Digital Commons Network^™

December 2, 2020 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Synergies Among Environmental Science Research And Monitoring Networks: A Research Agenda, J. A. Jones, Peter M. Groffman, J. Blair, F. W. Davis, H. Dugan, E. E. Euskirchen, S. D. Frey, T. K. Harms, E. Hinckley, M. Kosmala, S. Loberg, S. Malone, K. Novick, S. Record, A. V. Rocha, B. L. Ruddell, E. H. Stanley, C. Sturtevant, A. Thorpe, T. White, W. R. Wieder, L. Zhai, K. Zhu

Advanced Science Research Center

Many research and monitoring networks in recent decades have provided publicly available data documenting environmental and ecological change, but little is known about the status of efforts to synthesize this information across networks. We convened a working group to assess ongoing and potential cross-network synthesis research and outline opportunities and challenges for the future, focusing on the US-based research network (the US Long-Term Ecological Research network, LTER) and monitoring network (the National Ecological Observatory Network, NEON). LTER-NEON cross-network research synergies arise from the potentials for LTER measurements, experiments, models, and observational studies to provide context and mechanisms for interpreting NEON …

Wofford Today Winter 2020, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Wofford Today

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Market Potential For Aquaculture Grown Quahogs In The Gulf Of Maine, Andrea Hansen, Brady Orozco-Herman, Talia Sperduto

Community Engaged Research Reports

This report is a qualitative analysis of the viability of establishing a market for aquaculture-grown quahogs (Mercenaria mercenaria) in the state of Maine. Our work is in conjunction with Manomet and the University of Maine Orono and is funded by the National Sea Grant Office. The aim of the project is to explore the barriers and opportunities of establishing such a market for farmed quahogs as a livelihood diversification strategy for Maine fisherman and aquaculturists.

Our research on the possibility of a regional quahog market relies on interviews with seven shellfish managers and four shellfish dealers from across the eastern …

Laying The Groundwork For A Trail At Breton Preserve With Androscoggin Land Trust, Kelley Attenborough, Sarah Maccormick, Isabel Mohammadi-Hall

Community Engaged Research Reports

Public access to the coastal, mountainous and historic hotspots is one of the reasons Maine’s population is increasing. These natural areas are threatened by land turnover and human development, forcing government funded conservation programs, local land trusts, and nationwide privately held conservation groups to take action. Throughout cities in Maine, there is a push for more public outdoor areas providing further recreational opportunities to facilitate holistic and educated relationships with the land. For these reasons, the Androscoggin Land Trust (ALT) has identified a need for a multi-use trail along the Androscoggin River at the Breton Preserve in Lisbon, Maine. To …

Creating Opportunities For Urban Agriculture In Lewiston/Auburn, Lily Edelman-Gold, Meredith Melendy

Community Engaged Research Reports

The intersectional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, as well as the heightened awareness of racism and racial disparities across the United States, all shed light on one specific commonality: food injustice. Through a food justice lens, these issues may be further explored and complicated as cities experience exacerbated inequities within food access and food security. These ongoing issues have further illuminated the barriers to achieving food justice, identifying a need for more accessible and affordable opportunities within cities’ food systems. One possible solution to overcome these barriers is the implementation of urban agriculture, which scholars have …

A Library Of Low Molecular Weight Fluorescent Probes For The Detection Of Cu(Ii) And Fe(Iii) Ions, Ashley Johnson

Dissertations

This dissertation reports the synthesis and photophysical properties of a family of rhodamine dyes (compounds 3.9-3.13 and 4.6). The rhodamine dyes are prepared in two steps, and fully characterized by ESI-MS (Low and High resolution), X-Ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The coordination environment of the low molecular weight fluorescent probes (LMFPs) was systematically changed to investigate the thermodynamic behavior between the LMFPs and an array of metal ions (Cu²⁺, Fe²⁺, and Hg²⁺ ions) in protic and aprotic solvent systems. Upon coordinating to metal ions, the π-conjugation of the LMFPs changed, resulting in …

Spartan Daily, December 1, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 155, Issue 41

Puerto Rico’S Electric Power System: An Analysis Of Contemporary Failures And The Opportunity To Rebuild A More Resilient Grid, Including The Development Of A Utility-Scale Solar Farm On The Island Municipality Of Culebra, Federico Sotomayor

Sustainability and Social Justice

Puerto Rico’s grid was decimated in 2017 after experiencing back-to-back hurricanes – Maria and Irma. Although the hurricanes caused tremendous damage and hardship to the island, it also created the right circumstances for the local energy landscape to transition toward a more resilient and sustainable model. Through an analysis of recent challenges by the local electric utility PREPA, and subsequent fallout from the hurricanes, we see that they now hold a unique opportunity to redeem themselves by taking advantage of catalyzed resources to rebuild a better system. One region that could greatly benefit from an improved and reimagined grid are …

Environmental Hygiene For Covid-19: It's All About The Mask, Daniel B. Oerther, Mona Shattell

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

A Colonized Cop: Indigenous Exclusion And Youth Climate Justice Activism At The United Nations Climate Change Negotiations, Corrie Grosse, Brigid Mark

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Youth activists around the world are demanding urgent climate action from elected leaders. The annual United Nations climate change negotiations, known as COPs, are key sites of global organizing and hope for a comprehensive approach to climate policy. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews at COP25 in 2019, this research examines youth climate activists’ priorities, frustrations and hopes for creating just climate policy. Youth are disillusioned with the COP process and highlight a variety of ways through which the COP perpetuates colonial power structures that marginalize Indigenous peoples and others fighting for justice. This is intersectional exclusion - the …

Uniformity In Place-Making: How A Focus On Image And Tradition Can Restrict Personal Expression And Repress Queer Identities, Julia Funk

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

This study looked at the University of Richmond campus, a campus built in a collegiate gothic style of and comprised of uniform buildings and highly managed landscaping. Specifically, it surveyed queer students at UR to ask about their experiences and feelings being on the UR campus. The survey found that a majority of the 44 surveyed students felt pressure to be or act straight, felt there was a lack of queer visibility on campus, felt most uncomfortable in the settings such as the Business School and Greek Life locations and most comfortable in personal housing. Overall, students liked how the …

The Effect Of Cyanobacteria On Transgenerational Responses In Daphnia Pulicaria, Olivia Williams

2020 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

'Transgenerational plasticity' occurs when environmental cues alter the expression of traits in offspring and future generations. This experiment examined the influence of low-quality cyanobacteria (Anabaena) on across-generation responses in a common water flea (Daphnia pulicaria) to quantify whether changes in food quality from dietary cyanobacteria can induce transgenerational effects. Three Daphnia clones from Lake Mendota (WI) were maintained at 14C, 16:10 photoperiod until the third laboratory generation; animals from each clonal line were then reared for multiple generations on diets that contained varying amounts of cyanobacteria (either 100% Scenedesmus or 70% Scenedesmus, 30% Anabaena). General linear models and a posthoc …

On The Plastic-Free Path: Plastic-Free Living, Hannah Natzke

Honors Projects

What is living plastic-free like? This project explores the trials and triumphs of living a plastic-free life. Although this project is only mandates that the participant lives plastic-free for a month, it still investigates the challenges faced by longer plastic-free living.

Holt & Plyler (1984) Checklist Of The Vascular Flora Of The Robert B. Gordon Natural Area, Jack Holt, Jim Plyler

Gordon Natural Area Baseline Plant Survey Documents

This research represents the first site-wide floristic survey of the Gordon Natural Area (GNA), and consists of 348 species in 238 genera and 95 families. The survey was conducted by two West Chester University undergraduate students, Jack Holt and Jim Plyler, under the supervision of Dr. William Overlease. The bulk of the work took place during 1984; however, some woody species previously noted in the GNA by Jim Plyler were also incorporated into the list. The checklist was compiled for all vascular families encountered at the GNA, with the exception of the Grass Family (Poaceae), Rush Family (Juncaceae), and Sedge …

2020-December-01-Governors School Applications, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – The Governor’s School for the Scientific Exploration of Tennessee Heritage, offered by the East Tennessee State University Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, is now accepting applications for summer 2021. The School will run from May 30-June 25.

Students live on the ETSU campus and earn three hours of college credit. Rising juniors and seniors in Tennessee high schools or home schools are eligible to apply, but applications must be submitted through the school counselor. Interested students should see their school counselor. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2021. More information is available at …

Gurethyesit Dhe Ndikimi I Tyre Ne Mjedis, Valmir Hazrolli

Theses and Dissertations

Edhe pse guroret dhe industritë e gurit përfaqësojnë një sektor të rëndësishëm industrial në Kosovë për sa i përket prodhimit dhe eksportet dhe duke përmirësuar kështu situatën ekonomike, këto operacione kanë ndikim të kundërt në mjedis dhe në njerëz shëndetin. Studimi i tanishëm zbuloi se grimcat e imëta (pluhuri) të prodhuara si rezultat i aktiviteteve të ndryshme që lidhen me të këto industri i shkaktojnë disa probleme mjedisit dhe njerëzve që jetojnë në zonë. Matjet e cilësisë së ajrit treguan se përqendrime të larta të grimcave të ndryshme janë në zonën e studimit. Në këtë drejtim, shumica e njerëzve konfirmuan …

What Is Environmental Consciousness? A Thematic Cluster, Sophia Perdikaris

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay serves as the introduction to this issue of Ecocene (December 2020, volume 1, issue 2).

First two paragraphs:

For its second issue Ecocene welcomed cross-disciplinary contributions on what it means to be environmentally conscious in the world today, what it might have meant in diverse social-environmental pasts, or indeed what it may mean in our shared futures. The ambition of the cluster has been to engage with some key reassessments of the ways in which ecologies, identities, communities, temporalities, heritage, spatiality, risks, or agencies have been rethought in recent years, or in new waves of research, scholarship, theory, …

Front Matter, Vol. 12

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Vol. 12

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Offshore Wind Energy And Benthic Habitat Changes Lessons From Block Island Wind Farm, Zoë L. Hutchison, Monique Lafrance Bartley, Steven Degraer, Paul English, Anwar Khan, Julia Livermore, Bob Rumes, John W. King

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF), situated offshore of Block Island, Rhode Island, is the first commercial offshore wind farm (OWF) in the United States. We briefly review pre-siting studies, which provide contextual information about the benthic habitats and fish in the Block Island Sound area before the BIWF jacket foundations were installed in 2015. We focus on benthic monitoring that took place within the BIWF. This monitoring allowed for assessments of spatiotemporal changes in sediment grain size, organic enrichment, and macrofauna, as well as the colonization of the jacket structures, up to four years post-installation. The greatest benthic modifications …

Constructing And Experiencing The Medieval Waddenland, Hugh R. Milner

Masters Theses

Part of the intertidal zone along the southeast portion of the North Sea, the Wadden Sea Coast runs from modern Friesland and Groningen in the Netherlands, through Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, and up the west coast of Jutland to just past Ribe. This project seeks to understand medieval responses to an environment in constant contact with the sea via documentary and historical sources. The people of the Wadden Sea Coast defined their landscape and their history in part with earthworks and water infrastructure, negotiating control of both anthropogenic and natural environments.

Fostering Place-Based Education And Inclusion In The Classroom Through School Grades, Karina Gonzales-Smith

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Place-based education expands the space where students learn by connecting to the outdoors, such as garden-based lessons that are dynamic and have a multidisciplinary curriculum. Students are given the opportunity to learn healthy behaviors, environmentally sustainable practices, and life skills. Inclusion is fostered by giving teachers and students agency in the learning experience. The purpose of this study was to view garden education through the lens of place-based education, critical pedagogy, and social justice. To this end, a lesson plan template was created to facilitate future development of garden-based lessons characterized by responsive curriculum and alignment with academic standards. A …

An Analysis Of Urban Densification And On-Road Carbon Dioxide Emissions Within Los Angeles County, Michael Brown

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

In 2015, Los Angeles County formalized its climate action goals, working to significantly reduce on-road CO2 emissions in unincorporated zones. A strategy outlined by the county’s Climate Action Plan, is to increase mixed-use development to significantly reduce on-road CO2 emissions. The goal of this study is to quantify the relationship between changes in urban density, population density and on-road emissions across 30 selected cities in Los Angeles County using time series data from 2013 to 2017. Per capita on-road CO2 emissions is calculated using commuting data as a proxy. Changes in urban development density is recorded in acres, categorized as …

Does Money Really Grow On Trees? A Case Study Of The Economic And Ecosystem Outcomes Of Timber Stand Improvement In New Hampshire, Mackenzie Kalp

Master's Theses and Capstones

Timber stand improvement (TSI) is one silviculture method that landowners can apply to their forest to enhance timber quality as well as ecosystem services, such as deadwood in the form of standing deadwood, snags, and coarse woody debris (CWD). There are few studies on the economic effectiveness of TSI as a forest management practice. This research uses data collected on land owned by the Blue Hills Foundation, in Strafford, New Hampshire, to present a case study examining economic and ecosystem outcomes of TSI. Because interest rates and market prices are constantly fluctuating, we evaluated outcomes at various interest rates. We …

Carbon Sequestration By Reforesting Legacy Grasslands On Coal Mining Sites, James F. Fox, J. Elliott Campbell, Peter M. Acton

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Future carbon management during energy production will rely on carbon capture and sequestration technology and carbon sequestration methods for offsetting non-capturable losses. The present study quantifies carbon sequestration via reforestation using measurements and modeling for recent and legacy surface coal mining grasslands that are re-restored through tree planting. This paper focuses on a case study of legacy coal mining sites in the southern Appalachia the United States. This five million-hectare region has a surface mining footprint of approximately 12% of the land area, and the reclamation method was primarily grassland. The results of the soil carbon sequestration rates for restored …

The Legacy Of Contamination By Lead Smelters In Missouri, Robert S. Armstrong

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Missouri has a rich history of lead mining. In the smelting process lead particles are emitted, which may be toxic to plants and animals. This study focuses on two primary lead smelters, Herculaneum and Glover, in Missouri. Smelting operations have ceased at these two sites, and unlike Herculaneum, Glover has no reported lead concentrations. Findings from air and sediments of these two sites were compared to background conditions and to each other. Thirty-three samples were collected from Herculaneum and Glover (thirty samples and three replicates) and eleven samples (ten samples and one replicate) for background. For Herculaneum sediment, lead levels …

Improving Collaborations Between Empiricists And Modelers To Advance Grassland Community Dynamics In Ecosystem Models, Kevin R. Wilcox, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Meghan L. Avolio, Nathan P. Lemoine

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Governing Wicked Problems, Jb Ruhl, James Salzman

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Wicked problems." It just says it all. Persistent social problems-poverty, food insecurity, climate change, drug addiction, pollution, and the list goes on-seem aptly condemned as wicked. But what makes them wicked, and what are we to do about them?

The concept of wicked problems as something more than a generic description has its origins in the late 1960s. Professor Horst Rittel of the University of California, Berkeley, Architecture Department posed the term in a seminar to describe "that class of social system problems which are ill-formulated, where the information is confusing, where there are many clients and decision makers with …

Adventuring In The Winds: An Exploration Of Water Accessibility, Keystone Species, Environmental Justice, And Forest Fires In The Wind River Range, Rhianna Giron

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis is a braided narrative that incorporates personal experience, ecological research, and poetry to explain some of the impacts of human interaction in wild spaces and of climate change. The specific areas of study in this essay are the Wind River Range, Wyoming and Nebraska. The purpose of this paper is to discuss topics related to water availability and quality, forest fires, keystone species, and social injustices related to people and environments in the Wind River Range. It is important to learn about other places than the ones we are already familiar with as it helps to instill a …