Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of Barrier Island Restoration Planning And Management In The Terrebonne Basin, Louisiana, Sean Russell Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana holds the majority of the contiguous United States’ coastal wetlands by area, providing significant benefits to users in the form of ecosystem services. Climate change, relative sea level rise, and coastal sediment budget deficits among other anthropogenic processes impact the resilience and sustainability of Louisiana’s coastal systems. Since the implementation of the Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) to restore coastal wetlands in the United States, multiple barrier island restoration projects have taken place in the greater Terrebonne Basin. Amassing a catalog of case studies elucidates the social, ecological, and economic frameworks behind barrier island restoration and …

Towards A Floating Urbanism: Adapting To Water As A New Ground, Chris Autera

Architecture Senior Theses

Climate change offers myriad challenges to society, including a rising sea level and increasingly intense storms. Resilience to climate change, particularly the reliance on hard barriers, only protects certain areas and raises the risk of catastrophic failure. More deeply, these approaches reflect an attempt to preserve society as it exists today, denying the reality that the multi-millennia process of climate change necessitates a more profound reevaluation of how society operates. Adaptation takes this need as a given, arguing for the retrofitting of infrastructure to regular inundation when possible and the abandonment of at-risk areas when not. However, these strategies are …

Promoting Pro-Environmental Behavior Through Engaging Cultural Diversity In The English As A Second Language Classroom, Pia T. Adler

MA TESOL Collection

Recent scientific environmental data are pushing people throughout the world to recognize and take action on the dire circumstances that the human race and all other species are currently confronting. This paper explores the factors that can influence and potentially empower people to re-examine their place in the natural world, and to orient their behavior in a pro-environmental direction. The premise of this project is that the topic of the humans’ relationship to nature is relevant and particularly well suited for the culturally diverse audience that is found in the English as a Second Language classroom. By using tools like …

Iceland's Migratory Birds In Changing Environmental Conditions: An Interactive Synthesis, Frances J. Duncan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human-driven changes to environmental conditions alter the habitats, behaviors, and migration patterns of migratory species. Changes in temperature, vegetation, and precipitation are just some of the factors contributing to shifts in phenology, demography, and distribution of migratory birds. These changes are driven by anthropogenic climate change and amplified by human land-use change, and are especially intense at high latitudes. This project creatively communicates the effects of environmental changes on three species of migratory birds in Iceland—the northern wheatear, the Greenland white-fronted goose, and the black-tailed godwit—using principles of storytelling and game design. The resulting interactive product is a game that …

Characterization Of Psychromonas Aquimarina, A New Model Organism For Climate Change, Carrie Carpenter

Experiential Learning Projects

The current increase of average global temperature puts 25 to 35 percent of plant and animal species at an increased risk of extinction (Climate Change, 2018). Changing any environmental factor, such as increasing growth temperature, can significantly impact any organisms’ ability to survive. Because of the diversity of organisms on the planet, it is not feasible to study how each individually might adapt, but rather it is more efficient to study select organisms. This research focuses on a psychrophilic bacterium, Psychromonas aquimarina, which can survive in colder regions where most bacteria would not. This bacterium was chosen because climate change …

The Genomic Basis For Colonizing The Freezing Southern Ocean Revealed By Antarctic Toothfish And Patagonian Robalo Genomes, Liangbiao Chen, Ying Lu, Wenhao Li, Yandong Ren, Mengchao Yu, Shouwen Jiang, Yanxia Fu, Jian Wang, Sihua Peng, Kevin T. Bilyk, Katherine R. Murphy, Xuan Zhuang, Mathias Hune, Wanying Zhai, Wen Wang, Qianghua Xu, Chi Hing Christina Cheng

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: The Southern Ocean is the coldest ocean on Earth but a hot spot of evolution. The bottom-dwelling Eocene ancestor of Antarctic notothenioid fishes survived polar marine glaciation and underwent adaptive radiation, forming >120 species that fill all water column niches today. Genome-wide changes enabling physiological adaptations and the rapid expansion of the Antarctic notothenioids remain poorly understood. Results: We sequenced and compared 2 notothenioid genomes - the cold-adapted and neutrally buoyant Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni and the basal Patagonian robalo Eleginops maclovinus, representing the temperate ancestor. We detected >200 protein gene families that had expanded and thousands of genes …

Effects Of Increased Precipitation On The Life History Of Spring- And Autumn-Germinated Plants Of The Cold Desert Annual Erodium Oxyrhynchum (Geraniaceae), Yanfeng Chen, Xiang Shi, Lingwei Zhang, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin, Huiliang Liu, Daoyuan Zhang

Biology Faculty Publications

Future increased precipitation in cold desert ecosystems may impact annual/ephemeral plant species that germinate in both spring and autumn. Our primary aim was to compare the life history characteristics of plants from spring-germinating (SG) and autumn-germinating (AG) seeds of Erodium oxyrhynchum. Plants in field plots with simulated increases in precipitation of 0, 30 and 50 % in spring and summer were monitored to determine seedling survival, phenology, plant size, seed production and biomass accumulation and allocation. Germination characteristics were determined in the laboratory for seeds produced by plants in all increased precipitation treatments. Increased precipitation in spring significantly improved survival …

The Living Archive In The Anthropocene, Nora Almeida, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

This paper presents the concept of the living archive as a system which reflects how social behavior and cultural production are part of the Anthropocene. The authors explore how dominant narratives of both the Anthropocene and the archive work to consolidate power and maintain cultural and disciplinary divisions. The authors refute conceptions of the Anthropocene as a purely biophysical phenomenon that is alienated from cultural practice and of the archive as a comprehensive and nostalgic space. They then introduce the living archive as an alternative representational, creative, and reactive space and illustrate how the living archive can intervene in ecological …

The Ecological Impacts Of Climate Change In Hot Regions – Are Hawksbill Turtles Living Above Their Optimum Temperature In The Uae?, Obaid Ali Alshamsi

Theses

It is getting warmer throughout the world but it is not getting warmer by the same amount in all regions, leading to speculations that the biggest impact will be the impact on species living in the hot regions is widely assumed to be slight in comparison to the temperate and higher latitude regions. Temperature changes in hot regions are smaller, but it may be that the species in those regions have reached their optimum temperatures. In which case the effects of even a small temperature increase could be steeply negative. To test this thoroughly in terms of demographic parameters I …

Rising Temperatures In Hot Regions – How Many Species Would Be Able To Survive?, Sounak Ghosh

Biology Theses

Temperatures are rising throughout the world but not uniformly. Different latitudes have varying degrees of temperature rise and the most rapid changes are happening in the higher northern latitudes while only minor warming is taking place in the hot tropical regions. It has been widely assumed that the biggest ecological impacts will be seen in the cooler northern latitudes and that the impacts in hot tropical regions will be much smaller. However, if species in hot regions are already close to their thermal limits and if species in cold regions are far below them, it may be that small temperature …

Changes In Spring Arrival Times: Climate Change And The Phenology Of Spring Bird Migration, Aaron Svedlow

Student Scholarship

Climate change and weather affect the phenology of bird migration; however, specific climatological factors associated with these observed effects have only recently been described. The relationship between local, regional, and global climate patterns and avian migration are increasingly important to understand due to the widespread, and potentially negative, implications (such as reduced fecundity) of rapid human induced climate change on bird populations. Migratory birds are under selective pressure to arrive at breeding areas at the optimal time to set up nesting territories and exploit seasonally abundant food resources, and because climate change has the potential to occur more rapidly than …

Seasonality Of Prescribed Fire Weather Windows And Predicted Fire Behavior In The Northern Great Plains, Usa, Kathryn A. Yurkonis, Josie Dillon, Devan A. Mcgranahan, David Toledo, Brett J. Goodwin

Biology Faculty Publications

Background

Prescribed fire is an important management practice used to control woody encroachment and invasive species in grasslands. To use this practice successfully, managers must understand the seasonal windows within which prescribed fire can be applied and how fire behavior could potentially vary among these windows. To characterize prescribed fire windows within the northern Great Plains of North America, we collected data from 20 remote weather stations positioned across North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, USA, from station inception to 2015. We performed an hourly analysis for each station to determine if air temperature (2 to 43 °C), relative humidity (25 …

Is Grassfed Meat And Dairy Better For Human And Environmental Health?, Frederick D. Provenza, Scott L. Kronberg, Pablo Gregorini

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The health of livestock, humans, and environments is tied to plant diversity—and associated phytochemical richness—across landscapes. Health is enhanced when livestock forage on phytochemically rich landscapes, is reduced when livestock forage on simple mixture or monoculture pastures or consume high-grain rations in feedlots, and is greatly reduced for people who eat highly processed diets. Circumstantial evidence supports the hypothesis that phytochemical richness of herbivore diets enhances biochemical richness of meat and dairy, which is linked with human and environmental health. Among many roles they play in health, phytochemicals in herbivore diets protect meat and dairy from protein oxidation and lipid …

The Role Of Temperature In Affecting Carry-Over Effects And Larval Competition In The Globally Invasive Mosquito Aedes Albopictus, Nnaemeka F. Ezeakacha, Donald Yee

Faculty Publications

Background

Ectotherms, like mosquitoes, have evolved specific responses to variation in environmental conditions like temperature, and these responses could confer a fitness benefit or cost when carried-over to different life stages. However, effects of temperature on animals with complex life-cycles often only focus on part of their life-cycle, or only consider how single aspects of life-history may carry over to new stages. Herein we investigated how temperature affects intraspecific larval competition and carry-over effects from larval to adult stages in the widespread invasive Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus.

Methods

For larval competition, larvae were reared at three densities (10, …

Adaptation To Climate Change Through Genetic Accommodation And Assimilation Of Plastic Phenotypes, Morgan Kelly

Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Theory suggests that evolutionary changes in phenotypic plasticity could either hinder or facilitate evolutionary rescue in a changing climate. Nevertheless, the actual role of evolving plasticity in the responses of natural populations to climate change remains unresolved. Direct observations of evolutionary change in nature are rare, making it difficult to assess the relative contributions of changes in trait means versus changes in plasticity to climate change responses. To address this gap, this review explores several proxies that can be used to understand evolving plasticity in the context of …

Escaping A Rigidity Trap: Governance And Adaptive Capacity To Climate Change In The Everglades Social Ecological System, Lance H. Gunderson, Et Al.

Idaho Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Social-Ecological Resilience Of An Eastern Urban-Suburban Watershed: The Anacostia River Basin, Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold, Et Al.

Idaho Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Adaptive Water Governance Project: Assessing Law, Resilience And Governance In Regional Socio-Ecological Water Systems Facing A Changing Climate, Barbara Cosens, Lance Gunderson, Brian Chaffin

Idaho Law Review

No abstract provided.

2016 - California Land Use And Management - A Resource Management Strategy Of The California Water Plan

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

Land use planning and management cuts across many resource management strategies. More efficient and effective land use is linked to several resource management strategies including watershed, water use efficiency, groundwater quality, flood management, parks and recreation, climate change adaptive management and agricultural lands stewardship. Directly development away from agricultural lands permits multi-objective management of these lands for agricultural preservation, floodplain management, water quality, habitat conservation, and sustainable development. In addition, planning for more compact and sustainable communities, both urban and rural, will assist in reducing reliance on the state-s water supply, and result in more efficient use of California’s water …

Cattle Producers And Climate Change Conversations: Assessing Workshop Effectiveness In Preparing Communicators To Discuss A Contentious Scientific Topic, Cassie Wandersee, Ricky Telg, David Smith, Saqib Mukhtar

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Climate change and the resulting impacts on agriculture in the U.S., specifically cattle production, are of great concern to educators in Extension and other organizations. Extension has used a deficit model of communication to extend research information to audiences with the goal of changing behavior by simply providing information. Dialogic models that utilize two-way communication have proven to be more effective when communicating about contentious scientific issues. This study examined the effectiveness of a one-day workshop, focused on cattle production and climate change, on increasing attendees’ level of comfort when talking about climate change with their clientele. Attendees indicated the …

Reconnecting With Nature: Developing Urban Spaces In The Age Of Climate Change, Steffen Lehmann

Architecture Faculty Research

Climate change is occurring around us and impacting on our daily lives, meaning that we have to deal with our cities in a different way. There is also increasing awareness of the need for daily contact with green spaces and the natural environment in order to live a happy, productive and meaningful life. This reflective essay tells the narrative of how urbanisation has been disconnecting humans from nature. Non-sustainable, non-resilient patterns of urbanisation, along with the neglect of inner-city areas, have resulted in fragmentation and urban decline, led to a loss of biodiversity, and caused the deterioration of ecosystems and …

Incorporating Temperature And Precipitation Extremes Into Process-Based Models Of African Lepidoptera Changes The Predicted Distribution Under Climate Change, Madeleine G. Barton, John S. Terblanche, Brent J. Sinclair

Biology Publications

Terrestrial insects are responding to ongoing climate change. While these responses have been primarily linked to rising temperatures, insects are sensitive to desiccation, and the impacts of altered precipitation regimes remain relatively unexplored. Here, we develop a mechanistic model of survival and performance responses to both temperature and desiccation stress, focussing on Lepidoptera in Africa, where a general understanding of such responses to climate change is urgently required. We run the model with climate data from general circulation models at daily time intervals under current (2011–2015) and projected future (2046–2050) climate scenarios. We first simulate four hypothetical, but typical, Lepidoptera …

Hawaiian Picture‐Winged Drosophila Exhibit Adaptive Population Divergence Along A Narrow Climatic Gradient On Hawaii Island, Jon Eldon, M. Renee Bellinger, Donald K. Price

Life Sciences Faculty Research

1. Anthropogenic influences on global processes and climatic conditions are increasingly affecting ecosystems throughout the world. 2. Hawaii Island’s native ecosystems are well studied and local long‐term climatic trends well documented, making these ecosystems ideal for evaluating how native taxa may respond to a warming environment. 3.This study documents adaptive divergence of populations of a Hawaiian picture‐winged Drosophila, D. sproati, that are separated by only 7 km and 365 m in elevation. 4.Representative laboratory populations show divergent behavioral and physiological responses to an experimental low‐intensity increase in ambient temperature during maturation. The significant interaction of source population by temperature treatment …

Dam Removal As Climate Change Policy: How Supplemental Environmental Projects Could Be Used To Reduce Methane Emissions, Patrick Johnson

Idaho Law Review

No abstract provided.

Aesthetics, Ethics, And Lose-Lose Dilemmas In The Anthropocen, Adam Liska

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic climate change will cause violence to increase globally, and nonlinear increases in sea level could cause a major escalation in global conflict. After 2100, a 22-meter sea-level rise is estimated here to dislocate two billion people from coastal areas. These impending civilization-changing events require us to again reevaluate our prevalent aesthetic preferences for luxury that produce a significant fraction of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Due to industrial inertia, a central dilemma discussed here is the contradictions between the goals and impacts of aesthetics and ethics. Either we lose our own well-being (a loss of high-emission aesthetics) for the benefit …

Climate Change, Woodpeckers, And Forests: Current Trends And Future Modeling Needs, Eric S. Walsh, Kerri T. Vierling, Eva Strand, Kristina Bartowitz, Tara W. Hudiburg

Aspen Bibliography

The structure and composition of forest ecosystems are expected to shift with climate‐induced changes in precipitation, temperature, fire, carbon mitigation strategies, and biological disturbance. These factors are likely to have biodiversity implications. However, climate‐driven forest ecosystem models used to predict changes to forest structure and composition are not coupled to models used to predict changes to biodiversity. We proposed integrating woodpecker response (biodiversity indicator) with forest ecosystem models. Woodpeckers are a good indicator species of forest ecosystem dynamics, because they are ecologically constrained by landscape‐scale forest components, such as composition, structure, disturbance regimes, and management activities. In addition, they are …

Seed Germination Responses To Seasonal Temperature And Drought Stress Are Species‐Specific But Not Related To Seed Size In A Desert Steppe: Implications For Effect Of Climate Change On Community Structure, Fengyan Yi, Zhaoren Wang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Ruhan Ye, Hailian Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xuehua Ye, Guofang Liu, Xuejun Yang, Zhenying Huang

Biology Faculty Publications

Investigating how seed germination of multiple species in an ecosystem responds to environmental conditions is crucial for understanding the mechanisms for community structure and biodiversity maintenance. However, knowledge of seed germination response of species to environmental conditions is still scarce at the community level. We hypothesized that responses of seed germination to environmental conditions differ among species at the community level, and that germination response is not correlated with seed size. To test this hypothesis, we determined the response of seed germination of 20 common species in the Siziwang Desert Steppe, China, to seasonal temperature regimes (representing April, May, June, …

Ecological Consequences Of Anomalies In Atmospheric Moisture And Snowpack, Aaron N. Johnston, Jason E. Bruggeman, Aidan T. Beers, Erik A. Beever, Roger G. Christophersen, Jason I. Ransom

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Although increased frequency of extreme‐weather events is one of the most secure predictions associated with contemporary climate change, effects of such events on distribution and abundance of climate‐sensitive species remain poorly understood. Montane ecosystems may be especially sensitive to extreme weather because of complex abiotic and biotic interactions that propagate from climate‐driven reductions in snowpack. Snowpack not only protects subnivean biotas from extreme cold, but also influences forage availability through timing of melt‐off and water availability. We related relative abundances of an alpine mammal, the American pika (Ochotona princeps), to measures of weather and snowpack dynamics over an …

Climate Change And Occupational Health: Are There Limits To Our Ability To Adapt?, Marcus Dillender

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This study considers the relationship between temperature and occupational health. The results indicate that both high and low temperatures increase injury rates and that high temperatures have more severe adverse effects in warmer climates, which suggests that avoiding the adverse effects of high temperatures may be easier for workers when hot days are rarer. While research on the effect of temperature on mortality finds substantial capacity for adaption with current technology, the results presented here suggest that outdoor workers face challenges in adapting to high temperatures.

Back To The Future: Conserving Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity In The Amphibian-Climate Refuges, Ricardo Lourenço-De-Moraes, Felipe S. Campos, Rodrigo B. Ferreira, Mirco Solé, Karen H. Beard, Rogério P. Bastos

Ecology Center Publications

Climate refuges have been used by several species over historical climate change. Ectothermic species often display good models for climate change studies because they are highly sensitive to temperature. Analysis of species loss with ecosystem and evolutionary values helps to understand environmental processes and climate change consequences. We determined the functional and phylogenetic diversity of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest hotspot, using multiple models representing present and future conditions. Through a novel approach, we predict species’ threat status by 2080, following the IUCN’s criterion B1. Our results estimate a drastic reduction in species richness, ecosystem functioning and evolutionary history at …