan in the mid-2010s that showcases how various aspects of the environmental movement have developed over time since the Love …

Sedimentology Of A Small Estuarine Marsh Along East (Pensacola) Bay, Florida, Jesse Pfadenhauer

Honors Theses

Sediment samples from a marsh along East (Pensacola) Bay were analyzed using various laboratory techniques. The color, magnetic susceptibility, organic content, carbonate content, and sediment size distribution of each sample was measured to attain an overall profile of the sedimentary characteristics of the area. Using the GPS coordinates of each collection site, samples were categorized into sub-environments based on their position within the marsh. The trends within the study area and sub-environments were evaluated and interpreted. The data indicate that this marsh is a siliciclastic, fining-inland area that is frequently inundated with tidal fluctuations and storm surges. These storm surges …

Bioaccumulation Of Iron In Gambusia Affinis In Lemna Minor Mediated Surroundings, Canaan Sutton

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Allied Paper Landfill, A Case Study Of Superfund, Kaitlin Braunschweig

Honors Theses

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (1980), more commonly known as Superfund, delegates the responsibility for cleanup of more than 1,300 hazardous waste sites to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This thesis is designed as a case study to investigate the Superfund program through the lens of the Allied Paper Landfill portion of the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. Through interviews with key stakeholders an evaluation was completed based on the following research questions: 1) are the current goals of Superfund appropriate, 2) is the funding mechanism sufficient to fulfill the goals of Superfund, and 3) is the …

"Patterns In The Abundance Of Benthic Algae In Streams", Courtney Wright

Honors Theses

Benthic, microscopic algae are the main drivers of primary productivity in streams. The relationship between the abundance and productivity of benthic algae in streams and lakes and the availability of limiting nutrients, especially soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), has been extensively studied (reviewed in Allan and Castillo 2007, Larned 2010). However, nearly all of this research has been conducted on the periphyton assemblage found on hard substrates (e.g., stones, wood), while very little work has addressed the factors affecting the abundance of epipelic algae (i.e., the algae associated with depositional (soft) sediments such as sands and silts). One of the few …

An Assessment Of Home Energy Efficiency In Kalamazoo, Alexis Coutts

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess the status of home energy efficiency in Kalamazoo as well as the reasons why (or why not) a homeowner adopts energy efficiency and what their incentives and barriers are. In order to address these questions this study first relies on a literature review to offer insight on this complex topic and reveal the main incentives and barriers to energy efficiency already found by homeowners. Next a survey is completed by a total of thirty participants, fifteen homeowners from two separate neighborhoods of Kalamazoo, using socioeconomics as a variable. Where Milwood neighborhood acts …

The Ethics Of Environmentalism For The Individual Consumer, Molly Collins

Honors Theses

Climate change harms the well-being of humans. It is the poor choices of individual consumers that contribute to climate change. I argue that it is immoral to cause harm to others, thus climate change is an ethical dilemma for individual consumers. I begin with a pluralistic discussion of harm, before discussing the duties of individuals to make choices that will mitigate the current harms of climate change and the wrong moral assumptions that individuals make regarding their contribution to climate change. I discuss the principles of ethical consumerism, specifically in housing, food, and transportation. Lastly, I argue that climate change …

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall, Travis W. Reynolds

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …

Entering Into Dialogue With Pope Francis' Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home, Sarah Jeanne Shimer

Honors Theses

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home brings together the spheres of science and religion. In this document, Francis puts forth a call for action towards religious and non-religious communities alike to address climate change. The strength of the document lies in the way Francis expresses his call. By drawing on scientific and religious tradition, he situates the encyclical in a broader conversation about the moral obligation for humans to care for the environment. This thesis explores the reception of Laudato Si by religious and environmental communities through political cartoons, written critiques, and personal interviews. …

Pharmaceutical And Personal Care Products Concentrations In The Belgrade Lakes: A Possible Threat To Aquatic Ecosystems And Human Health, Serena Haver

Honors Theses

Pharmaceuticals and active ingredients from personal care products (PPCPs) include prescription and over-the-counter drugs, sunscreen, fragrances, and soaps. Recently researchers have detected PPCPs in surface waters, posing a threat to aquatic biota and human health. These compounds can enter the environment through dumping, direct excretion, or sewage effluent streams. We tested 14 water samples from East Pond, Great Pond, and Long Pond in Maine for the presence of 23 different PPCPs. Of those, we only detected significant levels of caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, and amphetamine all below 1µg/L. There were no significant differences between any of the three lakes for any of …

Assessing Lakesmart: The Development And Effectiveness Of A Lake Protection Program, Alexa A. E. Junker

Honors Theses

Maine’s nearly 6,000 lakes are a vital resource for the state, generating $6 billion in annual economic activity and sustaining 52,000 jobs. Over the course of the last several decades, this resource has increasingly been threatened by development and related problems, especially nutrient runoff. LakeSmart is a lake protection program designed to stem the flow of nutrient runoff by promoting and rewarding the use lake-friendly landscaping practices.

For this project, I traced the history of LakeSmart from its roots in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and, through stakeholder interviews and surveys, chronicled its development into the flagship program of …

The Historical Ecology Of Queensland’S Australian Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus Porosus), Emily M. Walker

Honors Theses

Human wildlife conflict is a critical aspect of many societies, as it often plays a large role in government decisions. The iconic saltwater Australian crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is one example of a species that has become the subject of human-wildlife conflict in Queensland, Australia. Decades of intensive hunting in Queensland, beginning at the time of the Second World War, drastically depleted crocodile populations, leading to a federal embargo on crocodile exports in 1972 and their protection in Queensland in 1974. Since protection, populations appear to be recovering with increasing densities in the north and increased sightings along the …

The Effect Of Temperature On The Supply And Demand For The American Lobster (Homarus Americanus) In The State Of Maine, Gaby E. Carpenter

Honors Theses

The Gulf of Maine (GOM) American lobster (Homarus americanus) stock accounts for 90% of the U.S. American lobster landings. This makes it an extremely valuable and important fishery on a national scale, but also to the state of Maine. In the past decade, the fishery has experienced rapid fluctuation in landings and price due to anthropogenic influences of the water temperature in the GOM. Given the economic importance of the fishery, it is important to understand the future impacts of climate change on the availability of lobster and economic consequences of these shifts. A bio-economic model is used in the …

Shifting Baselines Of Iconic Marine Species In The Caribbean, Samantha Lovell

Honors Theses

As the degradation of Caribbean coral reefs occurs, memory of past states is lost so the degraded status is used as a standard in management, a phenomenon known as “shifting baselines.” To set restoration targets, marine historical ecology studies are helpful to document baselines of species and understand the past productivity of ecosystems. In this study, I examine the historical ecology of the islands Barbuda, Curaçao, and Montserrat. I analyzed archival materials, including historical maps and other documents from the islands to identify previously abundant or iconic species and understand historical changes. From the archival resources I identified 30 places …

The Effect Of Cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia Echinulata In The Belgrade Lakes, Maine, Harriet T. Rothschild

Honors Theses

Gloeotrichia echinulata is a cyanobacteria species that has been increasingly forming blooms in oligotrophic lakes in the Northeastern United States. The Belgrade Lakes in central Maine have experienced increasing blooms over the past decades. Long Pond and Great Pond in the Belgrade Lakes region are popular locations for summer tourism and year-round residents. Research into G. echinulata is important to the Belgrade community because of potential effects to water quality, public health, and recreation. Studying G. echinulata bloom density throughout the summer and how it may affect the phosphorous cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the plankton community will help scientists …

The Impact Of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals On Wildlife Conservation, Eda Reed

Honors Theses

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as those from plastics and pesticides, have been hypothesized to affect wildlife populations. According to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, EDCs ‘are chemicals that may interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife.’ A growing number of studies suggest wildlife are being exposed to EDCs, but how EDCs affect wildlife health and wildlife conservation is less well-understood. Through scientific literature analysis and a survey of wildlife conservationists and practitioners, this study aims to determine the current state of knowledge and data …

Analyzing Tuberculosis Diagnosis And Treatment In Kasungu, Malawi, Andrew Currier

Honors Theses

Despite Tuberculosis (TB) being a highly curable disease, it continues to result in over 5% of deaths in the Sub-Saharan African country of Malawi. Coupled with HIV, the disease remains one of the leading causes of death in Malawi. In the summer of 2015, I joined a research team from Partners in Hope to conduct a survey evaluating the health centers that provide TB care in the Kasungu region of Malawi. After visiting 23 health centers, the results of the 47-question survey were compiled and analyzed to provide information on the capabilities and practices at each health center. The results …

The Roles Of Introduced Eucalyptus In The Conservation And Expansion Of Ethiopian Orthodox Church Forests In The Northern Ethiopian Highlands, Janice Liang

Honors Theses

Species of the genus Eucalyptus (common name eucalyptus) are widely planted all across Ethiopia – including on large areas of land previously allocated to food production. In recent decades eucalyptus has also increasingly been planted on lands around and within “church forests,” sacred groves of old-aged Afromontane trees surrounding Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido churches. These revered holy sites have long been recognized for their cultural values and also for their ecosystem services – including their potential to support species conservation and restoration, as church forests are some of the only remaining sanctuaries for many of Ethiopia’s indigenous and endemic plant and …

Noise Reduction In The Manufacturing Environment: A Study On Small Jet Geometry Alterations, Shawn Wesley Skinner

Honors Theses

Noise pollution is an identified issue in manufacturing environments. While machines, motion, production, etc. are a large factor in this noise pollution, other sources exist. Often copper tubing is connected to pressurized containers as a make-shift jet stream for reorienting elements on the assembly line. These makeshift jets when working in conjunction create noise pollution. By manipulating the exit of these small jets, it is hypothesized that the noise level can be decreased. Using the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA) at the University of Mississippi, three geometry alterations—deburring the end, creating a converging-diverging nozzle, and flattening the end—were tested …

Variability In Antibacterial Chemical Defenses In Caribbean Sponges Of The Genus Aplysina, Savannah Stockton

Honors Theses

Coral reefs represent one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth, providing habitat for at least 25% of all marine species. Coral ecosystems are faced with many stressors, both physical and biological, that are causing their continuing decline. Understanding the impacts of these stressors, and the resilience of coral reefs, is important to the long-term survival of these critical ecosystems. As a major constituent of marine communities, sponges are an important phylum contributing to the ecology of coral reefs. Like other components of coral reef habitats, sponges also face a wide variety of biological stressors including pathogens, predators, and competitors. …

Local Response To Climate Change: A Case Study Approach, Nora Gimpel

Honors Theses

The scientific consensus on the causes and consequences of climate change is clear and experts continue to strongly recommend immediate mitigation and adaptation responses (IPCC, 2014). Responses to climate change are occurring at the international, national, and subnational level, but adaptation to climate change is also highly local. Local communities across the world are organizing groups and institutions to determine their best responses for local mitigation and adaptation actions. This study analyzed the formal local community organization, the Kalamazoo Climate Change Coalition (KCCC), and its structured activities in order to evaluate how Kalamazoo has responded to climate change. Methodology for …

An Undiscovered Wilderness--Place And Self: A Digital Curation Of Text And Images, Alana Jane Jajko

Honors Theses

Medieval manuscripts are beautiful compilations of text and image. My work explores this media as a way to celebrate the beauty of the natural world, combining nature writing with marginalia and illustrations that reflect the content of the text. The calligraphy style is modeled after the font used in the Book of Kells, as it too portrays natural imagery throughout its pages. Manuscripts were meant to glorify the text within, and it is my hope to glorify and preserve an appreciation of nature in a world where it is sometimes overlooked. The culmination of this research has grown into a …

School Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Honors Theses

School gardens have existed since the late nineteenth century and today are becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world, including where I studied in Maine and Australia (AUS). Multiple organizations support school gardens in Maine, including the Maine School Garden Network, which has over 125 registered school gardens. In AUS, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation primarily supports the school garden movement and has over 800 registered school gardens. While many researchers have studied school gardens, few have compared two countries, focused on environmental sustainability, or investigated Maine in particular. This thesis combines information from literature reviews, and …

Sociological Effects Of Wind Farms In Maine, Jeanne E. Barthold, Jeanne Barthold

Honors Theses

Renewable Energy is an extremely important topic in today's energy discussions. In Maine, with the motivation of Governor Baldacci, there was a rapid push towards utilizing wind energy, starting with the Wind Energy Act in 2008. While the theory of wind farms and wind energy seems intelligent at a first glance, it is not an energy source that lacks issues. Many of the Maine wind farms constructed in the last ten years have had a large impact on human health, altered the beauty of Maine, created a change in wildlife habitats, and completely torn apart communities. Every new energy source …