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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Quantifying The Effect Of Disturbance On Native Mojave Desert Shrubs, Tamara J. Wynne
Quantifying The Effect Of Disturbance On Native Mojave Desert Shrubs, Tamara J. Wynne
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Disturbance can come in many different forms. In our studies, we looked at the impact of a solar photovoltaic facility on native plants growing inside and outside of the facility, alteration in precipitation (simulated) on four native shrubs and the impact of applying supplemental water as a function of volume and frequency to establish native shrubs such as might occur at restoration sites. Disturbance is becoming a more common phenomenon in many ecosystems throughout the world, increasing the need for studies that quantify the impact at the plant and ecosystem level. Each research project revealed different plant responses, such as …
Quantifying And Predicting Drought Performance In Woody Semi-Arid Seedlings In South Texas: Implications For Enhancing Drought Resilience In Restoration, Zarek Contreras
Quantifying And Predicting Drought Performance In Woody Semi-Arid Seedlings In South Texas: Implications For Enhancing Drought Resilience In Restoration, Zarek Contreras
Theses and Dissertations
Increasingly frequent and severe droughts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge have been observed to cause large variation in species-specific mortality patterns in young seedlings, spanning 6 – 43 % mortality within the first year. To understand the underlying mechanisms behind this, we subjected seedlings of five woody semi-arid species (Celtis pallida, Forestiera angustifolia, Sideroxylon celastrinum, Phaulothalmnus spinescens, and Zanthoxylum fagara) to a point-of-no-return drought experiment in order to (1) identify potential metrics capable of predicting species wilting and mortality responses, and (2) to understand the underlying mechanisms that correspond to species drought performance …
Identifying Key Stream Restoration Variables In An Agriculturally Impaired Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Julia Portmann
Identifying Key Stream Restoration Variables In An Agriculturally Impaired Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Julia Portmann
Masters Theses, 2020-current
The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans several states, supports diverse ecosystems, and is crucial to local economies. However, agricultural practices in this region impair water quality. The Smith Creek watershed, within the Shenandoah Valley, was designated a showcase watershed in 2010 by the United States Department of Agriculture to demonstrate the efficacy of implementing restoration projects. We sampled fifteen farms ranging from unrestored to thirty-six years since restoration. At each site, we conducted a kick-net survey for macroinvertebrates, measured canopy cover, algal density, substrate size, and bank height and angle. We identified macroinvertebrates to family and calculated the Chesapeake Basin-wide Index …
Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig
Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
Prairie restoration is important for reversing the loss of biodiversity and repairing ecosystem functions humanity is dependent on diverse ecosystems. This study looks at the impact of the beginning phases of prairie restoration on groundwater geochemistry and microbial communities the relationship between them. This research project studied the geochemistry and microbial communities in five wells before, during, and after the beginning phases of the first year of a prairie restoration on the Northern Illinois University campus. Water samples were collected bimonthly for a year and analyzed on an Ion Chromatograph. Microbial samples were collected monthly and underwent DNA extraction, amplification, …
Phosphorus Dynamics In Restored Riparian Wetlands On Former Agricultural Land In Vermont, Adrian Robert Hendrick Wiegman
Phosphorus Dynamics In Restored Riparian Wetlands On Former Agricultural Land In Vermont, Adrian Robert Hendrick Wiegman
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Wetland restoration has numerous potential ecological and societal benefits, one of which is the retention of phosphorus (P) and consequent protection of downstream water bodies from eutrophication. Past studies focused on influents to and effluents from a variety of wetland types have documented net P retention. However, some wetland systems are less effective at P capture and wetland P retention capacity can change over time. Certain wetland types - especially riparian wetlands restored on former agricultural land - remain understudied. In Vermont, most of the over 4000 potential wetland restoration sites in the Lake Champlain Basin are located on current …
Re-Storying Grant Creek: A Case Study Of Relational Dynamics On A Degraded Montana Stream, Seamus Rucci Land
Re-Storying Grant Creek: A Case Study Of Relational Dynamics On A Degraded Montana Stream, Seamus Rucci Land
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration began in 2021, and after a history of contentious ethical debates, ecological restoration is increasingly portrayed as a viable framework for combating environmental degradation and supporting more healthy and stable social-ecological systems. The proposed ecological restoration of Grant Creek, a degraded stream near Missoula, Montana, offers an opportunity to connect a restoration site to the broader, rapidly growing field of restoration practice. It also allows the opportunity to forward the ‘relational turn’ proposed by many in the sustainability sciences as an ontological and methodological means to move beyond positivist portrayals of social-ecological systems, which …