Life Sciences Commons^™

Predicting Post-Fire Change In West Virginia, Usa From Remotely-Sensed Data, Michael Strager P. Strager, Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, Aaron E. Maxwell

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Prescribed burning is used in West Virginia, USA to return the important disturbance process of fire to oak and oak-pine forests. Species composition and structure are often the main goals for re-establishing fire with less emphasis on fuel reduction or reducing catastrophic wildfire. In planning prescribed fires land managers could benefit from the ability to predict mortality to overstory trees. In this study, wildfires and prescribed fires in West Virginia were examined to determine if specific landscape and terrain characteristics were associated with patches of high/moderate post-fire change. Using the ensemble machine learning approach of Random Forest, we determined that …

Impact Of Climate Change On Corn Yields In Alabama, Pauline Welikhe, Joseph Essamuah-Quansah, Kenneth Boote, Senthold Asseng, Gamal El Afandi, Souleymane Fall, Desmond Mortley, Ramble Ankumah

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

The study used calibrated Crop Environment Resource Synthesis (CERES) maize (corn) model to simulate maize (corn) physiological growth processes and yields under 2045 and 2075 projected climate change scenarios for six representative counties in Alabama. The future climatologies for two emission scenarios Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 (medium) and RCP 8.5 (high) were developed based on the IPSL-CM5A-MR high resolution climate model. Average yield decreases of 19.5% and 37.3% were, respectively, projected under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for 2045, and average yield decreases of 32.5% and 77.8% were, respectively, projected under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for 2075. …

Implications Of Manipulations Of Soil Quality On The Growth Of European Buckthorn (Rhamnus Cathartica) In A Greenhouse, Sam L. Pepper, Liam Heneghan

DePaul Discoveries

European buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica L.) is an invasive shrub that is capable of changing the nitrogen content of a soil through the deposition of its nitrogen rich leaf litter. This change creates conditions that may favor recolonizing by buckthorn and negatively affect the growth of native plants. In this greenhouse experiment, we examined the effect of altering soil quality by adding mulch comprised of buckthorn wood on above and belowground biomass, stem length and leaf production of buckthorn saplings. We found that buckthorn saplings planted in buckthorn mulch had reduced stem length and leaf production compared to growth in …

The Ecological Impacts Of Non-Native Species On River Otter Populations, Nadia Swit

The Downtown Review

Most nonindigenous species invasions can have negative consequences on an environment. Trophic systems may become altered as prey sources are depleted, which can have further implications on community and habitat structure. However, some species invasions can be positive as it can provide another food source for key stone species. The effects of invasive species are reviewed in the following paper for the North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) and the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra). In the case of the North American river, the introduction of the lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) has negatively impacted otter …

The Real Footprint Of Electric Vehicles, And What That Could Mean For Our Future, Krista Brown

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper looks at the impact of electric vehicles on CO2 emissions specifically based on the type of electricity used in each New England state analyzed. The research looks at the question of whether or not emissions will in fact be lowered as electric cars start to take the majority of vehicles used instead of the conventional cars that take up a much larger percent of the motor vehicles used today. Taking into account the use of electricity and how many sources of electricity also release a substantial amount of emissions, we see how valid the public opinion of electric …

The Effect Of Information On Avoidance Behavior And Bicycle Transportation: A Study Of “Spare The Air” And Bay Area Bikeshare, Paige W. Whistler

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper seeks to address the effect of “Spare the Air” pollution control alerts in the San Francisco Bay Area in California on the use of Bay Area BikeShare as a form of transportation. By observing the daily alerts on the duration of rides using BikeShare, this paper observes if STA ozone alerts are effective in changing human behavior. The results show that only as a subscriber to the BikeShare program and on an alert day does duration decrease whereas customers regardless of if it is an alert day will ride more often and at longer distances. The results contradict …

Socioeconomic Attributes’ Relationship To Green Commercial Office Buildings, Tianyang Zhou

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the relationship between the socioeconomic attributes of a state and its green commercial office space adaptation. I hypothesize that a state with high socioeconomic status will have a high green building adoption. Additionally, the high socioeconomic status states may be more likely to invest in green commercial buildings with higher LEED certification levels, and various types of LEED commericial office projects are affected by the socoeconomic attributes differently.

Do Peers Get Punished: Stock Market Effect Of Bp Oil Spill On Peers, Yuga Koda

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the stock market reaction to the British Petroleum oil spill on April 20, 2010. This event study looks at different sectors that may be affected by the oil spill. It finds that different industries do not have significant abnormal returns, with two exceptions. First, utilities companies have a very small positive abnormal return for a short period of time after the incident. Second, when only looking at BP's direct competitors, there is a statistically significant negative abnormal return, implying that BP's competitors are punished for BP's mishap.

Media Effects On Solar Panel Installations Across 20 States, Casey Romeo

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper looks at the relationship between media coverage of solar power and the solar panel installation at a state level. Specifically, it aims to find if more newspaper articles cause more households to adopt solar energy. Use data from 20 states from 2009 to 2014. I find that there is a modest, yet positive and statistically significant relationship between newspaper articles and installations, which suggests that the media does influence the decision to install solar panels. There is possible endogeneity between these two variables. Disentangling this endogeneity is beyond the scope of this research and would be a topic …

Property Value Changes From Public Transportation: How The Greenbush Commuter Line Affected Property Values, Sarah C. Evans

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Prior studies have investigated the impact on property values to the proximity of established public transportation stations. Public transportation is thought to increase value of towns and properties, giving residents more options for transportation to and around the city. Both benefits and consequences of public transportation exist, allowing for either a raise or lower of property values in towns with stops. This paper analyzes the Greenbush Commuter line in Massachusetts, seeing if the proximity to the stops has an affect on the property of values in the towns. A difference – in – difference model is used to investigate a …

The Effectiveness Of The Colby College Electricity Competition On Promoting Electricity Conservation To Students, Jeff Vaz

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the effectiveness of the Colby College electricity reduction competition in altering students’ behavior to conserve electricity. The Colby College electricity reduction competition is an information-based policy that Colby implemented to promote the conservation of electricity, which are a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. The study analyzes if different residence halls reduce electricity consumption by different amounts during the competition period. Results indicate that only 4 of 22 residence halls reduced electricity usage during competition periods in a statistically significant manner. The study concludes that the electricity competition at Colby College is …

Invited Introduction To Jerec, Matthew Kotchen

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Welcome By The Editor, Nathan W. Chan

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Spatial Analysis Of Forest Crimes In Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, Karun Pandit, Eddie Bevilacqua, Giorgos Mountrakis, Robert W. Malmsheimer

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Forest crime mitigation has been identified as a challenging issue in forest management in the United States. Knowledge of the spatial pattern of forest crimes would help in wisely allocating limited enforcement resources to curb forest crimes. This study explores the spatial pattern of three different types of forest crimes: fire crime, illegal timber logging crime, and occupancy use crime in the Salem-Patosi Ranger District of Mark Twain National Forest. Univariate and bivariate Ripley’s K-functions were applied to explore the spatial patterns in crime events, like clustering and attraction among forest crime types. Results reveal significant clustering for each forest …

Comparison Of Terrain Indices And Landform Classification Procedures In Low-Relief Agricultural Fields, Derek A. Evans, Karl W. J. Williard, Jon E. Schoonover

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Landforms control the spatial distribution of numerous factors associated with agronomy and water quality. Although curvature and slope are the fundamental surface derivatives used in landform classification procedures, methodologies for landform classifications have been performed with other terrain indices including the topographic position index (TPI) and the convergence index (CI). The objectives of this study are to compare plan curvature, the convergence index, profile curvature, and the topographic position index at various scales to determine which better identifies the spatial variability of soil phosphorus (P) within three low relief agricultural fields in central Illinois and to compare how two methods …

Discordant Data And Interpretation Of Results From Wildlife Habitat Models, Anita T. Morzillo, Michael G. Wing, Justin Long

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Wildlife habitat management is an important part of natural resource management. As a result, there are a large number of models and tools for wildlife habitat assessment. A consequence of the many assessment tools is inconsistency when comparing results between tools, which may lead to potential confusion management decisions. Our objective was to compare results from two wildlife habitat models – one being relatively coarse (HUC5) scale and not spatially dynamic and the other being finer scale spatial data based on a 30 m spatial resolution –for habitat assessment of three species across the West Cascades of Oregon: Northern spotted …