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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Assessment Of Water Quality And Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community In A Wastewater Receiving Constructed Wetland, Jennifer Lynn Martinez
Assessment Of Water Quality And Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community In A Wastewater Receiving Constructed Wetland, Jennifer Lynn Martinez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
In the El Paso region around the 1930s there was a loss of riparian areas and wetlands due to canalization of the Rio Grande. In an attempt to bring back native flora and fauna that once flourished in the floodplain of the Rio Grande region, the creation of Rio Bosque Wetlands Park (RBWP; El Paso Co., TX) was initiated in 1995. As part of the construction agreement, El Paso Water Utilities agreed to provide water to fill the wetland upon its completion. Beginning in 1998, RBWP was filled with treated effluent from the adjacent Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) …
Changes In Net Ecosystem Production Over The Past 40 Years In Arctic Tundra Ponds Near Barrow, Alaska: Application Of Historic And Modern Techniques, Nickole Ann Miller
Changes In Net Ecosystem Production Over The Past 40 Years In Arctic Tundra Ponds Near Barrow, Alaska: Application Of Historic And Modern Techniques, Nickole Ann Miller
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Arctic environments have gained interest recently due to their sensitivity to climate change. As warming has created longer growing seasons, extended ice-free periods as well as permafrost thaw, the production in freshwater ecosystems has the potential to be greatly impacted. It is hypothesized that as climate change and warming occurs, increases in primary production will occur and ponds will become carbon sinks. Net ecosystem production (NEP) was determined using phytoplankton and periphyton samples collected weekly during the growing season (June - August) from arctic tundra ponds near Barrow, Alaska. Enrichment with 14C was used to determine both weekly photosynthetic rates …
Refining Molecular Approaches For Bacterial Source Tracking (Bst) In Texas, Joy Truesdale
Refining Molecular Approaches For Bacterial Source Tracking (Bst) In Texas, Joy Truesdale
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Bacterial source tracking (BST) is a new science that aids in identifying sources of human and animal fecal contamination of environmental water. There are currently two approaches used in BST, library-dependent and library-independent methods. The fecal bacterium E. coli is often used in library dependent methods because it indicates fecal contamination, has been used in human health risk assessments, and has water quality regulatory significance. A disadvantage of E. coli library dependent BST methods is that identification libraries of E. coli isolated from known fecal sources are needed to identify the sources of E. coli isolated from water samples. Further, …
Carbon Emissions From Soil Respiration In The Northern Chihuahuan Desert Shrubland, Anna Cristina Ortiz
Carbon Emissions From Soil Respiration In The Northern Chihuahuan Desert Shrubland, Anna Cristina Ortiz
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
The United States Department of Agriculture's Jornada Experimental Range (JER), is located in the northern Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico and historically functioned as an experimental rangeland for cattle grazing. Historical grazing in the US Southwest has been identified as a leading, but not the sole, factor that has led to the conversion of pristine grasslands to shrublands, such has been the case on the JER. The estimated increased variability in precipitation intensity and frequency that is predicted to occur with climate warming will likely affect ecosystem responses from ecological processes including primary productivity, microbial decomposition, and thus respiration. …
Endocrine Disrupting Compound 4-Nonylphenol And Neurodegeneration, Jessica Martinez Jurado
Endocrine Disrupting Compound 4-Nonylphenol And Neurodegeneration, Jessica Martinez Jurado
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Neurodegeneration, a progressive loss of nerve cells (neurons), occurs in many neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia, and drug addiction. Cytoskeletal disruption in neurons and aggregation of proteins associated with these disorders is the hallmark of neurodegeneration. However, the cause of neurodegenerative disorders is unknown and currently there are no effective drug treatments. Aging is the most consistent risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative disorder, and recent evidence suggests that environmental factors, which act as endocrine disruptors, pose a risk in the disease process. 4- nonylphenol (4-NP), an endocrine-disrupting compound (EDC), has been shown to affect brain development …