Digital Commons Network^™

Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals That Municipal Wastewater Effluent Enhances Vibrio Vulnificus Growth And Virulence Potential, Karlen Enid Correa Velez, Robert Sean Norman

Faculty Publications

Vibrio vulnificusis an opportunistic pathogen indigenous to estuarine and marine environments and associated with aquatic organisms. Vibrio vulnificusis of utmost importance because it causes 95% of the seafood-related deaths in the United States due to rapid progression of septicemia. Changes in environmental parameters associated with climate change and coastal population expansion are altering geographical constraints, resulting in increased Vibrio spread, exposure, and rates of infection. In addition, coastal population expansion is resulting in increased input of treated municipal sewage into areas that are also experiencing increased Vibrio proliferation. This study aimed to better understand the influence of treated …

Effect Of Drought Stress On Fibre Digestibility Of Corn For Silage, G. Ferreira, C. L. Teets, A. M. Kingori, J. O. Ondiek

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Limited information exists about the impact of drought stress on corn silage digestibility. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of irrigation on in situ NDF digestibility of corn tissues grown under controlled conditions in a greenhouse. Five commercial corn hybrids were planted in pots and grown in a greenhouse. Pots were subjected to an abundant or restricted irrigation regime. Leaf blades and stem internodes were collected from the upper and bottom portion of each hybrid. Tissue samples were incubated in the rumen of 3 rumen-cannulated cows for 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, and 240 …

Risk Of Climate-Related Impacts On Global Rangelands – A Review And Modelling Study, C. M. Godde, R. B. Boone, A. Ash, K. Waha, L. Sloat, P. Thornton, D. Mason-D’Croz, D. Mayberry, M. Herrero

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate change threatens the ability of global rangelands to provide food, support livelihoods and deliver important ecosystems services. The extent and magnitude of potential impacts are however poorly understood. In this study, we review the risk of climate impacts along the rangeland systems food supply chain. We also present results from biophysical modelling simulations and spatial data analyses to identify where and to what extent rangelands may be at climatic risk. Although a quantification of the net impacts of climate change on rangeland production systems is beyond the reach of our current understanding, there is strong evidence that there will …

Exploring Water Use And Production Dynamics Of Indigenous Protected Sikumi Forest In South Western Zimbabwe, O. Gwate

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Monitoring changes in carbon and water vapour fluxes over a landscape helps in understanding ecosystem functioning and improves vegetation management. To understand potential shifts in ecosystem functioning, MoDerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) evapotranspiration (ET), net photosynthesis, gross primary production and net primary production data were explored in Sikumi forest dominated by three species clusters (Teak forest woodland, Miombo woodland and savannah, and Vachellia). Measures of ecosystem stability including water use efficiency (WUE), rainfall use efficiency (RUE), evaporative index, and carbon use efficiency (CUE) were assessed for trends and step changes together with rainfall and evapotranspiration data. Miombo woodland and …

Temperate/Tropical Transition Zones: A Hotspot For Breeding Forages With Climate Resiliency, Kenneth H. Quesenberry, Esteban F. Rios, Kevin E. Kenworthy

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Species resiliency to climate change is critical for sustainability of grassland agricultural systems. Transition zones between temperate and tropical climates (between 27 and 31° N and S latitude) with variable annual frost/freeze events have proven to be ideal zones for identification of species with variable climate adaptation. This paper will identify these regions around the globe and show how these regions offer distinct advantages in terms of selection for abiotic and biotic stresses, and thus resiliency to changing climate. Programs located in these regions have the advantage of exposure to alternating extreme warm and cold temperatures, drought and flood conditions, …

Project Earthrise: Proceedings Of The Ninth Annual Conference Of Invivo Planetary Health, Susan L. Prescott, Ganesa Wegienka, Remco Kort, David H. Nelson, Sabine Gabrysch, Trevor Hancock, Anita Kozyrskyj, Christopher A. Lowry, Nicole Redvers, Blake Poland, Jake Robinson, Jean-Claude Moubarac, Sara Warber, Janet Jansson, Aki Sinkkonen, John Penders, Susan Erdman, Ralph Nanan, Matilda Van Den Bosch, Kirk Schneider, Nicholas J. Schroeck, Tanja Sobko, Jamie Harvie, George A. Kaplan, Rob Moodie, Laura Lengnick, Isaac Prilleltensky, Yuria Celidwen, Susan H. Berman, Alan C. Logan, Brian Berman

Public Health Sciences Articles

The "Earthrise" photograph, taken on the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, became one of the most significant images of the 20th Century. It triggered a profound shift in environmental awareness and the potential for human unity-inspiring the first Earth Day in 1970. Taking inspiration from these events 50 years later, we initiated

What Kind Of Information Does The Era Of Climate Change Require?, Jo Guldi

History Faculty Publications

This article explores the promise of institutions and infrastructures associated with democ- racy to limit the worst consequences of climate change. The article highlights the appar- ent conflict between expert governance on the one hand, and, on the other hand, calls for democratization that reflect the diverse perspectives of groups whose rights and labor have been exploited over historical timescales. Drawing on the history of bureaucracy and governance, this article argues that the apparent contradiction between the two poles of discourse can be reconciled by a system of information infrastructure designed to cre- ate a robust, accountable system of environmental …

An Elevational Gradient In Thermal Tolerance Among Daphnia From Western Maine Lakes, Wheeler Lowell

Honors 499 Theses and Creative Projects

With climate change threatening biodiversity worldwide, it is important to understand species’ physiological responses to changing thermal environments. This study examined whether thermal tolerance (measured as time to immobilization, Timm) in the zooplankton Daphnia catawba and D. schødleri varied along an elevational gradient in Western Maine. Specimens collected from five lakes were subjected to heat stress trials to look for inter-population variation. Thermal tolerance was strongly correlated with several elevation-driven lake temperature variables, with the percent of variation explained ranging from 13-37%. Daphnia from cooler, high-elevation lakes were more sensitive to elevated temperatures. While latitudinal gradients have been examined extensively, …

From Critique To Audit: A Pragmatic Approach To The Climate Emergency, Jo Guldi

History Faculty Publications

Rethinking the work of academics in a time of pressing deadlines for climate action, this paper offers a series of new pragmatic strategies that academics can take up. It suggests a "climate pledge" where university teachers promise 5% or more of their teaching time to link the field of their traditional research to climate issues. It suggests that humanists, social scientists and data scientists need not only to "critique" the logic of extraction that propels our climate catastrophe, but also to "audit" individual institutions, writers, and politicians for their continuing engagement with climate or lack thereof.

Intra-Specific Variation In Migration Phenology Of American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius) In Response To Spring Temperatures, Breanna F. Powers, Jason M. Winiarski, Juan M. Requena-Mullor, Julie A. Heath

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In migratory birds, among- and within-species heterogeneity in response to climate change may be attributed to differences in migration distance and environmental cues that affect timing of arrival at breeding grounds. We used eBird observations and a within-species comparative approach to examine whether migration distance (with latitude as a proxy) and weather predictors can explain spring arrival dates at the breeding site in a raptor species with a widespread distribution and diverse migration strategies, the American Kestrel Falco sparverius. We found an interactive effect between latitude and spring minimum temperatures on arrival dates, whereby at lower latitudes (short-distance migrants) …

Effects Of Climate Change Induced Ocean Acidification And Low Oxygen On Larval Rockfish, Kristin Saksa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The California Current ecosystem is experiencing dramatic changes in ocean chemistry resulting in ocean acidification (i.e., decreasing pH) and lower dissolved oxygen [DO] levels. These changes are exacerbated by increases in upwelling intensity and the shoaling of the oxygen minimum zone. Gopher rockfish (Sebastes carnatus) and blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) are ecologically and economically valuable rockfish species, whose habitat is becoming increasingly inundated with low pH and low DO water. To test how ocean acidification and hypoxia may interact to influence the reproductive process in rockfishes, I exposed gravid females of both species to four treatments throughout the gestation period: …

Satellite-Detected Ammonia Changes In The United States: Natural Or Anthropogenic Impacts, Yaqian He, Rongting Xu, Stephen A. Prior, Di Yang, Anni Yang, Jian Chen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Ammonia (NH3) is the most abundant alkaline component and can react with atmospheric acidic species to form aerosols that can lead to numerous environmental and health issues. Increasing atmospheric NH3 over agricultural regions in the US has been documented. However, spatiotemporal changes of NH3 concentrations over the entire US are still not thoroughly understood, and the factors that drive these changes remain unknown. Herein, we applied the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) monthly NH3 dataset to explore spatiotemporal changes in atmospheric NH3 and the empirical relationships with synthetic N fertilizer application, livestock manure production, and climate factors across the entire US …

Simplification, Not “Tropicalization”, Of Temperate Marine Ecosystems Under Ocean Warming And Acidification, Sylvain Agostini, Ben P. Harvey, Marco Milazzo, Shigeki Wada, Koetsu Kon, Nicolas Floc’H, Kosei Komatsu, Mayumi Kuroyama, Jason Hall‐Spencer

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Ocean warming is altering the biogeographical distribution of marine organisms. In the tropics, rising sea surface temperatures are restructuring coral reef communities with sensitive species being lost. At the biogeographical divide between temperate and tropical communities, warming is causing macroalgal forest loss and the spread of tropical corals, fishes and other species, termed “tropicalization”. A lack of field research into the combined effects of warming and ocean acidification means there is a gap in our ability to understand and plan for changes in coastal ecosystems. Here, we focus on the tropicalization trajectory of temperate marine ecosystems becoming coral-dominated systems. We …

Major Loss Of Coralline Algal Diversity In Response To Ocean Acidification, Viviana Peña, Ben P. Harvey, Sylvain Agostini, Lucia Porzio, Marco Milazzo, Paulo Horta, Line Le Gall, Jason Hall‐Spencer

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Calcified coralline algae are ecologically important in rocky habitats in the marine photic zone worldwide and there is growing concern that ocean acidification will severely impact them. Laboratory studies of these algae in simulated ocean acidification conditions have revealed wide variability in growth, photosynthesis and calcification responses, making it difficult to assess their future biodiversity, abundance and contribution to ecosystem function. Here, we apply molecular systematic tools to assess the impact of natural gradients in seawater carbonate chemistry on the biodiversity of coralline algae in the Mediterranean and the NW Pacific, link this to their evolutionary history and evaluate their …

Vulnerability Of Street Trees In Upper Midwest Cities To Climate Change, Leslie A. Brandt, Gary R. Johnson, Eric A. North, Jack Faje, Annamarie Rutledge

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Urban trees play an important role in helping cities adapt to climate change, but also are vulnerable to changes in climate themselves. We developed an approach for assessing vulnerability of urban tree species and cultivars commonly planted in cities in the United States Upper Midwest to current and projected climate change through the end of the 21st century. One hundred seventy-eight tree species were evaluated for their adaptive capacity to a suite of current and future-projected climate and urban stressors using a weighted scoring system based on an extensive literature review. These scores were then evaluated and adjusted by leading …

Insect Developmental Plasticity: The Role In A Changing Environment, Lindsey A. Barnes

The Cardinal Edge

Climate change has been recognized as a severe threat to biodiversity. In the rapidly growing collection of literature on the consequences of global change, researchers have recently noticed a dramatic decrease in insect populations in a wide range of habitats. Insects are extremely susceptible to climatic change, especially with regard to fluctuations in moisture and temperature. However, insects often exhibit phenotypic plasticity, where organisms will express different phenotypes when presented with a specific environmental stimulus. In developmental plasticity, environmental stimuli at the larval stage can determine adult phenotypes. This review focuses on case studies of developmental plasticity in insects, with …

Moving On Up: Vertical Distribution Shifts In Rocky Reef Fish Species During Climate-Driven Decline In Dissolved Oxygen From 1995 To 2009, Erin L. Meyer-Gutbrod, Li Kui, Mary Nishimoto, Linda Snook, Milton Love

Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic climate change has resulted in warming temperatures and reduced oxygen concentrations in the global oceans. Much remains unknown on the impacts of reduced oxygen concentrations on the biology and distribution of marine fishes. In the Southern California Channel Islands, visual fish surveys were conducted frequently in a manned submersible at three rocky reefs between 1995 and 2009. This area is characterized by a steep bathymetric gradient, with the surveyed sites Anacapa Passage, Footprint and Piggy Bank corresponding to depths near 50, 150 and 300 m. Poisson models were developed for each fish species observed consistently in this network of …

Bringing Up Buddhas: How Mindfulness Can Impact The Next Generation, Alex Tzelnic

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The following presents both a rationale paper and a creative thesis on the topic of how mindfulness can meaningfully impact the next generation. Given the daunting issues faced by Generation Alpha (those born after 2010), including climate change, social justice, and mental health, understanding how the tool of mindfulness can best support children, as well as inform the caretakers most influential to them such as parents and educators, is crucial.

The following rationale paper outlines how mindfulness can make an impact in the fields of parenting and education, as well as in addressing the pertinent issues mentioned above. In surveying …

Climate Change, Environmental Justice And Children’S Health: Break The Cycle Of Climate Change By Cultivating Future Leaders, I Leslie Rubin, Nse Obot Witherspoon

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Children are more vulnerable to adverse environmental factors than adults. Children from poor communities, who are predominantly children of color, are most vulnerable to adverse environmental factors and have fewer protective resources. This combination results in adverse health outcomes for the children and impacts their potential for the future. This scenario can be viewed as an intergenerational cycle of heath disparities. Although the scope of the problem is vast, positive changes can be made on small scales, which, collectively have a significant impact in reducing health disparities and promoting health equity for all children. We have developed a program called …

Competitive Advantage Of Geosmithia Morbida In Low-Moisture Wood May Explain Historical Outbreaks Of Thousand Cankers Disease And Predict The Future Fate Of Juglans Nigra Within Its Native Range, Geoffrey M. Williams, Matthew D. Ginzel

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Bark beetles vector symbiotic fungi and the success of these mutualisms may be limited by competition from other microbes. The outcome of fungal competition is strongly influenced by the physical and chemical conditions of the wood they inhabit. These conditions are in turn subject to climatic variation. In particular, wood moisture content (MC) influences fungal competition and, therefore, could help determine environmental suitability for thousand cankers disease (TCD) caused by Geosmithia morbida and its vector Pityophthorus juglandis. We conducted competition experiments in Juglans nigra wood that was naturally or artificially colonized by G. morbida and other fungi over a range …

Three Lc-Ms Plant Metabolomics Studies Of Hop (Humulus) Species: Wild H. Neomexicanus, Drought Stress, And Agricultural Terroir, Taylan Morcol

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The hop plant (Humulus L., Cannabaceae) is a dioecious, perennial, twining vine with a long history of human use. Nowadays, hop plants are generally grown for their inflorescences (“cones”), which are used in brewing for their phytochemical metabolites. Many of these metabolites are involved in plant stress response and communication. Genetics and environment are two major factors that affect plant metabolism. In three separate metabolomics studies, this project examined the effects of both genetic and environmental factors on hop phytochemistry.

In the first study, 23 hop genotypes were grown in two different locations in the Pacific Northwest region of …

University Sustainability Initiatives Impact On The Surrounding Areas Economy, Sara Kathleen Saucedo

Student Theses and Dissertations

The preservation of the environment depends on sustainability initiatives. Universities influence policy through their impact on their surrounding communities. Universities should, therefore, place a higher priority on campus sustainability efforts. This study examines how universities’ sustainability initiatives impact local area economy. Using data reported by various governmental agencies, I construct a sustainability index based on university initiatives in energy, green buildings, food waste, permaculture, water use, recycling, sustainability council, and AASHE. I model the impact of universities on the local economy using this index and other institutional characteristics. I define the local area economy as effects on poverty rates, unemployment, …

Mourning Earth; Ritual Expressions Of Ecological Grief, Katlyn Brumfield

Theses - ALL

This thesis considers the potential of grief and mourning to foster meaningful engagement with global ecological crises. I explore this potential through my own studio practice, positioning artworks and creative processes as vehicles for articulating collective experiences of loss, anxiety, and bereavement. To create these artworks, I draw from scientific knowledge, regional folkways, geologic history, and intergenerational experience with an emphasis on local culture. By forming sustained confrontations with the negative emotions of ecological destruction and loss, I advocate for the acceptance of grief as a reality of our time and as a possible means of imagining different ways of …

Climate Change Will Increase The Vector Capacity Of The Aedes Aegypti In South America: A Systematic Map, Liliana I. Maz, Richard S. Lockwood

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Tropical infectious diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika affect millions of people annually in all regions of the world. The disease burden propagated by these arboviruses has rapidly increased in recent decades due to the range expansion of their shared vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The IPCC has predicted a global increase in temperatures of 1.4-5.8°C over the next century; understanding how that will affect the vector capacity of the Aedes aegypti is essential for public health planning. This paper examined findings from a systematic map of the current state of research on this increasingly important influence on infectious …

Rewilding Of Protected Areas Enhances Resilience Of Marine Ecosystems To Extreme Climatic Events, E. V. Sheehan, L. A. Holmes, B. F.R. Davies, A. Cartwright, A. Rees, M. J. Attrill

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are employed as tools to manage human impacts, especially fishing pressure. By excluding the most destructive activities MPAs can rewild degraded areas of seabed habitat. The potential for MPAs to increase ecosystem resilience from storms is, however, not understood, nor how such events impact seabed habitats. Extreme storm disturbance impact was studied in Lyme Bay MPA, Southwest United Kingdom, where the 2008 exclusion of bottom-towed fishing from the whole site allowed recovery of degraded temperate reef assemblages to a more complex community. Severe storm impacts in 2013–2014 resulted in major damage to the seabed so that …

The United States Climate Change Policies And Covid-19: Poisoning The Cure, Carolina Arlota

Pace Law Review

Climate change is complex during the best of times. It is commonly conceptualized as the quintessential global collective action problem: it affects those who do not contribute to it while the benefits of climate change mitigation measures are not restricted to those who pursue such measures. This conceptualization illustrates the high transaction costs involved in domestic policies as well as in international agreements addressing climate change, and it is of academic and practical interest. As such, this Article discusses the current challenges that climate change policies face, focusing on the linkages between the climate change policies of the Trump administration …

Livestock Diversity And Climate Change In Rangelands, Irene Hoffmann, Beate Scherf, David Boerma

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Breeding Rootstocks For Fruit Trees In Palestine: Status And Prospective Toward Future Climate Change Scenarios, Rezq Basheer, Fatina Hawamdeh, Abdul Jalil Hamdan

Hebron University Research Journal-A (Natural Sciences) - (مجلة جامعة الخليل للبحوث- أ (العلوم الطبيعيه

This review characterizes, identifies and presents remarks of breeding rootstocks in Palestine. It’s based upon a survey of the rootstocks that have been used along decades of breeding and grafting of local and introduced cultivars. All for acclimatization for hard conditions that confront fruit trees. It also proposes some expected promising rootstocks that might suit the climate change and whatever affected by it of biotic and abiotic stresses in the area. Obviously, this review discusses the advantages of the current confirmed rootstocks that are compatible with most of the species of the popular trees. It also pointed out to inadequate …

Is The Life History Flexibility Of Cold Desert Annuals Broad Enough To Cope With Predicted Climate Change? The Case Of Erodium Oxyrhinchum In Central Asia, Huiliang Liu, Yanfeng Chen, Lingwei Zhang, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin, Lan Zhang, Yan Liu, Daoyuan Zhang, Yuanming Zhang

Biology Faculty Publications

Interannual seasonal variability in precipitation may strongly affect the life history and growth of desert annual plants. We compared the effects of dry and wet springs and dry and wet autumns on growth and F2 seed dormancy of plants from spring (SG)- and autumn (AG)-germinated seeds of the cold desert annual Erodium oxyrhinchum. Vegetative and reproductive growth and F2 seed dormancy and germination were monitored from September 2016 to November 2020 in the sandy Gurbantunggut Desert in NW China in Central Asia. Dry autumns decreased the density of AG plants, and dry springs decreased the density of SG plants …

Closer To Earth: Scales Of Planning For Urban Waters, Kristine Holten-Andersen

Nordes Conference Series

Climatic changes of waterbodies calls for new scales and approaches to planning of urban surface waters. Learning from a real-time case of planning practice, I display and discuss how limitations of sectorial logics, operational scales and schemes of planning, in addition to inherent epistemological prisons of dominant dichotomies, are obstacles of an actual reorientation of planning practice. On this background, I call upon further research – of a designerly and transformative kind, to explore novel approaches to municipal planning of surface waters. I speculate how this could evolve around a multidisciplinary rubber-boot approach with landscape architects performing as Sherpas, process …